"Rwandan Moment"

“It wasn’t that [Starbucks] was exceptionally nefarious or greedy; it was that the company just like any other company, was willing to do just about anything and say just about anything to move product.” - Bryant Simon

John Moore reports in his excellent blog, Brand Autopsy on a book by Bryant Simon, “EVERYTHING BUT THE COFFEE: Learning about America from Starbucks”. In it, Simon reveals his “Rwandan Moment” where the ugly truth about Starbucks was revealed to him. The sheen of Starbucks has worn thin over the years, but this type of behavior confirms that Starbucks was never a company to deserve such esteem in the first place.

BRYANT SIMON: Before I started my research, I found Starbucks to be an interesting place, most notably a potentially important public gathering spot in suburbanizing America. But the deeper I dug into the company’s history and charted its actions and located it within the context of the changes in American society, the more skeptical I became about the promises it made. My patience with the company snapped when I learned about its behavior (both the promises it made and its deeper indifference to what was actually going on) in Rwanda.

Rwanda, as most people know, has had a mean and bloody past. Ethnic violence in the mid-1990s cost the nation, a former colony with a woefully underdeveloped economy and infrastructure, hundreds of thousands of lives. By 2000, the country was trying to get back on its feet and the coffee industry had the potential to help it and some of its farmers recover. Starbucks, it turned out, played on this history and this guilt – a western guilt over doing nothing to stop the killing – to sell some pricey coffee and make itself look better.

In 2005, Starbucks introduced Rwanda Blue Bourbon with its “subtle acidity” and “herbal, spice, and cocoa notes” as one of its “Black Apron Exclusives” – the designation it uses for its highest-end, most expensive specialty coffees. “Taste a special coffee,” an in-store sign maintained, “that’s helping transform farmers lives.” “A Promising Future in Every Pound,” a company press release announced to mark the introduction of Rwanda Blue Bourbon. “Following the devastating events of 1994“ – a store sign proclaimed and this was all it said about the country’s troubling past – “this new cash crop (coffee) has given Rwandan farmers hope for a better future and helped them afford better education, medicine, and housing.”

These signs – again promises – got me interested in what Starbucks was actually doing in Rwanda. I asked around a bit and found out that while Starbucks charged $22/per pound for its coffee, it wasn’t paying any more at origin than other roasters buying Rwandan beans from small growers and charging consumers far less. Starbucks, moreover, wasn’t buying its bean from co-ops or small farmers, at least not directly. “These are plantation beans,” one source who knew something about the Rwandan coffee industry commented when I asked him about Starbucks purchases. When I asked him what he meant by this, he curtly answered, “I meant what I said.” Starbucks was buying beans from large shareholders, not small farmers, from powerful landowners with, in many cases, ties to old colonial authorities, not from the victims of the ethnic cleaning campaigns that ripped the country apart.

But the Starbucks’ promises, again, made it seem like it was helping the least fortunate (not lining the pockets of people who never stopped getting decent educations, adequate health care, and spacious accommodations.)

So this was my Rwandan moment. To me, this was just too much. Manipulating the Rwandan tragedy to make money seemed totally out of bounds and nearly unethical. But even more, it demonstrated to me the utter ordinariness of Starbucks. It wasn’t that the company was exceptionally nefarious or greedy; it was that the company just like any other company, was willing to do just about anything and say just about anything to move product.

A Parable of Salvation

Reflecting on Ryuichi’s incredible testimony at his baptism yesterday, I am amazed at the depth of his understanding of salvation and God’s faithfulness. As I thought about his words, a parable came to mind.

A young family lived in a rural area on a large plot of land with a little stream running through it. The son was a five year old boy who loved to play outside and take long walks by the stream with his mother and father.

One day, when his parents were busy doing chores around the house, the boy decided he would go for a walk on his own. He knew he wasn’t supposed to go by himself, but he wouldn’t go far and his parents were too busy to take him. He followed the stream away from the house, splashing in the water, playing in the mud and having a joyous time. He had so much fun, in fact, that soon he realized he had wandered farther from home than he could remember going. He sensed it would be dark soon and his parents had no idea where he had gone. Fear set in and he sat down on the bank of the river and began to cry.

But soon, he heard his father’s voice in the distance calling out to him, drawing nearer. When the father spotted the son, his eyes lit up and he ran to his son, his arms wide open, calling his name. The boy was overjoyed to see his father, but looking down, he saw that he was covered in mud from playing along the river bank. His joy turned to guilt as he realized he should have never disobeyed his parents by going out on his own. Instead of embracing his father, he just stood there, staring down at his dirt stained clothing.

