HanaSF - Hana Scheetz Freymiller

My name is Hana Scheetz Freymiller and I am a recent graduate of Wellesley College in Massachusetts, majoring in development economics. Recently I received the 2007-2008 Wellesley Knafel Traveling Fellowship to study sustainable coffee production in six different
countries. Over the next year, I will spend two months in each of the following countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Guatemala, Costa Rica,Indonesia, and India.

The goals of my fellowship are:

* To live in coffee growing communities and visit small farms to study
the effect of sustainable coffee farming on farmers' well-being.
* To look beyond its price and learn how coffee cultivation impacts
communal structures.
* To compare different types of certification systems and understand
their impacts on farming methods.

This blog contains both notes on my research and some quirky details of my everyday adventures.
I sincerely hope you enjoy.

besos

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Joined on: September 5th 2007
Last Login: September 12th 2009

Blog Entries: 26
Photos: 66

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by HanaSF, order by Date newest first.

By HanaSF
September 8th 2008

Naandi: An Organic Vision Asia » India » Andhra Pradesh

A Tribal Mother and her baby

In poor, isolated communities scattered across the tropics, coffee cultivation is often presented as a solution to their economic and environmental woes. By selling coffee cherries, development agencies believe farmers gain valuable cash income that will enable them to invest in their children’s future with school uniforms and books. As coffee is a tree-like crop that loves shade, its roots grow alongside those of a diverse group of trees that prevent erosion, enrich previously unproductive soil and protect another swath of land from slash and burn agriculture. In the beautiful Arak [View Full Entry]

Women digging the hole for biogas storage at the factory

By HanaSF
September 2nd 2008

CAFNET: A Sustainable Landscape Asia » India » Karnataka » Coorg

Women walking to spray pesticides on a Silver Oak and coffee estate

I awoke early to meet Cheryl for breakfast. After chai and chipati, we boarded a door-less jeep to head out into the field. We bounced up and down dirt roads with potholes large enough for a hippo to properly bath herself. The constant jarring made conversation nearly impossible as the lack of doors forced all our attention to keeping our bodies inside the vehicle. The coffee estates lining the road were overgrown. The after-effects of the Indian coffee crisis combined with a perceived labor shortage and the pressures of modernity, have forced the land owners to search out other, more prof [View Full Entry]

The segmented TATA Estate: Ereka Nut and Coffee

TATA: Silver Oak with Pepper Vines and Coffee

Rice paddies surrounded by coffee fields and sacred groves

By HanaSF
August 15th 2008

IMT: A Forested Factory Asia » India » Karnataka » Chikkamagaluru

A traditional Indian coffee farm

I tossed a fist full of rupees at the cab driver, heaved my twenty kilo pack onto my back and jumped out of the tuk tuk. My feet hit the ground before we rolled to a stop. I plunged into the chaos of the Bangalore bush station, past families laden with clothes to carry home to the village and foreign travelers struggling to make sense of the melee. I rushed past the guards checking bags at the front, pretending that I did not understand the meaning of their raised fists and protesting voices. I asked the woman under the “office” sign [View Full Entry]

Suneetha, Me, Her Niece, Her Sister, Her Uncle

Dr. Suneel and his assistant pressing his point with a reluctant farmer

A path on the Cauvery Estate that controls erosion with terracing

By HanaSF
June 26th 2008

A Grander Purpose Asia » Indonesia » Flores » Ruteng

The Family Elders

Ice cold water stung my skin as I doused myself from a small bucket. Shivering I furiously lathered the lavender soap, hoping the movement would ward off the morning chill and help the soap wash off my fore arms. I emerged from my first mandi, a large tiled tub full of water with a scoop floating on top, clean, frozen and alert to my first day in Ruteng. I opened my door to Queen’s “We Are the Champions” echoing through the tiled hall, accompanied by the smile of my housemate Andi. He turned to me and said, “Good morning. Do you [View Full Entry]

