Hello everyone,

I’m Jynessa and I got to lead Global Business/Working Like a Local day. We started off the day earlier than usual and took a long windy drive to ASOCAES which is a local coffee association in Los Cacaos. We were taken behind the scenes of coffee production and were given a glimpse of what it is really like to make the world wide loved drink many of us take for granted every morning. First we went to the vivero, the nursery, where we got to get down on our knees and actually get our hands dirty. It was truly eye-opening to feel the pain in my knees, feet, and back as I bent down to fill the tiny bags with soil or to plant each individual seedling. We only got to work for about an hour and a half, and I could only imagine what it would be like to do this everyday, as a living. We also got a tour of the factory or office of ASOCAES, where we saw the machines, one being more of a human machine, that lead to the coffee beans becoming the beans or grounds in the bags we buy at our grocery stores. If you asked me about the process of making coffee before today would have said that I was aware that there are people out in the nursery growing coffee, however actually bending over to work as one of those people made me appreciate it so much more. I don’t think drinking coffee will ever be the same.

I think many people are unaware of the hard work that local people do, for such little pay, just so we can drink a cup of coffee in the morning. This idea goes far beyond just coffee. Have you ever actually considered the amount of labor that goes into the clothes you wear or that bag of grapes you picked up the other day? I am very thankful for today’s experience because I know I will be more appreciative of the products I buy and will encourage others to do the same.

Being the Líder del Día today was quite challenging for me. The day started off a little slow and I faced to demonstrate courage in front of the group. Fortunately, later in the day I gained more confidence and felt like I ended the night strongly. One thing I learned from being the leader today was to not allow small difficulties to bring me down. I also learned that there was no reason to be afraid or to be shy to tell my group what to do because it was my role to lead them and to show them how to be a confident leader.

In the end, I learned a lot from today about the labor behind products and about myself and I hope that every one else in my group was able to gain as much from today as I did.