Uru North

Description

Uru means freedom; the name dates back to the mid-1850s, a time when there were many mosquitoes in Moshi town, and it was known that if you got bit you died. A Chagga leader named Mushimbe led the Chagga community up mountain to clear land so that they could be free from that threat. In Chagga – the local language – Mushmibe is a play off Mushimbo, which means ‘he who has big lips’. And so the name of the town, and AMCOS, is Uru Shimbe, a nod to the leader with big lips.

Coffee in this area came by ways from the Germans at Kaleme Church in 1846. Germans used to tip workers and guides with coffee. So these workers took it up mountain and started planting. After the first harvest they learned how to roast. Before coffee, the main cash economy here was beekeeping. And members of Uru Shimbe talk of days when their ancestors mixed ground coffee and parchment with honey to make a bread that became a staple food. We didn’t taste any, but word is that it smelled really good and held for a long time.

We’re excited about Uru for oh so many reasons.

To start, it is the highest AMCOS on the slopes of Kilimanjaro which – in case it needs reminding – is less than 20m from the Kenya border. This group comes with the leadership and know-how to do coffee right – in part due to training received under the TNS Kilicafe project.

Next, while everything grown up here is organic, 2018 was the first year that they soldtheir coffee as certified organic. It was a huge boom for the community and point of pride for every farmer we talked to. Next, they just installed a series of 10 micro-pulpers around metal drying beds; this will speed up farmer payment and slow down drying. Lastly, they are literally the first to feed from the famed snows of Kilimanjaro, and point to the nearby Maturni Falls as a symbol of their connection to Mount Kilimankayo – which in Chagga means ‘our mountain’.