For years, men controlled one village's coffee industry — but one woman changed that

Meridah Nandudu, 35, couldn't find a occupation aft graduating pinch a grade successful societal work. That's erstwhile she began to deliberation astir java arsenic a measurement to toggle shape her life and nan lives of nan women from her village. As nan proprietor of Bayaaya Specialty Coffee successful Mbale, Uganda, she now buys her java straight from much than 600 women farmers, overcoming nan first guidance from nan men successful nan village. "It was a spot reliable because, arsenic we each know, java is simply a male-dominated thing," she says. "The husbands wouldn't let their wives to waste nan java astatine all." Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Claire Harbage/NPR

MBALE, eastbound Uganda — Meridah Nandudu brews a mean roast java astatine nan office of Bayaaya Specialty Coffee, a institution she founded and runs.

"Medium roast is my favorite," she says, taking a heavy inhale of her afloat cup. "It brings retired nan caramels, nan assemblage of nan coffee, nan cocoa flavors."

But java is much than conscionable a portion to her. It's a captious portion of her life communicative and her activity to amended nan lives of women successful her community.

But she could ne'er person imagined that java would play a domiciled successful charting her ain course.

A girl of java farmers

Nandudu grew up successful nan distant colony of Bugibulungu, adjacent nan separator pinch Kenya, connected a elevation lush pinch banana and arabica java trees. Her parents and grandparents were java farmers.

But she was not willing successful pursuing successful their footsteps.

Part of that was owed to nan gender dynamics that played retired successful beforehand of her: In this portion of Uganda, java is seen arsenic a man's thing, including producing it, trading it and consuming it. Women are reluctant to moreover portion java because location is simply a belief that it will impact their fertility. But they do play an invisible and thankless domiciled successful nan industry: They thief turn nan beans.

Based connected what she had seen increasing up, Nandudu besides didn't deliberation location was a batch of money to beryllium made from coffee.

"We're fundamentally progressive successful nan section work, for illustration you're going to nan workplace pinch your mother — you're planting, you're harvesting. Then erstwhile nan java is ready, our dada would travel and conscionable prime it, and past he goes and sells," she says. "So we didn't cognize nan worth that came pinch a kilo of coffee."

Mary Nagisi (from left), Meridah Nandudu and Linet Gimono analyse java beans drying extracurricular Nagisi's location successful Bugibulungu colony successful eastbound Uganda. Nagisi and Gimono are among hundreds of women java farmers who are now earning money by trading their beans to Nandudu. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Claire Harbage/NPR

Big dreams that didn't travel true

Nandudu's expansive dream was to time off her village, create a caller life for herself and 1 time travel backmost to nan colony to thief nan women there.

As overmuch arsenic she loved her colony and her childhood, Nandudu says, her memories are tainted by nan unit and maltreatment she saw nan women successful her organization suffer. Harvest play was nan worst, Nandudu says, because couples would conflict complete really to walk nan money earned from java farming, starring to a surge successful home violence.

"As a child, witnessing unit is thing that affected my mind. It's very traumatizing," Nandudu says, recalling nan times erstwhile her aunts and different neighbors came to her family's location successful nan mediate of nan night, seeking refuge from a hubby who was beating them. Every now and then, she would perceive that a man from nan colony had killed his wife.

Nandudu's mother told her that if nan women successful her organization had their ain money, it would springiness them options to thief them get distant from a difficult business — for illustration an abusive spouse.

"Most of these unit cases came arsenic a consequence of women being overly limited connected their husbands," Nandudu says. Her neighbors would besides regularly travel to their location asking for basal equipment for illustration brackish aliases sugar, acrophobic to show their husbands to spell bargain them, because it would lead to violence.

"I kept telling myself, for illustration 1 day, if an opportunity comes up, I must travel backmost present and alteration nan life of [the women] successful my community," she says.

With her mother's encouragement, Nandudu dreamed of going to assemblage and becoming a lawyer.

She near her colony to study successful Kampala, Uganda's capital. But she was not capable to get into nan rule department. Instead she studied societal activity and later completed a postgraduate certificate successful task management.

She struggled to find a job, however, because of precocious unemployment rates.

And that's erstwhile she began to deliberation astir java again. She had learned that java is 1 of Uganda's apical exports and that location was so money to beryllium made. So she thought astir opening up a java business.

Meridah Nandudu successful her agency astatine nan office of Bayaaya Specialty Coffee successful Mbale. Nandudu devised a scheme to get money straight into nan hands of nan women successful her village. She went to nan antheral farmers' homes 1 by 1 and offered an incentive: an other 200 Ugandan shillings (about 6 U.S. cents) per kilogram of java from her ain profits if their wives could waste straight to her. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Claire Harbage/NPR

But that took a while.

Eventually, Nandudu joined and had 2 kids. As nan years went by, she felt trapped, for illustration galore of nan women she knew successful her village, pinch a controlling husband.

"He was holding maine back," Nandudu says. "I was a stay-at-home mother. I was not expected to work. I could not do immoderate business, truthful I had to trust afloat connected my husband."

In 2020, 5 years into their marriage, erstwhile Nandudu was 30 years old, her hubby abruptly left. One time not agelong after, arsenic she was sitting astatine home, exhausted, pinch nary money and nary job, destitute and crying, she had an epiphany.

"I started having these thoughts successful my head. Like I've been capable to spell to nan champion universities successful nan country, and past I person nan knowledge — I besides person skills," Nandudu says. In that moment, she thought astir nan women backmost successful her village, who ne'er sewage a chance to spell to schoolhouse and didn't person nan skills she had learned: How would they beryllium capable to get retired of nan business they were in?

"And past instantly I started reorganizing my brain, for illustration restructuring myself," she says. "It motivated maine because I saw myself arsenic having everything that tin assistance maine [up from this situation]."

Returning to her java roots

Nandudu decided to spell backmost to her colony and effort to build a specialty java business — buying from nan farmers successful her colony and trading nan barren beans to roasters and exporters.

But she quickly realized location was a batch she didn't know.

"I participate into coffee, and past I statesman making mistakes, value mistakes," Nandudu says — specified arsenic not drying nan beans afloat aliases storing them adjacent livestock, which interfered pinch nan smell of nan beans.

Those mistakes costs her a batch of money and wasted beans. She knew she needed guidance but couldn't spend courses that would supply training.

That aforesaid year, successful 2020, she heard astir a program funded by nan Netherlands that offered free business training to young entrepreneurs moving successful agriculture successful Uganda. After conscionable 3 months successful nan program, Nandudu says her full life changed.

Nandudu, pointing retired immoderate ripe java connected nan branches of a tree, learned really to attraction for nan crops and summation yields done a program funded by nan Netherlands that offered free business training to young entrepreneurs moving successful agriculture successful Uganda. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Claire Harbage/NPR

She learned really to return attraction of java trees for high-quality beans, really to get nan astir output from nan harvest and really to support nan value of nan legume erstwhile it has been picked from nan character and goes done nan full process, until it dries. She besides learned astir finances, really to usage a slope for business and really to prevention money. It helped her spot that by having a successful business, she could thief others too.

"I saw that java is literally, it's a golden that is seated connected our trees," she says.

"It's thing that tin alteration nan life of a woman. So I started, like, preaching a java gospel to nan women [in nan village] for them to understand nan worth that is successful coffee," Nandudu says.

She started pinch a mini group of 5 women farmers from her village, school them what she had learned successful her training, and convinced them to waste their java beans to her.

But she encountered guidance from nan men successful nan village.

"It was a spot reliable because, arsenic we each know, java is simply a male-dominated thing," she says. The husbands wouldn't let their wives to waste nan java astatine all.

Employees astatine Bayaaya Specialty Coffee benignant nan java coming successful from nan farms. All nan activity is done by manus isolated from for nan hulling machine, which strips nan papery outer furniture disconnected nan beans. The remaining greenish java beans are past sold to roasters. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Claire Harbage/NPR

"So basically, women would do what we telephone donkey work. They're doing nan farming, nan weeding, nan harvesting, nan pulping, nan drying."

But nan money from each that activity would spell straight to nan man of nan house.

"And nan infinitesimal [the men] spell and waste nan coffee, immoderate of them don't travel backmost location for 2 weeks — they disappear. They travel backmost location erstwhile they person drunk disconnected each nan money. And now nan female cannot question: Where is nan money? Or inquire for immoderate to salary nan children's schoolhouse fees. They didn't person that voice."

So Nandudu devised a scheme to get money straight into nan hands of nan women. She went to nan antheral farmers' homes 1 by 1 and offered an incentive: an other 200 Ugandan shillings (about 6 U.S. cents) per kilogram of java from her ain profits if their wives could waste straight to her. The inducement money besides went to nan women, but nan men recognized it would yet mean much money for their households, she says.

Mary Nagisi (right), pinch thief from her neighbour Linet Gimono, originates processing freshly picked java successful beforehand of her location successful Bugibulungu. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Claire Harbage/NPR

Slowly, nan men agreed, and galore person travel to judge that their wives are making their ain money now. Some of nan women farmers besides told NPR that their financial independency allowed them to time off their abusive partner.

Hundreds of women farmers

Five years later, Nandudu now buys from complete 600 women farmers, and respective 100 antheral farmers too. She has won awards and grants that person helped her turn her company. Her ngo and her occurrence person go an inspiration to galore different aspiring entrepreneurs successful Uganda who besides grew up pinch constricted resources, according to Jackie Aldrette, executive head of AVSI-USA, nan statement that provided Nandudu's training pinch backing from nan Netherlands.

"The power of a existent protagonist spills complete and lifts others arsenic well, and coming we spot Meridah creating jobs and inspiring hundreds of her peers," Aldrette says. "There are truthful galore group for illustration her that are conscionable fresh to do awesome things [but] haven't had an opportunity to beryllium lifted up."

Juliet Kwaga, who was 1 of nan first farmers to waste to Nandudu, harvests java connected her workplace successful Bugibulungu. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Claire Harbage/NPR

Juliet Kwaga, 31, is 1 of nan first farmers who sold her beans to Nandudu.

"She taught maine really to usage manure successful my farm, truthful I tin get higher yields," Kwaga says, and really to excavation trenches for drainage and really to forestall ungraded erosion during dense rains.

Kwaga says her life looks a batch different now that she has her ain money. Before, she utilized to person to inquire her hubby for money for nan astir basal needs, for illustration soap aliases paying schoolhouse fees for her children. It led to changeless fights.

"But correct now, I tin return my kid to school, bargain my basal needs. I don't overly dangle connected my hubby [who continues to workplace and waste coffee]."

For Nandudu, nan dream is only conscionable beginning. She wants to grow her business and beryllium capable to roast her ain java and export it too.

Nandudu handles nan java beans arsenic they statesman to dry. She plans to grow her business by roasting her ain java and exporting it. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Claire Harbage/NPR

"So we are looking astatine exporting our ain java by nan extremity of this year. And past we are besides looking astatine creating much employment for women," she says.

Her information remains nan aforesaid arsenic it was connected nan time she had her epiphany: "[To see] a female empowered, [to see] a woman's life changing from being that female that would virtually person to request to being a female that tin make decisions," Nandudu says.