By HanaSF
June 10th 2008

Bajawa Asia » Indonesia » Flores » Bajawa

The traditional rice storage houses of the Ngada

Our bus breaks through the morning mist as we descend down towards Bajawa, the capital of the Ngada region. Across the rice patties morning sun sprays rays of orange, red and yellow over sleepy families tugging water buffaloes by nose rings to work in their rice patties. The standing water of the untilled fields reflects the morning light creating an impressionist painting with the mist blurring the picture as we pass. I feel my legs begin to cramp from the five hour ride. I strain to stretch even a little. In nearly every house on Flores, families rouse themselves to work [View Full Entry]

The wife of the husband and team who supply Mr. Beni

The Chief presents me with a kilo of coffee

By HanaSF
June 5th 2008

Elar: The Stove on the Floor Asia » Indonesia » Flores

coffee

Sometimes bus is a generous word for public transportation. On Flores, “buses” are flat bed trucks, made for carrying cargo and fitted for carrying people. Passengers sit on wooden slabs tucked into the walls, like bleachers with splinters, next to bags of coffee and on top of half-conscious chickens. Every bump lands a bruise. Indonesian pop music with a hip hop base blares from a Panasonic speaker located near the roof. While I had long given up emerging from this ride unscarred, I was at least hoping to retain the function of one ear drum. Harry, my translator, moved behind me [View Full Entry]

Harryâ€™s Aunt cooking bamboo rice over the fire pit to celebrate our last night

Harry and his family outside their traditional home, standing on the grave of their grandfather

The Grandmother wrapped in a traditional Manggarai blanket and chewing Ereka Nut

By HanaSF
April 28th 2008

Anacafe: A struggling cooperative in Yute Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Quetzaltenango

The board of the Cooperative in Yute

My mom is a social worker. She looks at the policies that depend on personal initiative by the poor and says, “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is great, if you have bootstraps.” I often thought of this quote when people would remark on the untapped ingenuity of the poor or remark on their inherent laziness. Coming from a country where people harnessed an untamed wilderness to generate an industrial revolution, I understand how some would espouse the philosophy that anyone can rise above their circumstances with enough grit and determination. I was shocked by how often this s [View Full Entry]

Natalio Hernandez Ramos, the current secretary

New coffee plantations next to the forest surrounding Yute

By HanaSF
April 23rd 2008

La Taza de Excelencia: Slurp, swish and spit Central America Caribbean » El Salvador » La Palma

Sniffing Coffee

A zestful slurping chorus cuts through the whirring produced by a struggling air conditioner in the corner. Some slurps sound higher, like the buzz of a coffee grinder before you make your morning brew. Others lower more closely resemble the gurgle of an espresso machine churning out a shot. And others remind me of the roar of a jet engine. Some of the world’s most sophisticated coffee palates stand, deep in thought, at long rectangle tables where cups line up in pairs. A woman makes a note on her clip board after a long pondering look across the room before dipping [View Full Entry]

By HanaSF
April 19th 2008

ACCSO: The difference a war makes Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Chiquimula

â€œWe, in order to develop, unite ourselves in a groupâ€ â€“ the sign over the ACCSO factory

I stand in the in the open air of the pick up bed, my knees slightly bent, arms clutching the top of the cabin as we fly down another hairpin turn of the narrow dirt road that scales these coffee mountains and the only thought running through my mind, when I should be fearing for my life and limbs, is pure joy. I think faster Don Felipe! Faster! In this moment, I realize that no matter how adult I feel on my solo sojourn around the world, part of me will always be that 13-year old girl who loves to drive [View Full Entry]

Guillermo, ex-president of ACCSO, and his family

By HanaSF
April 12th 2008

Don Hugo: A Cooperative Disciple Central America Caribbean » El Salvador » La Palma

Don Hugo revving up the crowd

Daddy Yankee and the familiar cloud of red dust followed me up the road to the Hotel La Palma. Due to the kindness of the head of a the Central and South American wing of EDE, an international coffee foundation, I found myself searching for a coffee taller (conference) for farmers participating in their newest sustainability project in the middle of the mountains of northern El Salvador. Bright paintings cover the walls of the town, depicting birds, homes, women and children. The distinctive style is a hallmark of La Palma, home to some of the best coffee in El Salvador. I [View Full Entry]

Miguelâ€™s farm destroyed by extreme winds

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