Share my story, make me famous!
- Ailín Benítez Cortés
- Apr 30
- 3 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Recently, I have been reading about the role(s) that women take on when they work in rural agriculture while continuing to be caregivers at home. Throughout this learning process, the same question has come to mind: What does a normal day look like for a woman working in rural agriculture? Therefore, this month's blog is dedicated to sharing and visibilizing the story of a woman, and perhaps many women, working in rural agriculture, specifically in the coffee business. Why is this important? Because there is a diversity of stories and experiences of women in agriculture that inspire the work we do at Greenseed.
Some time ago I was lucky enough to meet Reina, a woman from the coffee region of Colombia. She works in rural coffee farming and was willing to share her story with us, "Share my story, make me famous!" she said.
On a remote hill in the coffee region of Colombia stands the home of Don Juan and Doña Reina, and their young son, Carlitos. They are "cafeteros", the Spanish word for coffee farmers, and they have a hectare of land where they grow coffee.
The day starts at around 5 a.m. Doña Reina is usually responsible for preparing all the meals during the day, but Don Juan sometimes takes on this responsibility as well. They host around 5 coffee workers, some of them old friends and others seasonal workers from other places.
Doña Reina's day is very busy, as she goes from household chores (cooking, cleaning, washing) to coffee work throughout the day. She also takes Carlitos to school in the morning and picks him up in the afternoon, a 30-minute walk down the hill to get to school and 40 minutes up the hill to get home.
Her coffee duties are varied, especially during the harvest season. The workers spend all day picking coffee cherries and at the end of the day she usually weighs the collected cherries and notes down the kilos collected by each worker, based on the kilos they will be paid at the end of each week. Once this is done, the workers put the cherries in a machine to separate the coffee bean from the cherry and then Doña Reina starts washing the coffee beans. She washes them about 5 times and leaves them to ferment overnight for between 12 and 15 hours. The next day the beans are taken to the roof of the house where they dry for days, hoping for good weather. Sometimes Don Juan does this work too, but his responsibilities are more focused on the technical aspects of the coffee fields, like making sure the cherries are growing healthy.
The sun sets around 6 p.m. Around that time they have dinner and do the final cleaning of the house. Doña Reina prepares Carlitos for the next day at school and for bed.
Prayers are said and goodnight kisses are given. A new day begins tomorrow at 5 a.m.
"Proudly Colombian and cafetera" said Doña Reina. For Reina and her husband, working in coffee farming is more than just a job, it is an identity they build every day and something they are deeply proud of. So are we at Greenseed, to be part of a project that allows us to connect with incredible women around the world.
Original names have been changed
I had the permission of Reina to write about her
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