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Mirembe Kawomera (also known as Peace Kawomera, or "Delicious Peace") is an interfaith Fair trade coffee cooperative in Mbale, Uganda. The cooperative is made up of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim farmers. Founded in 2003 by JJ Keki, the members of Mirembe Kawomera use music and fair trade coffee to promote peace between religions.
Jewish Ugandan coffee farmer and musician J.J. Keki founded Peace Kawomera after witnessing the attacks of September 11, 2001 firsthand during a trip to New York City. Deeply moved, he felt compelled to bring different religions together in peace. When Keki returned to Uganda, he walked from village to village, enlisting Jewish, Christian, and Muslim farmers to join his Fair Trade cooperative. Today, over 1,000 farmers have joined Peace Kawomera. He got help marketing their coffee from the organization Kulanu (All of Us ). [1] Laura Wetzler, a volunteer, called a long list of coffee roasters, in alphabetical order, until she got to the Fair Trade company, Thanksgiving Coffee. CEO Paul Katzeff at Thanksgiving Coffee says (according to an article on Green America's website): “For me the story was inspiring...People of faith finding hope through coffee. Choosing cooperation in a world torn up by intolerance. I said, ‘OK, I'll buy it.’” [2]
This alliance of Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Uganda with Kulanu and Thanksgiving Coffee in the United States has had two major benefits for the Ugandan farmers, as described in YES magazine: "By banding together and by establishing a fair trade relationship, the farmers now realize enough profits from sales to meet their families' basic need?s [sic]—a sharp contrast to the hardship of trying to sell as individuals to large corporate buyers in a glutted world market. Better circumstances have, in turn, sweetened relations between the unique Mbale Jewish community and their more numerous Muslim and Christian neighbors." [3] It has also gotten the attention of synagogues across America [4] [5] as well as the media in the US and Israel. [6] [7]
In 2006, the Thanksgiving Coffee Company in Fort Bragg, California, became the sole distributor of Peace Kawomera coffee. They produce dark roast, light roast, and decaf coffee from the cooperative's harvest. [8]
The farmers of Mirembe Kawomera are also musicians, and founder JJ Keki refers to himself as the cooperative's "Music Director." [9] The Smithsonian Folkways album "Delicious Peace: Coffee, Music & Interfaith Harmony in Uganda" features music from members of the cooperative, recorded and compiled by Tufts University Professor and Rabbi Jeffrey Summit. According to Folkways, the album "aims to overcome religious conflict and bring peace through song [and] features uplifting, multilingual songs that teach cooperation through music." [10]
Fair trade is a term for an arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The fair trade movement combines the payment of higher prices to exporters with improved social and environmental standards. The movement focuses in particular on commodities, or products that are typically exported from developing countries to developed countries but is also used in domestic markets, most notably for handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, wine, sugar, fruit, flowers and gold.
Neve Shalom, also known as Wāħat as-Salām is a cooperative village in Israel, jointly founded by Israeli Jews and Arabs in an attempt to show that the two peoples can live side by side peacefully, as well as to conduct educational work for peace, equality and understanding between the two peoples. The village is located on one of the two Latrun hilltops overlooking the Ayalon Valley, and lies midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Falling under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council, in 2021 it had a population of 356.
Arab–Israeli peace projects are projects to promote peace and understanding between the Arab League and Israel in different spheres. These are part of a broader attempt at a peace process between Palestinians and Israelis. Sponsors of such projects can be found both in Israel and Palestine.
Islamic–Jewish relations refers to the human and diplomatic relations between Jewish people and Muslims in the Arabian Peninsula, Northern Africa, the Middle East, and their surrounding regions. Jewish-Islamic relations may also refer to the shared and disputed ideals between Judaism and Islam, which began roughly in the 7th century CE with the origin and spread of Islam in the Arabian peninsula. The two religions share similar values, guidelines, and principles. Islam also incorporates Jewish history as a part of its own. Muslims regard the Children of Israel as an important religious concept in Islam. Moses, the most important prophet of Judaism, is also considered a prophet and messenger in Islam. Moses is mentioned in the Quran more than any other individual, and his life is narrated and recounted more than that of any other prophet. There are approximately 43 references to the Israelites in the Quran, and many in the Hadith. Later rabbinic authorities and Jewish scholars such as Maimonides discussed the relationship between Islam and Jewish law. Maimonides himself, it has been argued, was influenced by Islamic legal thought.
Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels. It is distinct from syncretism or alternative religion, in that dialogue often involves promoting understanding between different religions or beliefs to increase acceptance of others, rather than to synthesize new beliefs.
The Abayudaya are a community in eastern Uganda, near the town of Mbale, who practice Judaism. They are devout in their practice, keeping kashrut and observing Shabbat. There are several different villages where the Abayudaya live. Most of these are recognized by the Reform and Conservative movements of Judaism. In June 2016, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin led a Beit Din that performed an Orthodox conversion for the Putti community of Abayudaya.
African Jewish communities include:
Father Bruno Hussar was the founder of Neve Shalom / Wahat al-Salam, an Arab/Jewish village in the no man's land between Israel and Palestinian territories, dedicated to coexistence. Father Bruno derived the name from the book of Isaiah (32:18): "My people shall dwell in an Oasis of Peace". Born in Cairo, he converted to Roman Catholicism while studying engineering in France. He was a genuinely 'transnational transcultural and multilingual' individual.
Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron was an Israeli rabbi who served as Rishon LeZion from 1993 to 2003. Prior to that he served as Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Bat Yam and Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Haifa.
Christianity is the predominant religion in Uganda. According to the 2014 census, over 84 percent of the population was Christian, while about 14 percent of the population adhered to Islam, making it the largest minority religion. Anglicanism and Catholicism are the main Christian denominations in the country.
The fair trade debate concerns the ethics and economic implications of fair trade, and alleged issues with the Fairtrade brand in particular.
The Interfaith Encounter Association (IEA) is an Israeli-based non-profit organization. Its primary purpose is to foster dialogue between different religious groups within the Holy Land. This is done on a grassroots level throughout Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Mohammed Abu-Nimer is an American expert on conflict resolution and dialogue for peace. He is a full professor at the American University School of International Service in International Peace and Conflict Resolution in Washington, DC, the largest school of international relations in the United States.
Masorti Olami is the international umbrella organization for Masorti Judaism, founded in 1957 with the goal of making Masorti Judaism a force in the Jewish world. Masorti Olami is affiliated with communities in over 36 countries, representing with partners in Israel and North America close to two million people worldwide, both registered members and non-member identifiers. Masorti Olami builds, renews, and strengthens Jewish life throughout the world, with efforts that focus on existing and developing communities in Europe, Latin America, the former Soviet Union, Africa, Asia, and Australia. More than 140 kehillot (communities) are affiliated with Masorti Olami in Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Honduras, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, the United Kingdom and additionally, more than 600 in Canada and the United States and over 80 communities in Israel. All of Masorti Olami's activities are conducted within the context of the overall Conservative Judaism movement, in close cooperation with its affiliated organizations in North America and Israel. The current executive director is Rabbi Mauricio Balter.
The Union of Indigenous Communities of the Isthmus Region, is a farmer's cooperative in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. It was established in 1982 to assist in production, marketing and distribution of locally produced coffee and other products. UCIRI was a pioneer of organic coffee production and one of the first fair trade suppliers.
Peace Coffee is an organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that sells organic, fair trade coffee. The company sells coffee through grocery, retail stores, food co-ops, and via the Internet. The organization operates throughout the United States with a strong presence in the Upper Midwest.
Delicious Peace: Coffee, Music & Interfaith Harmony in Uganda is the second album of Ugandan music compiled by ethnomusicologist Jeffrey Summit and produced by Smithsonian Folkways. The album features music from the interfaith Mirembe Kawomera coffee cooperative in Mbale, Uganda. According to Smithsonian Folkways, the album "aims to overcome religious conflict and bring peace through song and fair trade coffee."
The Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group is a non-violent conflict resolution group established in 1992 in San Mateo, California. Its first meeting was held in a local neighborhood residence. As of September 2019, the group remained active and continued to meet monthly in members' homes. The one-to-one, face-to-face method of conflict resolution, modeled by this dialogue group, was increasingly looked to globally by educators, researchers, journalists, activists, trainers, and strategists including the U.S. Department of State, which distributes the dialogue group's instructive films in Africa.