Bandon Businessman’s Trip to Ethiopia

Posted on 16 February 2010

On January 26th 2010, Clonakilty man Kieran White, managing director of The Island Beverage Company based in the Bypass Business Park Bandon, travelled to Ethiopia to witness the completion of an ambitious project to bring water to the village of Illili Darartu.

The project was begun after Kieran and colleagues in the Irish coffee roasting company Java Republic visited the origin of the coffee beans they were sourcing and met the coffee farmers and their families. By visiting the farms, it created a direct link between the company and the farming communities, increasing understanding of the product and also becoming aware of the harsh realities of the industry. As a result of their trip to Ethiopia in 2006, a huge fundraising effort was made on return to Ireland, managing to raise €132,000 to build a new school, a medical centre and water works project in the village.

While all projects are at an advanced stage, Kieran is delighted that the water project is finally completed and is greatly anticipating seeing for himself the vast impact it will have on the people and community he visited four years ago, who previously had to walk a round trip of six hours in baking heat for a miniscule amount of precious water.

Speaking while finalising his travel arrangements, Kieran remarked “More and more people have become increasingly aware of the significance of buying coffee which has ethically sourced coffee beans. Java Republic is leading the way in Ireland in this regard and was recently voted 2nd most ethical coffee company in all of Europe. We’re proud to say that Java Republic gives 11% of our net profits back to projects in the coffee growing communities like the water project we’re going to see next week.” A TV crew from RTE will accompany Kieran and his colleagues on their week long trip to Ethiopia and their endevours will feature on ‘Documentaries on One’ later in the year. Details and photo’s of the project can be seen on www.javarepublic.com.