Most of us enjoy a good cup of coffee…but have we thought about the work that goes into getting it?  We really didn’t until we moved here to Papua New Guinea, where coffee is one of the main cash crops.  We had a chance to go coffee picking last week with one of our Bena friends. We saw how coffee is grown, picked, washed, the shell taken off, and dried.
 Coffee is grown on trees. Living in these mountains, we are surrounded by coffee plants.  When the seed is ready, turns a red color. It’s pretty easy to pick the coffee off the tree but it takes alot of tedious work to get a full bag!  Once we had a full bag, we went to our friends house where he washed it and put it into his coffee machine. This special hand cranked machine takes the outer shell off the coffee bean. As it goes thru the machine the outer shell falls behind and the bean drops into the bag. Once there is enough coffee in the bag, it’s washed again and then laid out to dry. It usually takes about 2 days to dry the beans. A large 50 kilo coffee bag will sell for roughly $60 USD. The coffee prices fluctuate alot but for the most part the citizens here can make a good living off of coffee! 
  Our Bena neighbors have trucks coming in and out taking coffee to Goroka to sell. Goroka has about 5 coffee factories. They sent the coffee around the world. Sometimes they flavor the coffee too. We like to drink the medium roasted Organic coffee. So next time you drink a cup of coffee at Starbucks…you maybe drinking coffee picked from the Highlands of Papua New Guinea! And who knows…we may have picked it!

Here at Interface we are “tracking” with the missionaries that live & work among the Akolets. This month they have begun to teach the Bible for the first time!!! Here is a short writeup of how the first couple days have gone. Will you be a part by praying for the salvation of the Akolets, and the missionaries who are teaching the lessons each day??

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