Your April 2012 Newsletter.
Greetings,
 
"Every man is accustomed to clothing himself before leaving home each day. If not, he will be considered crazy and the community will laugh at him," says Yusuf Mehamed Ebro, the Chairperson for the Chaffee Jenette Coffee Farmers' Cooperative. "Similarly, leading an organization without planning is as if a person leaves from his house without clothing. This training has shown us the importance of planning with others in order for this organization to be able to achieve its objective. The training has also equipped us with the basic knowledge and skills for how to manage the organization, its business and finances.”
 
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50,000 TREE CAMPAIGN:

Coffee farmers in Ethiopia have 200 trees per acre. Coffee farmers in places like Brazil and Columbia have 2000 coffee trees per acre. In order to compete in the global market, Ethiopian farmers very simply need more trees. The Abyssinian Fund's campaign to plant 50,000 coffee trees this year will help coffee farmers in Chaffee Jenette, Ethiopia increase their annual yield of coffee beans and thus increase their annual income. Currently, an Ethiopian coffee farmer earns about $10 per week, the "50,000 Coffee Trees" campaign will help them bring in at least double or triple that.

 
 
Coffee trees grow abundantly in places like Brazil
Compare this to the scarcity of trees seen here in Ethiopia

Help us close the gap between Ethiopia and the rest of the world by donating some trees!
 
Peace and Blessings,
 
 
Rev. Nicholas S. Richards
REV. RICHARDS IN ETHIOPIA
In order to ensure the continued positive growth of The Abyssinian Fund, it is necessary for Rev. Richards to visit the coffee farmers in Chaffee Jenette every so often. During his trip this May, Rev. Richards had several meetings with business professionals who will have positive effects on The Abyssinian Fund and the communities who are being helped through the mission. One of the upcoming projects includes WaterAid's involvement in Chaffe Jenette to build a water irrigation system that will help make clean water more accessible in the village.
MAY 2012 FARMER TRAINING
Bet you didn't know, a very important training took place this past May in Chaffee Jenette between the coffee farmers and the cooperative organization managers. This training included a crucial finance and business management training for Chaffee Jenette cooperative leaders. Financial training is part of Abyssinian Fund's goal to help farmers and cooperative leaders learn to harvest and manage their own coffee, giving them more control over their crops and their income.
 
PRESS RELEASE
Tadesse Meskela to issue much needed funds to Chaffee Jenette Coffee Farmers
Tadesse Meskela, the head of the Oromia union who is in charge of distributing all of Chaffee Jenette’s coffee and distributing their payments, has agreed to issue funds to the coffee farming community. Rev. Richards and Abyssinian staff in Ethiopia helped encourage Mr. Meskela to give the 1,000,000 birr ($56,790) that will be issued to Chaffee Jenete in order for the cooperative to purchase more of the members’ coffee. Another 300,000 birr ($17,037) of the farmers’ fair trade premium will go toward completing the construction of the road leading to the village area. The funds are to be released next week.

This agreement by Mr. Meskela to finance the purchase of coffee from the farmers and to help fund the construction of the road is a huge step forward especially for the farming communities in Ethiopia. It is extremely difficult to lock down financiers for these projects because normally 150% collateral is needed of farmers to receive funds for their farms. The unsafe road conditions due to severe uneven, ragged and rocky paths make it a struggle to travel between the nearest town, Deder, which is 23km (14.3miles) away.

 
Abyssinian Fund is a registered 501 C3 tax-exempt charity.
100% of your donation is tax-deductible as a charitable contribution.