The Kula Project, a nonprofit organization based in Marietta, in October will kick off an agricultural project in Rwanda it hopes will change the landscape of coffee farming in the East African nation, boosting entire communities in the process.
Project leaders will take their third trip to Rwanda this year to begin planting 6,000 coffee and banana trees, using a complementary crop system developed at the University of Uganda in which banana trees provide shade and mulch to enhance coffee production. The visit will take place the month after Rwandan President Paul Kagame visits Atlanta for a diaspora conference.
Sarah Buchanan, founder of Kula Project, which is Swahili for “to eat”, refuses to associate her organization with the phrase “hand up” and stresses the concept of starting from the source to create enduring change.
While Ms. Buchanan does not have a background in agriculture, she partners with local experts to explore the farmers’ options to thrive financially by building their knowledge of sustainable agriculture.
“Our investments are deeply personal because we’re creating dialogue and relationship with these farmers. You can’t just show up with 500 trees and expect that the farmers will have the labor and tools to see them thrive,” Ms. Buchanan said.
During a trip in January, when the Kula team met with community members and suggested certain tools to aid in production, a local farmer informed them they just really needed wheelbarrows. “Out of everything we were trying to do, we got a standing ovation for wheelbarrows. We learned very quickly the best way to help was simply to listen,” Ms. Buchanan said.
After nearly a year of building relationships with farming communities in Rwanda, the project is finally ready to begin planting. While in Rwanda, Kula plans to hold a celebratory dinner and coffee tasting for the farmers who, despite growing coffee their entire lives, have never tasted it. Kula works closely with Roswell-based Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Co., which grows and sells fair-trade coffee from Rwanda and Haiti. The two organizations share a staffer, Manu Gatare, who owns a washing station on the ground in Rwanda.
Ms. Buchanan visited East Africa for the first time while studying political science at Georgia State University. When she saw the openness and hope of the Rwandan people less than 20 years removed from a horrendous genocide, she was inspired. She immediately began studying international development upon her return to Atlanta.
“Rwanda is the most forward-thinking country I’ve ever been to,” she told Global Atlanta.
She explained that supporting Kula does more than establish sustainable farming practices in the developing world. It creates ripple effects that impact a wide range of local conditions like education, environment and quality of life.
“We want to implement programs that focus on planting methods, nutrition, and business literacy and eventually hand them off to the farmers so they may continue to teach others. If we are still in Rwanda in 10 years, I’d see that as a failure.”
Learn more about Kula Project here.
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