Two things spring to mind when I think of Ethiopia – coffee and running – two things I am myself deeply passionate about. So, when you get a chance to get behind an amazing cause such as this one, you might say that you run towards the opportunity!
Today we will be roasting our first batches of a new Ethiopian coffee that has the potential to make a huge impact. The Girls Gotta Run Foundation (GGRF) is a non-profit organisation which uses running and education to empower young women and their communities in Ethiopia, and this coffee will play a small but significant role in supporting this truly great cause.
We are fortunate enough to have a great supply relationship with Falcon Specialty, who has been working alongside GGRF since 2015. Over the years they have made donations through coffee sales and charitable donations but have recently changed their donation structure, in line with GGRF’s most pressing requirements. They now sponsor 10 young women and their mothers each year in the programme, donating towards education, health care, daily meals, uniform and athletics equipment, books, tutoring and access to school clubs.
This year as a way of promoting the amazing work of GGRF they have taken the additional steps of naming ten of the fantastic lots they have sourced from Mustefa Abakeno (pictured below) after each of the young women they sponsor in the programme. Each lot has been separated down to farm level for full transparency (we are roasting Lot 19), and each lot has a name given by GGRF to represent each girl’s distinct personalities and interests.
We are pleased to announce that we have managed to grab ourselves a bag of this delicious coffee – nicknamed ‘Trailblazing Zelalem’ and would like to add an extra step in this journey by donating the profits from this coffee to support the charity. We will be donating the full amount needed to sponsor one young woman – Zelalem Dawit – for the full year. Zelalem is on track to become an engineer, and the athletic scholarship provided by GGRF will allow her to continue her education to the level she aspires to.
We really hope you enjoy the coffee. For further info on GGRF, click here to read on, or watch the video below for Zelalem’s story so far.
Buy ‘Trailblazing Zelalem’ here.
Thank you,
The Rounton Coffee team.
Rewriting motherhood from CCL Ethiopia on Vimeo.