After our experiences volunteering in Laos, Tanzania and Honduras Sharleen and I believe more than ever that:

“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”

- Nelson Mandela.

We have learned that positive sustainable change is possible when children are educated to be critical thinkers, and acquire the knowledge necessary to make informed and thoughtful decisions.

As business advisors, Sharleen’s and my contribution to this hopeful future has been to help families earn a sustainable livable income that allows parents to send their children to school, rather than work on the farm.

In Honduras, smallholder coffee farmers earn an average annual income of $3,000. We have been working with these farmers to help them produce quality coffee and market it directly to socially responsible roasters who see the benefit in making the farmer a partner in the business.

One such roaster is Germack Coffee from Detroit.  We convinced Steven to come to Honduras to visit our farmers and taste their coffees. Steven was the first buyer the farmers had ever met, and the one-on-one education and mentoring that he provided was invaluable.  Steven is now arranging to purchase a container of our farmers coffee to sell to his clients in Detroit.

Sharleen and I are back in Honduras to continue our work, and one of the goals we have set for ourselves is to convince 10 more organizations like Germack to visit our farms.

Coffee is only one area in which we are helping Honduran smallholder farmers. If you are interested in knowing more about our work, please ask and we will be happy to send you additional information.

We have never been comfortable asking for donations; however, we sincerely believe CUSO International is a unique Canadian organization worthy of assisting.  CUSO has a strong history of successfully helping the poor throughout the world, and 100% of every dollar that we raise goes back to sending new volunteers into the field.  

Our goal is to motivate 250 people to donate $20 each.

If you wish to donate more, that would be amazing and we would be grateful. You will receive an immediate tax receipt for any donation made.

Your kind donation is sincerely appreciated.

Best regards,

Gerry and Sharleen