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María's story
One of the Hermanas farmers, María Elia Castillo, told us this story of hope and inspiration.
She and her husband were landless labourers before the government reforms of the early 1990's. During this period, the government gave her husband over 12 acres, but the family had neither the money nor access to credit needed to work the land. María Elia had difficulty providing a dignified life for her family. She and her husband continued to work as labourers on other coffee farms in order to provide for the family, though even with this work, they struggled to send their children to school. They were very poor.
 With care, the couple eventually saved sufficient money to plant 500 coffee trees on the husband's land. Wishing to invest further, they secured a $2,000 loan from the Coffee Bank. Through a series of bank sell-outs and insolvencies, the original loan became $ 4600 which the beleaguered family only managed to repay with difficulty in 2007.
In 2002, María Elia still did not own any land of her own but the following year her husband gave her legal title to 3.5 acres of his. Through the parent cooperative of Las Hermanas, which she had now joined, she obtained lower interest credit to invest in the land and increase productivity. Her coffee sales allowed her to help repay the family's final debt.
In 2007, María Elia invested $600 to buy 2,000 new coffee plants. To diversify her income and improve the diet of the family, María Elia also invested in several non-coffee projects. She bought 10 sheep; her flock has now grown to 37. She bought 7 chickens; her flock has now grown to 25. She earns extra disposable income both through the sale of sheep and eggs. To improve coffee shade, she planted 150 banana trees, 20 other fruit trees, and 50 timber trees.
Her two youngest children, Flor de María and John Everth, are members of the cooperative's youth group which educates the community on environmental issues. They are also members of the children's band and have participated in painting classes offered by the cooperative. Flor de María, a high school junior, received a cooperative scholarship for her education and works part time as a barista at the cooperative café, Jinotega's only European-style coffee outlet.
With her increased and diversified income, María Elia has improved the living conditions of her family. She bought a table and enough chairs that now her family can sit down and eat meals together at one table. For the first time, she was able to buy beds and mattresses for each of her children. Small measures to you and I perhaps; vast improvements to her life.
María Elia says that over the course of her life, she has gone from being a landless peasant to being someone who owns her own land and has control over her productive and financial resources.
She takes pride in being part of Las Hermanas, which she considers a trustworthy organization. She believes her children are learning to play a leadership role in the community through their schooling and participation in cooperative youth activities. She feels like a productive and valued member of her family and her community, thanks in large part to the support she has received through her membership in the cooperative and her role as a producer of Las Hermanas quality coffee.
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