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Coffee News from Velasquez Family Coffee.
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Honduras, Guillermo's home country and the land where our coffee grows, has been in the news this past month for two different reasons -- their valiant but unsuccessful participation in the World Cup and as the source of many of the thousands of children flooding our southern border. 

Before we share our reflections on these headlines, a quick reminder, if you live (or work) in Minneapolis or St. Paul and some suburbs, we can add you to our free home delivery route on Friday, July 11. If you don't live in these areas, we're happy to mail coffee to you. Just get your coffee order to us before noon Wednesday, July 9 by contacting us at coffee@vfamilycoffee.com or ordering through our website. Our next delivery date will be Friday, August 8th.
Honduran Fútbol!!
Everywhere you go in Honduras, you can find boys (and increasingly girls) kicking a ball around in dusty streets, in open fields or on the many soccer pitches that have been created for this popular past time. The picture above is the Rio Negro "campo de fútbol" built on a rare flat area of land that Guillermo's father donated to the community many years ago. Tournaments for both men's and women's teams are held regularly here, complete with hundreds of fans and people selling homemade food and beverages. 

So it was a big deal when Honduras made it to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as one of only four CONCACAF teams representing North and Central America and the Caribbean (along with Costa Rica, Mexico and the USA). This was Honduras' 3rd time in the World Cup and they manged to score one more goal than when they competed in South Africa four years ago (i.e., they actually scored a goal this time).

Despite their underdog status, they played valiantly, earning this praise from a New York Times blogger after their final 0-3 game against Switzerland: "Honduras was a formidable opponent though, and should be applauded for their efforts: despite the score, they never flagged....I will have to remember this effort next time I am finding inspiration lacking."

For a moving tribute to Honduran fútbol, check out the Honduran team profile video produced by FIFATV. (Oh and the dog? That is Barkley in one of our many Honduran soccer jerseys getting ready to watch the first World Cup game again France.)
Children at the Border
It is striking that several of the Honduran soccer players in the video profile above, talked about the World Cup as an opportunity for the whole country to "forget" problems at home. Sadly, there are a lot of awful things going on in Honduras that are only now getting a little attention here in the U.S. as we see heartbreaking reports of tens of thousands of unaccompanied Central American children trying to cross our southern border. This humanitarian crisis was described in a recent Vox article this way:

"Recent studies suggest that most of these unaccompanied children aren't economic migrants, as many Americans might assume — they're fleeing from threats and violence in their home countries, where things have gotten so bad that many families believe that they have no choice but to send their children on the long, dangerous journey north. They're not here to take advantage of American social services — they're refugees from conflict. Understanding the nature of the violence pushing them north is crucial for figuring out what to do about the child refugee crisis on our southern border."

One statistic from the article that summarizes how bad things have gotten is that the 2012 murder rate in Honduras was 30% higher than civilian casualties during the height of the Iraq war - or statistically speaking it is twice as dangerous to live in Honduras now than it was for Iraqi civilians in 2007. But perhaps the best way to understand the problem is to read some of the horrifying stories researchers are hearing from these children, stories of gangs recruiting in schools and taking over neighborhoods, friends and family members murdered, corrupt police and school officials, assaults and rapes and kidnappings. We especially recommend the following two resources:

-The Awful Reason Tens of Thousands of Children are Seeking Refuge in the United States (July 3, 2014, Vox Conversations)
-No Childhood Here: Why Central American Children are Fleeing their Homes (July 2014 Immigration Policy Center)

Check out our Facebook page for additional links to videos, news articles and research reports on this tragic topic.
Celebrating Immigrants
Velasquez Family Coffee would not exist if Guillermo had not made the decision to go north 25 years ago or if Cathy's ancestors had not journeyed from Germany to Russia settling ultimately in the Dakota prairies several generations ago. So on this 4th of July weekend, we celebrate the spirit of immigrants with an excerpt from a blog post from the American Immigration Council a fine group working to reform our broken immigration system.

"The promise of the American Dream has always served as a beacon of hope to people around the world. We’re celebrating our nation’s birthday and independence this weekend. But in addition to the history, we should also celebrate the immigrants who continue to come here to contribute and enhance our nation and remember the millions who already feel like Americans and are simply waiting for an opportunity to make it official."
Coffee Tasting - July 19
We hope you can join us Saturday morning, July 19th from 10 to 12 for an informal coffee tasting and open house at Sunrise Market at 865 Pierce Butler Road in St. Paul. We'll brew up our different coffees for you to try along with some of Sunrise Market's yummy pastries. We'll have photos of the coffee farm in Honduras and we'll be there in person to tell you our own stories. We look forward to the opportunity to chat with you face to face. Hope to see you there!
Velasquez Family Coffee
Shade Grown | Hand Picked | Sun Dried | Fair Trade
Directly from our Family to You
www.vfamilycoffee.com
coffee@vfamilycoffee.com
651-587-5356
Copyright © 2014 Velasquez Family Coffee, All rights reserved.


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