The Birth of OH! Coffee – Asha’s Story (the Power of a Dream)

Crisis Aid has been serving people in East Africa since 2000. We see people in desperate situations with extreme needs on a daily basis, and we are quick to respond. But on July 24, 2015 – things dramatically changed. We met Asha.

Asha was 4 years old when her father brought her to one of our feeding programs. Starvation had already taken the lives of two of his children just months before, so he recognized the signs. His little girl was dying, and he knew it. He was losing hope!    

We rushed her to a nearby hospital, but it was too late. She died a few days later. We cannot describe the heartbreak. We kept asking ourselves, what if we had been there just a few days earlier, would she have made it? Why does this vicious cycle continue in these areas, year after year, generation after generation?  How can we make more of an impact than what we are currently making? Refusing to do nothing was not an option.

Then it occurred to us, this horrible cycle of starvation was because they had no other way to provide for themselves. They had no skills and absolutely no opportunity. They tilled the land year after year, generation after generation with a makeshift shovel too dull to hardly penetrate the earth.  The only opportunity Asha’s father had was to try to find work as a day laborer for others, tilling the ground with only a few meager coffee trees. 

This was his world, NO FOOD – NO MEDICAL CARE – NO JOBS – NO HOPE! 

But what if we could make a better world for him?  What if we could teach him and provide channels for him? What if we could finally break this vicious cycle of abject poverty for his family for years to come?

This was the birth, OH! Coffee.

Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia grows some of the best coffee in the world. Our vision –

• Demonstrate and teach coffee farmers a better way to farm.
• Provide a channel for them to go to market.
• Reinvest ALL of the net profits from coffee sales into the programs we operate, supporting the people we serve.

Not just for today, but for generations to come.

This is not a story of a big company trying to make a profit – but rather a story of a little girl named Asha. Her short life shaped a dream to do and to be so much more for the people we serve!  We are building sustainability for our projects that serve people like Asha and her father for the long term.

By purchasing from OH! Coffee you are now part of this dream.  Thank you!    

Thank you for making this dream a reality for others.