Cauca, Colombia- Hannah Mercer, our sales, customer service and training representative, is pictured here (center) with school children in La Nueva Colonia, a community located deep in the coffee-producing highlands of the Cordillera Central mountains of Colombia- home to Fondo Paez.

Hannah is traveling this week with a delegation of coffee professionals from Cafe Campesino and Sweetwater Organic Coffee to visit members of Fondo Paez, a farmer-owned cooperative that has been supplying us with coffee since 2004.

The primary school where Hannah is pictured is actually a member of Fondo Paez. Called IE Kwes X Piya Yat - Sede La Nueva Colonia (which means place for education of the Nasa - the name of the indigenous people of Fondo Paez), the school has an on-site coffee farm to teach children the value of organics and treating the environment with respect. The teacher, Lorena Osnas, handles the whole group of little ones on her own. We take our hats off to her for her pure dedication and stamina! And if anyone is interested in teaching English for a little while, let us know.