Summer 2012 [pdf] - The Mill Hill Missionaries

An example of how things canbe improved:• A documentary film called‘Black Gold’ was released in2006. It outlined the efforts ofan Ethiopian Coffee FarmersCooperative Union to obtain abetter return on their coffee.• As a result of the film, the coffeeprice received by these farmersincreased from $1.45 per pound to$2.30 per pound.• The big multinational coffeecompanies (including Kraft,Nestle, Starbucks) have beenchallenged to consider usingFairtrade Coffee.• This Cooperative Unioninvolves 197 local cooperatives,representing over 200,000 coffeefarmers.For those with access to the internet,view the documentary film‘Black Gold’,see: www.blackgoldmovie.com90% goes to foreignimporters, distributors,and roasters10% goes toEthiopiansTHE PROFITDISPARITYDark ThursdayFr Declan, martyr for peaceTen years ago, on Thursday March 21st2002 Fr Declan O’Toole mhm, aged31, was murdered along with two ofhis mission workers. Ordained in 1997he had been appointed to the Dioceseof Kotido in the Karamoja region ofUganda. From the start of his ministryin Panyangara he worked for peaceand reconciliation among the variouslocal tribal groups. He was involved ina government-sponsored programme todisarm the tribal warriors, but protestedat the sometimes violent way in whichthe Ugandan soldiers carried out thisby Fr Gerry Hastie mhmtask. In retaliation, he was ambushedon the road to his mission and killed.Fr Gerry Hastie mhm (from Clarkston),who worked for a number of years inthe same mission, writes about hislate colleague.In March 1997, when I was in my firstyear of theology and Declan was aDeacon and in his final year, he receivedhis appointment to Karamoja, Uganda. Iremember Declan being overjoyed withhis appointment; he was already in lovewith Uganda, having spent two yearsthere as a student, and he longed to beGathering the coffee berries.Panyangara.18 19