An exciting new adventure!

It’s all happening! We’re leaving Davao and moving to the Perrine farm in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon, where we will be spending the remainder of our time working side by side with coffee farmers and community leaders. This couldn’t have come at a better time and we’re so excited that God has opened this door for us. We can’t wait to get started!

So here’s how it all went down…

As you may have read, we spent three days on the farm a couple of weeks ago and had a wonderful time (the farm is owned and operated by John and Renee Perrine). We were there to inspect their coffee farm and see how they process the beans. As it turns out things were far worse than we anticipated and it became very clear that the farm was in some serious need of a major overhaul. During one of the meetings with Renee, the leadership from the farms and the PBCI staff, the idea was proposed that Jenna and I, and possibly Ate Kriz, would move to the farm and help get things turned around. We leave on September 10^th! The plan is that we will begin rehabbing the main farm, which is located on the same land that we will be living on. By focusing on this farm, it can act as a model for the other locations (there are 5 different locations that need to be addressed). We can use this farm as our pilot project as we try to learn more about the best ways to manage soil, trees and the harvesting/processing process. We have broken our tasks down to three major groups; things we can do immediately, things to be done once the harvest in completed; and things that we can do to interact with the community.

Here is a section I’ve copied from the “Plan of Action” Jenna, Kriz and I submitted to the Perrine’s. It might be easier to just show you this list, rather than try to describe what it is we’ll be doing.

Current Harvest:

• Improve Harvesting Techniques

• coaching the VFO’s and farmers on berry selection

• determining the right berry color for harvesting

• knowing when to pick berries

• Work on tree health

• cleaning the trees - removing anything that affects the health of the tree, removing the moss

• identify the current number of trees at JPP Farm and each varieties

• tag trees for sampling

• identify coffee tree diseases and pests

• pruning techniques

• organic pest control

• Wet mill restructuring (with the proper procedure)

• implementation of proper procedure

• monitoring each step of the process

• determining ways to improve efficiency

• Develop a grading system for green beans – grading tables, etc

• training workers for coffee classification and sorting

• developing a big visual grading sheet (tarpaulin)

• developing a classification area with tables and lamps

• develop proper storage area

• Make visuals for berry coloration (bean defects and discoloration)

• produce a laminated color spectrum to serve as a guide for the farmers in picking ripe berries

JPP Farm Rejuvenation

• Soil testing to determination fertilization needs (get the right PH level) this can be started immediately

• soil sampling (3 coffee farm locations) – determine the amount of macro and micro nutrients present in the soil

• making compost pit for each location

• monitoring ground maintenance (grass clipping, mulching, etc.)

• identifying pests living in the soil that affects coffee trees

• Phase 2 of tree health (2^nd quarter/post harvest)

• heavy-duty pruning,

• gradual removal of excess trees

• Testing: monitor how long fermentation takes place after the beans are harvested

• berry sampling

• Monitor how long the yellow berries take to turn red

• daily monitoring in the farm

• Set up test areas and properly document what has been done to each tree

• tagging coffee trees

• daily visitation and recording of observation

• development of monitoring sheets for Keith, Jenna and Kriz

• create master map of the farm with tree locations and test detatils

• Continuation of ground management

• second soil sampling (after 6 months of soil maintenance)

Community Involvement

• Continued PAR & Value Formation, specifically focusing on peace theology/shalom theology

• holistic vision

• Relationship-building

• attending the morning devotional meeting (5 am daily)

• household visitations

• Fair-trade Principles Development

• observe practicality on the ground

• fuller explanation and development of principles (include COSP – Cost Of Sustainable Project and FT MP – Fair Trade Minimum Price)

• Partnership with Coffee for Peace

• CFP purchasing process and first right of refusal

• exporting logistics

As you can tell, there are a lot of things that need to be addressed, so we’re excited to get started.

You may be wondering how it is that we know what in the heck we are talking about. If so, you’re in the same boat that Jenna and I were a couple of weeks ago. We are, by no means whatsoever, experts in this field, but we feel like we have a good idea as to how we can address these specific issues and that in doing so, we can greatly increase the quality and quantity of coffee these farmers are able to produce. In the past few weeks, Jenna and I have been doing a lot of reading, watching videos and other kinds of activities to learn as much as we can about the processes involved in coffee farming. The good thing is that because the locations that we will be dealing with are pretty far off the beaten path, their methods are not terribly sophisticated. In fact one of the main objectives of Fair Trade farming is that the technology used needs to be simple, affordable and environmentally sound. We’re trying to learn as much as we can before we go in order to maximize our effectiveness once we get there.

