The AAK Sports League
15 months ago I spent a week traveling around the Highlands in Papua New Guinea visiting coffee producing communities(clusters). It was a chance for both sides to get to know the other a little better. In addition to the 'this is your supply chain' speech one of the questions that was posed to them was 'what does the future look like? Is the younger generation getting involved with coffee production?' As it turned out not so much.
There's some background information that's important to note at this point. Approximately 80% of the population in PNG lives in rural areas. Most of those people are subsistence farmers with coffee being pretty much the cash crop. So as a means of bringing cash back into the communities for infrastructure, education and health care it's a good question to ask.
So, over the week I was traveling around the highlands of PNG different ideas were discussed but there really wasn't anything that stuck. And, ultimately, I think this is a question is best answered by the people that are most affected.
Flash forward to this past Summer I was contacted by Jake from Crop to Cup to say that things were starting to take shape on the ground and wanted to know if we were interested in getting involved. There are two parts(and I think what they came up with is pretty cool). A combination intramural youth sports league meets coffee education/entrepreneurial skills work shops for the participants. Clusters can sign teams up for friendly competition between communities culminating in a year end Christmas Tourney.
We come in as a team sponsor. The funds donated provide jerseys and equipment(international Team True? I think so...). After crunching the numbers what it means is that for every pound of PNG that we sell approximately $2.50 that we'd ordinarily take as net profit is going towards the AAK Sports League.
Having said all that we appreciate your support and hope you enjoy the coffee.