Jambo (hello) from Kenya!
After a very long day of travel, I arrived at The Karen Blixen Coffee Garden and Cottages just outside of Nairobi on Wednesday night. The C.A.F.E. Practices verifier training began promptly at 8am on Thursday morning and extends through Friday afternoon. Attending are auditors from 3 organizations - Africert, CERES, and Partner Africa. I kicked off the day with an overview of Ethical Sourcing at Starbucks and what it means to operate a for profit business through the lens of humanity. From there, I shared our FY15 goals and progress around Ethical Sourcing and the Global Farmer Fund, and ended my portion of the presentation with details related to priorities for suppliers and verifier organizations. Eric Harris from SCS Global Services took over and we had a very engaged crowd of 17 auditors and lots of conversation around complex issues such as child labor, working hours, and wages. This group is not shy and it was great to see such a high level of participation. After just one day, I feel very good about the organizations we are using to carry out the C.A.F.E. Practices verifications in this region. It is clear that this group has strong integrity for the work they do and a high level of caring for farmers and their communities.
It's time to get a full night's sleep but I will post more as I continue on this journey. It sounds as if my internet connectivity may be non-existent in Tanzania, but I'll do my best to keep everyone informed.
Asante (thank you),
Jamie
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