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Grounds for Health and Las Hermanas, April 2008
Peet’s knows well that women in origin communities play a key role in producing high quality coffee. We also recognize the fact that many women living in these resource-poor areas of the world do not have the same access to health care that we enjoy. For example, in the U.S., cervical cancer has become a rare disease. In poorer countries, it’s a major killer of women in their prime. In fact, cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women globally -- and the problem is most acute in many of the same countries where our coffee is grown.
Nearly 250,000 women die every year from this easily preventable disease.
The good news is that cervical cancer is highly treatable if caught early and, with Peet’s financial support, Grounds for Health has been working to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in coffee-growing communities. Using an innovative, simple technique endorsed by the World Health Organization, Grounds for Health partners with coffee co-operatives in Latin America to bring high quality health care to origin communities.
Since 1996, Grounds for Health has treated over 15,000 women in week-long campaigns in Nicaragua, Mexico, and Guatemala, bringing with them the expertise of volunteer teams of medical providers.
Grounds for Health also collaborates with regional coffee unions, community members, and local health care professionals, providing training so that they can continue to provide health care long after the campaign is over. This impressive nonprofit organization has developed a simple, effective way to create a sustainable model of health care that truly fits the community.
Peet’s and Grounds for Health
In November of this year, Peet’s supported a Grounds for Health mission to Soppexcca, a coffee cooperative in northern Nicaragua made up of membership from 15 smaller community cooperatives – including Las Hermanas, a women’s co-operative that we have been buying coffee from since 2001.
 During Grounds for Health’s first screening and treatment campaign with Soppexcca, all member farmers of Las Hermanas - over 500 women were screened in five days, while 12 doctors and nurses were trained in visual inspection and same-day treatment. Almost 40 women tested positive for pre-cancer. The Cooperative’s General Manager, Fátima Ishmael, herself a cancer survivor, reported that 5 of her lady agronomy extension officers were tested during this campaign – an astonishing 3 showed positive for early signs of the cancer and were immediately treated. As a cancer survivor herself, she was emotional as she told us:
"36 women’s lives have been saved in identifying and treating cervical cancer! Three of them were members of Soppexcca’s technical extension team! For every woman of the hundreds tested who returned home with clear results, there were 36 who were saved. God Bless Peet’s - there is no price to 36 lives."
One of these women was Jani Florian, a community outreach officer for Las Hermanas.
“She’s like a daughter to me,” said Fátima, “so this is just something we will get through together.” When Fátima asked Jani to be the coordinator of the women’s health initiative for the cooperative, neither of them had any idea what lay ahead. Fátima Ismael is the president of Soppexcca, and has developed a strong and independent co-op that produces world-class coffee, and she is one of the few women co-op presidents in the world. Janixe Florian (Jani) grew up working for Soppexcca, beginning with youth training programs and eventually moving into managing the community programs, a role she handles with an easy grace. Fátima has nurtured Jani’s growth and over time, they have developed a special relationship that connects them both professionally and personally.
Jani has a beautiful smile and a determined spirit. At 34, she is the mother of four children, and still somehow finds the time to manage an ambitious schedule of training and programming for cooperative members. Working to educate and empower the members of Las Hermanas is one of Jani’s many responsibilities. Las Hermanas cooperative structure is unique, because women must own the land where they are growing coffee to qualify for membership.
 
Women play a huge role in the production of coffee, whether or not they are landowners.
Coffee is a labor-intensive crop, and family participation in cultivation and harvesting is an implicit expectation. As primary caregivers in the family, women often play a dual role, generating income while, at the same time, providing for their families’ basic needs. In addition to negotiating a higher price for their members’ coffee, the cooperative provides social structures that lift some of the responsibility shouldered by individuals, transferring it to the community as a whole. The partnership between Soppexcca and Grounds for Health is a wonderful example of this shared responsibility.
In her role as manager of community programs (and because she is one of Fátima’s most valued employees), Jani was asked to manage the collaboration with Grounds for Health. She received training from GFH in community outreach and education on cervical cancer. After her training was completed, she worked alongside GFH staff to train community health promoters, who then fanned out to their own communities to provide education to families and recruit women at risk of cervical cancer to attend a GFH screening campaign. Jani was joined in this effort by Karla and Margarita, two young women also from Soppexcca.
Jani told us, “When Fátima first asked me to coordinate the cervical cancer program, I was interested, but I never thought that I would be one of the ones to test positive. And never did I think that I would be diagnosed with cancer. But thanks to this program, I had quick treatment and feel optimistic that I can return to my normal life caring for my family, my children and my work.”
To make the story even more dramatic, two of the other women who had positive results were Karla and Margarita. Thankfully, their precancers were caught early, so they were able to receive simple, effective treatment at the time of their diagnosis. At the end of the campaign, Fátima reflected, “When I first came to Grounds for Health, I had no idea that it would be these young women – all friends of mine! -- whose lives would be saved as a result.”
Learn more about Grounds for Health, including how to make a donation.
Click here to watch a Worldfocus video aired on PBS about Grounds for Health and Fatima.
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