Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 18, 2005 Page: 9 of 24
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TJP V59-33 08-18-05 p09-ll 8/16/05 5:18 PM Page 9
August 18,2005
In Our 59th Year
Texas Jewish Post
by various foreign Jewish organi-
zations; they have a school, a
synagogue and several small-scale
economic projects. Electricity was
installed, 12 water tanks were built,
and the community raises money
through Jewish tourism and selling
crafts and CDs of its music.
Katzeff was intrigued.
"I said, 'OK, I'll buy all you've got,
every single bit,'" recalls Katzeff, who
says that the project "interested me
as a Jew."
Katzeff had changed his own
business practices following a 1985
trip to Nicaragua, when he realized
"that the coffee industry was living
off the sweat and blood of the
coffee farmers."
He began guaranteeing what has
become known as a "Fair Trade
price," which he says is "20 to 40
cents a pound higher" than the
usual price coffee farmers receive
from the major companies and
which doesn't change with market
fluctuations.
The idea that he could use his
company to help Jews in Africa —
Jews who had joined forces with
Muslims and Christians —
impressed Katzeff.
"In the midst of so much strife,
these people decided to cooperate
instead of compete," he says. "They
made a conscious decision to
increase the size of their pie and
share it for a better life, as opposed
to what governments all over the
world want them to do — compete
for a piece of a very limited pie."
Reached at his Ugandan home,
Keki describes the Abayudaya Jews'
good relations with their non-
Jewish neighbors. Though Jews are
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a small minority in the region, Keki
was elected chairman of the local
council, which he says shows the
lack of local anti-Semitism — and
which makes him the only Jew
elected to public office in Uganda,
Wetzler says.
Coffee growing is the main
income-producing crop of the
Abayudaya and their neighbors,
Keki notes. But coffee prices had
dropped, and the farmers were dis-
couraged.
"I thought, 'We all do agricultural
work, so let's form a cooperative and
sell our coffee together,'" Keki says.
"Everyone agreed."
After Keki formed the co-op,
Wetzler made the connection with
Katzeff and located a nearby coop-
erative that already had Fair Trade
certification, which is expensive,
Keki's group buys from the local
farmers and funnels the coffee
through that Fair Trade co-op,
which processes it and sends it to
California.
Katzeff visited Uganda to sign
the contract, spending Shabbat
with the Abayudaya Jews.
"They picked me up at the hotel
and said I didn't look Jewish," he
quips. "Then they took me to their
shul, with all the men on one side
and the women on the other. They
did the whole service in Hebrew.
Afterwards, we ate only food that
didn't have to be cooked — fresh
fruit and vegetables. No one
worked all day."
Katzeff says he was astounded by
the primitive equipment the locals
worked with. It takes 100 tons of
"cherries," or raw coffee fruit, to
yield 37,500 pounds of green
beans, the amount the co-op man-
aged to produce this past year.
"They had one little* hand-
cranked de-pulping machine to
run those 100 tons through," he
marvels. "They were determined to
t. -
o
ALL COFFEE LOOKS THE
SAME UNTIL THE FIRST SIP.
Come get a taste of ivhat Membership
is like at Temple Emanu-El.
PROSPECTIVE MEMBER COFFEE
Sunday, August. 21, 9:30 - 11:30 a.m., Linz Hall.
Ple'aste join us for conversation, coffee and bagels
with Rabbi David Stern; Rabbi Barry Diamond,
Director jpf Education; Sheryl Feinberg, Director of
the Temple Pre-School and other members of
the clergy and professional staff. This is a great
opportunity to learn more about Temple Emanu-El
and what it has to offer, Your children are welcome
to join us. If you prefer, child care is available
by reservation.
To R.S.VP or make a wsewation, contact Alice Martinet
at 214.706.0000, ext. 129 or ammtaiez@tedallas.org.
| Temple
Emanu-El
8500 Hillcrest Road
Dallas, Texas 75225-4204
get their first crop out. It was
incredible."
Keki and Katzeff signed a three-
year agreement guaranteeing Fair
Trade prices for all the coffee the
cooperative can produce. Eighty
percent of the money is put in an
escrow account to be plowed back
into developing the co-op's infra-
structure, with the goal of
doubling output by next year. A
dollar surcharge on each pound
sold will be sent directly to the
cooperative — hopefully yielding
a further $30,000 this first season.
"It's all about sustainability,"
Katzeff says. "When they're able to
produce five times as much, they'll
be able to support all their own
social programs."
Keki is excited about the part-
nership.
"I hope it will help us buy food
and clothes and send our children
to school," he says. "People are
already planting more coffee."
Keki, who has spoken widely in
the United States, is aware of the
significance of his interfaith effort.
"When we read the news, we see
that most of the problems in the
world are caused by religion," he
says. "Here we are using religion in
the name of peace. We hope that
wherever our coffee goes in the
world, it will promote peace."
Noting that the cooperative has a
Jewish president, a Christian vice
president and a Muslim executive
secretary — and that one-third of
its board is made up of women —
Katzeff describes the venture as "a
shining light for peace" in the
region.
"This is the most important
project I've ever done," he says.
"Everything I've done up to this
point was leading to it."
Delicious Peace coffee is available
at thanksgivingcoffee.com or by
calling (800) 648-6491.
Thank you
jiemujhtilim
&
For hosting our first event,
the Tour & Tea
&
Best Cellars'
i GREAT WINES FOR EVERY DAY®
For the Kickoff Wine Tasting
to promote
THE HOPE FOR
HUMANITY
TRIBUTE DINNER
Benefiting
. tf>UCA1"'O.V
^°i.OCA\^
Alice Brown Skinner
Nanci Kaplan Duplant
Trudy Baxter Sanders
Members of the newly formed
Keepers of the Flame
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Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 18, 2005, newspaper, August 18, 2005; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth188093/m1/9/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .