Claudine’s Story

Last year, we visited Claudine and her husband, Jonas, at their home in Coko. She was a Kula Fellow in our second cohort, graduating in 2020 with a vision of using what she gained through the program to drastically improve her family’s life. Sitting together in her home, Claudine shared how much she learned about coffee farming through the Fellowship, noting that they now harvest 2.7 kg of coffee cherries per tree compared to the 1.7 kg per tree they used to produce. In fact, their harvest has increased so much that they’re now able to hire other people from their community during coffee season. Claudine told us that she also started growing vegetables to increase the nutrition and food security for their two children, eventually growing enough to satisfy her family’s needs and sell the surplus in the local market. From there, they used the new revenue from their higher producing coffee farm and vegetable business to purchase a cow, for milk to consume and sell, as well as to produce manure for their farm – demonstrating the beautiful and synergistic nature of their businesses. 

As a result, Claudine and Jonas have increased their household revenue by over 300%, allowing them to renovate their home and build an additional house to rent out for yet another source of income. For Claudine and Jonas, all of this effort is directed toward their primary goal of creating a life of choice and opportunity for their children, which they believe starts with an education. Unsurprisingly, they are achieving that reality –  telling us that before joining the Fellowship, “paying school fees used to be a burden. Now, it’s easy.”