We are that boy! When we hear the good news of the gospel, God is there, overjoyed, arms wide open, ready to embrace us. But we look down and recognize our disobedience, the dirtiness from our sins and our guilt prevents us from reaching out to Him. We may wonder why God seems so far away from us, but we create that perception when the truth is He is right there waiting for us. He doesn’t judge us for our dirtiness - if we ask for His forgiveness, accept the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins, He will take our filthy rags and clothe us in garments of salvation (Isaiah 61:10).

This Christmas, we are reminded of the baby Jesus, God’s amazing gift to mankind. Through Jesus, our relationship with God the Father has been restored.

Fire 'Em All

monkey confused
Originally uploaded by easement

It's in the news every day. "The Board of [fill in the blank] met yesterday and made a recommendation to raise fees for [fill in the public service]."

This is my rant. In this brave new world of cities, counties and states teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, highly paid boards of so called experts and leaders in their fields are gathering for closed door meetings to make critical decisions to...raise fees? To be fair, some boards are really putting on their thinking caps and also making recommendations to...cut services.

Let me be blunt. Faced with an economic crisis where current revenue does not meet current expenses, even a college dropout like myself (or a robotic monkey) could come up with an idea to raise fees and cut services. I'm not an expert. I'm not a genius. Just a person with a lick of common sense. So how is it that these so called boards of highly experienced, highly intelligent people can gather together and reach the same conclusion? Yes, I'm talking to you UC Board of Regents. And you, California Transportation Board. And countless other boards throughout the state making the same dumb decisions.

(In fact the California Transportation Board came up with three "solutions" to fund bridge maintenance in the future: raise bridge tolls, raise bridge tolls and then raise them even more, or raise bridge tolls and start charging bridge tolls to people who never had to pay them before. Wow, what a stroke of genius.)

And of course there is the UC Regents who voted to increase tuition by over 30%, and for your troubles, they will also reduce your course offerings by 20%. Yes, no need to thank them for their brilliance and hard work.

Everywhere you turn today, you hear the same thing: the only solution is to raise fees. As a taxpayer and once proud resident of the state of California, let me make this as clear as possible:

If we're going to pay you a six figure salary to get together with a bunch of other people with six figure salaries to make decisions we could have made in our sleep, consider yourself on notice. Your job is to think outside the box, to come up with creative ideas to make your budget work, to innovate solutions. Quit taking the easy way out: passing the cost on to the public. We already paid for the service once in taxes; why are you trying to charge us again?

If this is the best you can come up with, in the immortal words of the billionaire with the $20 toupee, "You're fired!"

Japan - I Miss You

Tokyo - I Miss You
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

Getting that feeling again, a perfect storm of events that make me question my purpose and place. Perhaps there are new opportunities opening up, not in Tokyo, but near it, in a place that is not unfamiliar to us. I felt a tinge of disappointment that the future did not become more clear for us after spending half a summer in Japan this past June and July. But maybe things are changing yet again?

In any case, we hope to return to Japan next year specifically to investigate this potential opportunity. This will be our first time to return to Japan two years in a row since 2001-2002. Is something good going to happen? God only knows.

Moerenuma Park, Sapporo

Moerenuma Park - Glass Pyramid
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

Looking back on the highlights of our trip to Japan, our short trip up to Hokkaido stands out in my mind. It's a bit surprising because up to the point we went there, I never thought to myself "Man, I really want to see Hokkaido."

What struck me about Hokkaido was the great open spaces which remained green through the summer. As such, Hokkaido has some fantastic parks and we had the privilege of visiting not one but two amazing parks.

Moerenuma Park in Sapporo was the vision of Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Built on land reclaimed from a disposal site, you would never know the history of the land unless someone told you. The park is mainly lush green open space with Noguchi sculptures spread throughout. But each of these Noguchi creations is amazing in their own rights. The most prominent feature is Mount Moere, a man-made mountain that stands 190 feet tall. Climbing this mountain (by stairs or by trail) gives you a panoramic view of the park and nearby Sapporo. From the summit, you can see Hidamari, the glass pyramid which houses restaurants, a small shop, and classrooms for workshops. You can also see a circular grove of trees which simulates walking through a forest, and beyond that, Moere Beach, a shallow "concrete pond" (to borrow from the Beverly Hillbillies) where children can cool themselves in the summer heat.

Though Moerenuma Park is lovely in the summer, it is equally beautiful in the winter and a completely different experience. Winter bring snow to the entire island of Hokkaido and the man-made mountains and huge open space create a place for skiing, sledding, and snow play for children and their families.

Noguchi died before he could see his vision come to fruition, but I'm sure he would be proud to see how his creation brings joy to so many people year round.