Barista Magazine

AUG-SEP 2015

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C O L O M B I A IT'S A DISPIRITING STORY that's unfortunately the same all over the world: Young people see no future living in the country- side and move to the cities. As more and more of them leave, the population in the rural areas grows older and older. Additionally, as the young people move away, they take with them economic activity, since they're no longer making and spending money in the small- er towns and villages, which leaves these communities even more economically distressed. When young people move away, they take the future with them. The vicious cycle is true in almost every country on earth, but it's especially acute in many coffee-producing countries. In Colombia, for example, it's estimated that 35 percent of economic activity in rural areas is dependent on coffee. When people give up on farming and move to the cities, they take a huge chunk of their community's economy with them. Consider this: In Colombia, the average age of a coffee farmer is 55. In the department of Antioquia, it's 57. Coffee farming is hard, demanding, backbreaking work that requires tons of difficult, manual labor. That work can be an incredible burden on a 57-year-old-body. Asking them to do that without adding young people to the mix is unsustainable. The math is simple and painful to contemplate: No young coffee farmers today equals no coffee at all tomorrow. The city of Medellín sits in a deep valley. Steep slopes rise up on the east and west of the city, with the richest, most developed areas in the middle of the city toward the river. The shanties covering the mountainsides house the poorest members of the community. Not too long ago, this capital of Antioquia and the second-largest city in Colombia was known as one of the most dangerous cities on the planet and the murder capital of the world. Much like the demo- graphic trends devastating the countryside, the municipality ap- peared doomed to inhabit a destructive cycle of ever-greater wealth inequity, drawing the richest and poorest parts of the community farther and farther away from each other. In 2004, Sergio Fajardo, a mathematician from the University of the Andes, was elected mayor on a hugely innovative platform with Opposite page, top: Aerial trams crisscross the skyline of Medellín. They are one of the investments the city made in expanding its infrastructure to its poorest residents. Opposite page, boom: Campers at the third New Generation Coffee Camp get hands-on training with espresso machines and other brewing devices. This page: Campers slept six to a tent on the soccer pitch, and did not let two nights of torrential downpours dampen their spirits. 31 www.baristamagazine.com

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