Another thing we are doing to prepare is taking a trip to Mount Matutum on Monday to get some more hands on experience with all the different tasks we’ll be asking other to do. At this time the community on Mount Matutum supplies most of the coffee for Coffee for Peace and is what we sent to Canada a few months ago. It will be a great chance for Jenna and me to get our hands dirty and test what knowledge we think we have.

PBCI and the Perrines, known as the JPG (John Perrine Group) in all our official documents, will be partnering on all kinds of cool things over the next year. There are seemingly endless opportunities in this partnership and working with a group that has a vast amount of resources means that we can possibly achieve all the things that we’ve been dreaming about. The Perrines' energy and excitement to partner with PBCI is a welcome breath of fresh air. I could probably write another 5 pages on all the cool things that are being talked about within this partnership, but I honestly just don’t want to spend that much time writing.

Things are really shaking up in the Philippines right now. Tensions are high between the government and the armed forces of the Muslim and Communist communities. It seems like things must change at this point and people of authority seem to be taking their responsibilities very seriously. It’s cool to be a very small part of an organization that is trying to make things better and the new partnerships that PBCI is forming are very cool and will hopefully make a major impact in this wonderful land. It’s easy to feel like the cause for peace is a hopeless one, but God refuses to give up on his people and his presence keeps popping up in all the right places and at all the right times. Being a part of this adventure is humbling, scary and awesome. We are so blessed.

So that’s what’s up for now. Stay tuned…

Floods, Forms, and Field Trips

Hey there! Here’s a little update on all that’s been happening since Julie’s departure...

As soon as we settled back into work, we started thinking about more practical ways to help those that had been affected by the flood. PBCI had organized a team of pastors from the Davao City Ministerial Fellowship to respond to the need for flood relief. One of the ways we responded was through a distribution of relief goods such as clothes and blankets. The distribution happened on a Saturday morning, and it was a wonderful way to connect with the community, handing out goods and giving people a small meal of lugao (basically a rice congee made with chicken, ginger, and garlic - so yummy). People seemed grateful for the goods and for a warm meal, no matter how small.

The next weekend, after hearing Kuya Dann’s sermon at Davao Bible Community, we participated in a relief operation in our colleague Joy’s community. A local church group of dentists, doctors, and nurses came to the community to provide basic medical and dental services. It was so, SO nice to be directly involved with the community we were serving, talking to patients and just generally trying to help out in whatever way we could. This reminded us of how much we desired to work directly with people. Honestly, our office work seemed extremely tedious in comparison, although we need to keep in mind that all the behind-the-scenes stuff has to happen in order for the fieldwork to happen. Anyway, it was a great afternoon of fellowship and service.

In the hopes that we could get more involved with the people in Joy’s community, Keith and Matt met with an engineer from Indonesia who works for an NGO based in Davao, Chuck Chuck, who had helped design a bamboo bridge for Joy’s community in the past. We made it clear to him that we were willing to help out in any way we could, including a trip into the jungle to harvest bamboo which would be used for rebuilding efforts. We’re hoping to help the community construct a community hall that could be used for various purposes, including shelter in the event of another flood, municipal meetings, and relief events. We’re also hoping to finish construction on Joy’s mom’s house, constructing a simple balcony on the second floor. As you might expect, the wheels in the Philippines turn quite slowly, so we’re not sure how much time we’ll actually be spending getting our hands dirty; nevertheless, we’re glad to help in any way we can.

In the hopes of better equipping the community in the event of another flood, the staff at PBCI has gone through orientation with a local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management organization. It was helpful for us to gather more information on the disaster situation in the Philippines, and we look forward to practical training for the community members.

