SIFE Re-launches Café Cameroon

Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) has been restarted Café Cameroon after the former suppliers failed. December 6 at their revival party’s, presented SIFE Bawa Health Initiative with a check for $ 2,500. Cafe Cameroon generates revenue through the sale of coffee grown in Africa, and donate the profits Bawa Health Initiative.

The Bawa Health Initiative is to build a health center near the village of Bawa Cameroon. Currently, the nearest center is six miles and permanent residents do not have transportation, said the senior Fouska Brittney, the president of Cameroon coffee.

Café Cameroon’s mission will continue even after the medical center is built in the village.

“We plan to raise enough money to build the medical center and sustain it,” Fouskas said. “After the health center is built, Café Cameroon will still be around to sustain the medicine, equipment and employees.”

Fouskas said SIFE started Café Cameroon after being inspired by Professor of Biology Dennis Richardson, a cofounder of the Bawa Health Initiative.

“Café Cameroon coffee never went away, so re-launch isn’t exactly the proper term for the event,” said senior accounting Major Pamela Noujaim, the former Co-Vice President of SIFE until recently. “The only reason why the word‘re-launch’ has been used on the flyers is because we used to import raw coffee beans from Bawa, Cameroon.”

The shipping company Café Cameroon used to export the coffee out of Bawa went bankrupt.

“Getting coffee out of Cameroon became increasingly difficult due to the tariffs and difficulties of transportation of the coffee to the dock,” Fouskas said.

Café Cameroon now sells fair-trade coffee grown in Rwanda and is 100 percent Arabica Mountain grown. The supply comes from Dean’s Beans, a wholesaler based out of Massachusetts. This will allow Café Cameroon to have a steady supply of coffee, as well as higher profit margins.

“Moving to sell Rwandan coffee was a win-win-win situation for the farmers, Bawa and Café Cameroon,” Fouskas said.

According to Fouskas, the farmers are educated in safe farming practices and the crops they grow are environmentally sustainable

“Fair trade means that the farmers receive 20% above the market price than they normally would receive for their product,” Fouskas said. “The farmers are educated on how to farm safer and the crops that they grow are environmentally sustainable.”

The health initiative also aims to solve many of Bawa’s other problems. The only water supply for the estimated 500 residents of Bawa is small rivers often contaminated with diseases and human excrement.

Many of the residents are constantly fighting infections such as HIV, Typhoid fever and malaria. Children make up about a quarter of all deaths, the result of malnutrition or an infectious disease.

Cameroon Cafe sells a variety of other products such as light and dark coffee beans coated in chocolate, and hot chocolate. To support the Café Cameroon, all products are available for order at their official website.