You only need to talk to Yolima to realize that she is a magical combination of vision, maturity and responsibility mixed with a boundless vital energy, an energy that infects you as well.
At the age when many of us only thought about playing, she knew that if she wanted the best for her family, she must study. Her parents encouraged her to attend high school, a trek to a nearby town. Then later to leave home and attend the University of Medellin, to her an incredible blessing for the daughter of a small family coffee producer. But her spirit would take her further. She moved to the United States to learn English. However, she was always connected to her roots, to her family, and their coffee. While in the U.S., she started a business to import and to sell her family’s coffee. She had journeyed from being a girl from a small farm in a rural Colombian area to a businesswoman importing and selling the family’s coffee in the most powerful country in the world. She competed with large corporations and thousands of companies. But she was not intimidated. Her parents example of hard work and determination and her desire to succeed saw her through.
Today Finca La Vega has 13,000 trees and the family has grown to five members, two boys (the oldest is studying Environmental Engineering) and the eldest daughter, our protagonist, Yolima. The other three children are also 100% involved in the family business.
During harvest time, the family and workers walk through the fields every day picking only ripe cherries. Not all cherries ripen at the same time. It is necessary to go through the same tree several times during a harvest period. At the end of the day, the Taborda Rojas family grinds the collected coffee and lets it rest in the fermentation tank overnight or until the mucilage of the beans breaks down and can be washed. This process takes between 12 and 20 hours, depending on weather conditions.
Once the fermentation process is finished, Stella washes the coffee by placing the beans through a channel filled with water and constantly stirring it with a paddle until they are completely clean. The water used in the process is taken directly from a source located at the top of the mountain.
Aside from coffee, they also plant plantain, banana and cassava to shade the coffee trees and to provide an additional income for the family during the off-season.
Stella, like all Colombian mothers, plays a fundamental role in the family. She is the core, love, values and tenderness, but she is also discipline, perseverance and example. She plays a fundamental role in the activities of the farm and the processing of the coffee along with her husband Jairo. Among her tasks are monitoring the collectors, weighing the coffee of each collector at the end of the day, packing the coffee to ferment, selecting the cherries by hand, pulping, washing, drying and monitoring. She also helps with packaging and quality control. And in addition to everything that has to do with coffee, she is also in charge of cooking for the family and workers, washing, keeping the house clean and all other household chores.
Yolima’s is a story that deserves to be told. She is an example of a strong, good woman and of personal improvement. Importantly, her family plays a fundamental role in her story. Yolima remembers that although her parents worked hard every day, they always had time to sit down and eat breakfast, to have lunch and dinner together and to play with their children. Although this story belongs to the women of the family, we have to mention Jairo, the father. Jairo is also a strong role model. He is for Yolima the perfect father and embodies hard work, values and happiness.
We want to end Yolima’s story with something that she wants all to know. There is something inexplicable and wonderful that defines coffee families in Colombia. Despite their lack of resources and the constant struggle to provide for their families, they are just really happy. They are positive people with close families who engage life fully!
