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Allen and Rose Mlay
Amkeni Specialty Coffee Growers
"We depend on agriculture for our life," says Allen Mlay. Shortly after getting married and starting a family, Allen lost his job. "We were bankrupt except for two acres of land. So we planted coffee."
From the porch of their new, white-washed home, the Mlay family describe this challenging period of their life as though it were a distant memory.
"We harvested the first coffee cherries from our trees in 1999. It wasn’t much, but we were able to get by. We lived in a house with mud walls and no electricity. We had two young children to take care of. Of course, we were worried about providing for them."
That same year, committed farmers from the village of Mwika established Amkeni Specialty Coffee Growers. Amkeni, which means “wake-up” in Swahili, was a way for the Mlay family and other farmers to improve quality and access better markets.
The breakthrough came in 2004 when they sold their first batch of coffee to Peet’s. “We received a much higher price and were able to begin construction of a new house for our expanding family,” Allen recalls.
The group has continued supplying Peet’s ever since, through the farmer trade association KILICAFE.
Now, Allen and Rose Mlay speak confidently about their future. “Our three children are all in school. They can study at night because we have electricity. Our house is sturdy. We grow vegetables and have four cows. How could we have done this without coffee?”
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