Martin's cultivation project

Martin's story

Martin is the brother of Jose Antonio, with whom I originally set up the project of The Forgotten Children of the Land of Lakes and Volcanoes in 2017.

Martin works in a coffee finca run by an American businessman.  He looks after the coffee plants and deals with the processing, and has responsibility for the temporary workers.  He earns a very small salary.

Martin is 29,  

married with a wife Veronica, two stepchildren Anjuly, 12 and Jimena, 11 and a son Édouard, 6, who has just moved into the first grade from preschool..

Martin has a small plot of land belonging to the family which he cultivates with coffee. This provides the coffee for the family.

There is a lot of work as the plants have to be kept fertilised and free of disease.  There is an optimum time for the beans to be picked.  They are inside a soft casing, which has to be stripped off.

We visited the plot whilst I was on Ometepe Island

All of the work is done by hand and I was invited to join in.  It was hard work!

The beans are roasted over an open fire.

This is very difficult in temperatures around 30.  The taste of the coffee depends on the accuracy of roasting.

Then the beans are ground with an old fashioned meat mincer.

This was pretty difficult too!

Next the ground coffee is prepared for drinking;  yes it could be an old sock, certainly no high tech gadgets here.

Martin has prepared from cultivation through to finished project, some bags of coffee for me to bring home and for the club, in recognition of the donation towards his cultivation project.

In 2018 he borrowed a little money to grow maize and beans, staple crops, to help the family during the political crisis and in view of the loss or tourism and lack of work.  He had saved half of this money when I arrived and is now investing this $50 dollars with the $125 donated by Billingshurst Horticultural Society to start another cultivation project this year.  This will help to feed the extended family and provide some income for essentials such as rice, salt, sugar, oil, soap, toilet paper and soap.

Martin gave me some bags of coffee to bring home.  Fortunately I didn't get stopped in customs and was able to bring it all home. The Horticultural Club committee very much enjoyed it.

Now Martin has rented another piece of land for further cultivation. 

He now needs to clear it before planting.