刚果民主共和国东部前武装分子从咖啡中获得新生

A cooperative in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is giving Congolese coffee exports a fresh start. The co-op is trying to do the same for former rebels and soldiers. They are being encouraged to make a better and safer living from coffee.

刚果民主共和国东部的一个合作社给了刚果咖啡出口一个新的开始。该合作社也正试图给前叛乱分子和士兵同样一个新开始。他们被鼓励通过咖啡过上更好更安全的生活。

The co-op is called Sopacdi. Its headquarters are in Minova, a fast-growing town along Lake Kivu. Many people trying to escape conflict have moved there.

该合作社被称为Sopacdi，其总部位于基伍湖沿岸一个快速发展的城市米诺瓦。许多试图逃离冲突的人们已经搬到了那里。

The co-op began in two thousand three. Last year Sopacdi began selling coffee in British stores. It had help from a British nongovernmental organization called TWIN and the British development agency. TWIN helps producers in developing countries sell to supermarket operators in the West.

该合作社创建于2003年。去年Sopacdi合作社开始在英国商店出售咖啡。它得到了来自英国非政府组织TWIN和英国发展机构的帮助。TWIN帮助发展中国家的生产商将产品卖给西方的超市经营者。

Joachim Munganga is the president of the co-op. He says getting a "fair trade" certificate for Congolese coffee took two years. The group had to meet requirements involving respect for the environment and workers' contracts. This year the co-op won an organic certificate and it now has seven buyers in Europe, the United States and Japan.

Joachim Munganga是该合作社的总裁。他说，刚果咖啡获得“公平贸易认证花了两年时间。该组织必须符合包括保护环境和尊重员工合同在内的一些要求。今年该合作社获得了有机认证，目前在欧洲、美国和日本拥有7个买家。

The purpose of the co-op is not simply to produce coffee. Joachim Munganga says the founders of Sopacdi were trying to find ways to help resolve ethnic conflicts in the area. So they brought coffee producers together and persuaded them to form a co-op.

该合作社的目的不仅仅是生产咖啡。Joachim Munganga表示，Sopacdi合作社的创始人曾试图找到有助于解决该地区种族冲突的途径。因此，他们将咖啡生产商召集到一起，说服他们组成了合作社。

Members of rival ethnic communities now work together at the co-op's different offices. Sopacdi has three thousand six hundred members. They all work for themselves. But they also work together to elect leaders and promote common interests.

敌对种族的会员们如今在该合作社不同办事处一起工作。Sopacdi合作社拥有3600名会员。他们都为自己工作，但也共同致力于选出领导人和促进共同利益。

John Buchugwazi is one of the leaders of the co-op.

John Buchugwazi是该合作社的领导人之一。

He says the co-op has shown its members how to get better yields and improve quality.

他说，合作社教会员们如何获得提高产量和品质。

Coffee growers also needed better access to markets. Smugglers were taking most of the coffee from the area at night across Lake Kivu to Rwanda. Many of the smugglers drowned in the sudden storms that develop on the lake.

咖啡种植者也需要更好的途径进入市常走私者在晚上将该地区大部分咖啡沿基伍湖运往卢旺达。许多走私者在基伍湖突如其来的风暴中淹死。

With the co-op, there are trucks that take the coffee to Sopacdi's own washing station. There a machine depulps or removes the outer flesh of the coffee berries that contain the beans. Doing this process by hand would take a long time and can mean a loss of freshness.

参加合作社就有卡车将咖啡运到sopacdi合作社自有的清洗站。这里有机器将含有咖啡豆的咖啡浆果的外层果肉去除。手工处理这个流程会耗用很长时间，还意味着丧失新鲜度。

But the co-op president says the DRC's 12% export taxs on coffee still invite smuggling. Rewanda's tax is 1%. About 160 people work at the washing station. Many were fighters.

但该合作社总裁表示，刚果民主共和国12%的咖啡出口税仍会吸引走私。卢旺达的税率是1%。大约160人在清洗站工作，其中许多人曾是士兵。

This former rebel says he is very happy with his new job. He now spends his nights in a house, instead of sleeping in the forest.

这名前叛乱分子军表示对自己的新工作非常满意。他现在晚上睡在房间而不是森林里。