Black Gold

 

At the weekend I watched Black Gold and it really does need to be shouted about.

Ethiopia is known for having the best tasting coffee and yet it is no exaggeration to say that their farmers are struggling to survive from their meagre earnings.

The film follows the manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-operative Union, Tadesse Maskela. The union represents 74,000 farmers. He is trying to save them from bankruptcy and to find better prices for the high quality coffee.

For me there were a few particularly upsetting points.

Tadesse shows the women who work in the processing plant. They work eight hours a day picking out the bad beans by hand. You can see how hard and fast they are working, all for half a dollar a day.

It also tells you of the main players world wide. One of them being a very large and well known coffee chain who have their beans produced in one region. When I saw the poverty they were suffering it made me feel sick that people are happily purchasing their coffee without realising that there are so called “therapeutic feeding centres” which have been set up to help the villagers. Only they can’t help everyone and have certain criteria that must be met. One young girl was shown who weighed 9.5 kg (or 20.9lbs) and she was sent away because she didn’t meet the criteria.

Everyone should see this film, it’s a real eye opener and just shows you what is happening in the world today. It makes me even more determined to ensure I stick to my Fairtrade brand and to keep persuading others to make the change.

Visit the website.