More than a decade ago two Filipino Mennonite Church Canada missionaries moved back to their homeland to share the word of Jesus Christ. Joji Pantoja, and her husband Reverend Luis, landed in Davao, and built a strong

Joji and Morning Show Co-Host Chris Sumner in studio missionary presence in the community.

 

But our story today focuses on the initiative Joji launched a couple years after that called Coffee for Peace which is using the growing and marketing of coffee as a way to dissuade rural farmers from joining a rebel movement which has been in conflict with the government for years. By providing training to grow coffee, which can provide a sustainable family income, there is less draw to join the rebel movement.

 

Joji stopped by our studio earlier this week as she briefly visited Manitoba as part of a cross Canada tour.

 

 

Coffee for Peace which started as a small social justice effort, and has now evolved into a significant business supporting hundreds of families.

 

 

The impact the business is having is significant, and continues to grow!

 

 

Part of Joji’s visit to Canada was to also talk about the next step they are taking with Coffee for Peace, and that is to start roasting their own coffee beans to add even more value to the beans they are growing. In order to to do that they need industrial scale roasters which can cost up to $10,000. If you are interested in supporting the cause, you can learn more by clicking here.