Because we left Vancouver thinking that Jenna’s yearlong project would be a theater production, we feel it’s best to let you know why and how that project has been put on hold. Jenna has finished the script, with the help and revisions of our contributors who came to the storytelling session. PBCI had been in talks with a local theater company called Kaliwat, who emphasizes social justice and awareness in their work. We had hoped that Kaliwat would provide performers and musicians to carry out the production, since auditioning and training amateurs didn’t seem extremely feasible in our short time span. However, as has been the case over and over, PBCI works on a fluid schedule, meaning that when things don’t seem to ‘click’ we look for avenues that appear wide open. Because of multiple roadblocks, we decided that the production should be put on hold until a time when it seemed more in line with God’s plan for PBCI’s vision. That being said, Jenna still feels like she accomplished the goals of her job description, that is, writing a piece that reflects the whole story of Mindanao from the point of view of the tri-people, not just the migrants. We hope that in the future, perhaps when our term here is already finished, the production will debut in some way, shape, or form. Jenna also hopes that the script may be used as a resource for churches in the future.

As you can tell, the major goals of our job description have been somewhat completed. So, what to do now? Well...

Along with flood relief, Keith has been filling in as needed with the financials of Peacebuilders and Coffee for Peace, as well as collaborating with Jenna on project proposals, letters of response to people interested in Coffee for Peace and PBCI, and creating franchise documents for Coffee for Peace. He has also continued his research on various kinds of water projects and has made himself available to other missionaries who need help with their bookkeeping in order to stay active and make new friendships.

Jenna has had the opportunity to help with a few writing and marketing projects, including; interviewing and writing an article about an ambush survivor (available for reading on the PBCI website, here:http://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2011/07/ambushed-by-a-vision/); creating an advertising poster about the coloring books published by PBCI and the local artist Kublai Millan; collaborating with Keith on the above mentioned projects; and looking forward to creating a guidebook for practitioners of the peace and reconciliation theology outlined in our PAR seminars.

Although it’s been challenging to not have specific, long-term projects to focus on, we’ve tried to stay positive and creative as various assignments are thrown our way.

At the beginning of August we had the opportunity to go on a field trip to a coffee farm in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon, and to a pastor’s peace and reconciliation seminar in Ozamis City, Misamis Occidental. We left on a Tuesday morning and were very excited about spending the week with Dann, Joji, Kriz and Matt. As this was only our second field trip in the six months that we have been here, we were chomping at the bit to get out of the city and meet some new people.

It only took us about six hours to get to the Perrine family farm in Manolo Fortich; that was after a scenic mountain side view, a short lunch at Jollibee and an afternoon coffee break. The Perrine farm is like nothing we had experienced before. The estate lies on some 50 plus hectares and includes a number of houses and out buildings, a church, a weight room, horse pastures (they have 19 horses), numerous ponds and open fields, a large organic garden and of course, a coffee farm and processing center. John Perrine bought the land some 30 years ago and began planting trees in the mountain ranges surrounding the farm. In the past 30 years, the forests have grown, the average temperature has dropped 10 degrees and they experience rain on a daily basis. When John bought the land there were no trees at all.

We went to the Perrine estate to explore the possibility of forming a strategic partnership with them, but were unsure if they truly wanted to be Fair Trade, or if the simply wanted to appear to be Fair Trade. As it turns out, they are completely on board with all the Fair Trade principles and are excited to get started. They are currently producing coffee, but the quantity is well below what it should be and the quality is just plain pathetic. Our hope is to help the Perrines, and the farmers around them, get back on track. They have the means and the facilities to really make an impact in their community and can hopefully be a model that we can use all over the Philippines.

Our time on the farm was completely awesome. We were treated to food, wine, homemade rum and given every comfort you would expect from a first rate resort. We felt conflicted about all the wealth and resources that were being spent on us, but were also very energized by the Perrine’s desire to help make the Philippines a better place and provide people that are less fortunate with opportunities to better their situation. It was a wonderful surprise, a great get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and a wonderful chance to connect with the staff members that were with us.

The second stop on our trip was Ozamis City, where we met with a group of about 20 pastors from all around Northern Mindanao. Kuya Dann and Ate Kriz were giving a seminar on the first portion of the PAR training. It was such a pleasure to finally hear what PBCI has been teaching people around the Philippines for the last few years. Jenna really enjoyed connecting what she heard with her Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies courses in college. The pastors were extremely engaged (for the whole, long, 12 hour day!) and seemed very excited about the possibilities of practically applying their learnings in their own communities.

From Ozamis City we headed back to Davao, back to our own homes and beds. It had been such an enriching and exciting week, and we were so glad to get the opportunity to get out of Davao and into the field.

There are some exciting developments happening here at PBCI, of which we can’t quite share the details yet. However, we hope to be back with another blog outlining our new adventure in the next week or so. Until then, we wish you great love, joy and peace, wherever you are.