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The world is celebrating these powerful chicken soup and asked my father to give the new farm

women, who own their own farms and the name Mediomundo. Without speaking, he took a
napkin, drew a world, tore it in half, and said with a choked
produce their own coffee. voice, “You will be called Mediomundo.” He then handed
me half of the napkin and put the other half in his shirt
pocket. My dad was such a romanticist. I still keep the half
piece of the napkin. If I had twenty farms, they would all
be called Mediomundo.

Chapter 3

Lucía and Ángela met at school. Living in different
places, they had no contact for many years until coffee
brought them together again. Ascafé, an association of
women coffee growers of Pereira, became the bridge
We made a verbal agreement to work together with- But an earthquake struck the farm during the repair. On between them.
out formalities, as it was not necessary for true siblings. January 25, 1999, an earthquake hit Colombia’s coffee Ascafé was founded 17 years ago by two women who
We started looking for land. When the decision was made, region. In 28 seconds, the 6.2 magnitude earthquake killed had to take over a coffee farm overnight because they had
one of my sisters also felt interested. The four of us began thousands, injured 200,000, forced more than 800 coffee to make a living from it. It was a necessity and also a shock
to form a capital. plantations to stop operating and reduced 28 municipali- in the patriarchal rural world that did not approve of
Every tide has its ebb. When we had the start-up ties to rubble. women managing, ordering and running farms, whether
capital and looked for a loan to buy a farm, we came across People lost friends, family, money and jobs. The re- they knew what they were talking about or not. In order
our elder brother’s sudden bankruptcy with financial pair in the hut was also destroyed. After the earthquake, to manage the workers, women had to unite and get
difficulties. He owned a small piece of land with pasture we decided to take down some of the broken beams, but trained. This was the origin of the union: in Betulia and
but no livestock. We couldn’t abandon him in this situa- unfortunately the move made the hut collapse, because the Altagracia, 11 women faced up to the reality of trying to
tion. I suggested using the money we had to buy some structure did not have enough load bearing capacity. It was promote women’s rights.
cattle and raise them on his land. Everyone agreed. I re- the most difficult time; the city was in crisis. Lucía felt lost They took their seats on the city council, started man-
member that we bought a heifer, three cows and two and didn’t know the way to go, with no livestock, no hut aging their own farms with gained respect, making a foothold
calves. We put them on the farm and trusted in God. and no money. She even considered giving up everything. in the countryside and the coffee culture of Pereira.
Then the pregnant cow gave birth to a calf and we The government set up the Fund for the Recon- Lucía has been there for five years and has been
had milk. When the calf grew, we sold it to buy in more struction and Social Development of the Coffee-Growing working on the coffee farming front. Ángela has been
heifers, eventually having seventeen in total. It was actu- Region (FOREC), investing 1.6 trillion Colombian pesos. there from the start. They are not only confronting the
ally enough to operate this farm in a self-sufficient way These funds, which come from the Colombian govern- patriarchy rooted on the slopes, but also pushing for a
just by selling the milk. ment and other countries, were earmarked for rebuilding better life quality for all, including the farmers, the fam-
Then my eldest brother got a job in Medellín, a rare the destroyed cultural heritage. The government also * ilies and the coffee itself. It is a constant battle.
opportunity. He needed a sum of money to start a new invested in the affected coffee farms and estates to re- My son, who studied architecture in Bogotá, was in Today, 33 women are producing “gendered” coffee
life and had to sell the land. We decided to lease a piece cover the industry; the money was managed by the charge of the design of the house for the reconstruction. and selling their raw beans to the world. The world is
of land in Salento, even though we thought it would be of Coffee Growers Committee. Since he didn’t live here, my father and I were doing the celebrating these powerful women, who own their own
no use at all and very expensive to do so. After a few Lucía didn’t expect anything from the fund. She construction. My son always said, jokingly and seriously, farms and produce their own coffee. But now, they have
months, we figured out that it would be better to take out hadn’t grown coffee yet. A few weeks after the earth- that I had ruined his design. A few months later, the house faced more than patriarchy – some of them still don’t get
a loan and buy the land. We obtained a loan in my hus- quake, she got a call from the Coffee Growers Committee. was completed. My brother suggested growing coffee on the coffee growing certificates from the Federation, even
band’s name and brought the cows there. Sadly, they didn’t “Ms. Lucía,” they said, “we must rebuild your farm im- the estate. It was the only thing we still needed to try, a though they have been growing coffee for decades. They
adapt to the environment, got bitten by lice, became mediately, and please come to the office to discuss the memory from our childhood and a reason to rebuild. have to deal with the complications of producing coffee
emaciated and stopped producing milk. We had to sell subsidy.” She couldn’t believe it, but she didn’t have time Today, the coffee business still doesn’t make ends meet, at a frequent loss in the country, where coffee farmers
them for half the price. But it was our farm; we finally had to think. The previous owners of this land had grown but it has become a hobby, a passion and a profession for can get tiny attention when newspaper headlines are not
our own farm. coffee, so the farm was still on the roster. They had us. When we save some money, I want to expand the about football.
They were left with no livestock but only a piece of visited here, but she had happened to be away and the planting scale. Ascafé wants to build its own brand, roast its own
the unconstructed farm. The first task was to renovate the butler had told the Committee that the earthquake had When the house was completed, we had a grand coffee beans and export more. They are women over 40
house, which was not really a house. This wooden ram- destroyed everything. In a way he wasn’t wrong. Soon opening and invited our cousins to get together and talk who have stepped out of the established framework. They
shackle hut was originally used for someone to look after the subsidies were put in place and the siblings each about our lives as we had done in our childhood. They define themselves to be more than just mothers and
the farm – the butler, as how they called it. We decided burdened part of the cost. They were lucky and eventu- brought their partners, children and grandchildren, adding housewives, but also a coffee farmer. Lucía and Ángela
to use the money from selling cows to repair the place. ally started the rebuilding. up to almost a hundred people. We prepared a pot of are still fighting; in fact, this is just the start.

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