Sanitation blocks
The year following the construction of the childcare centre, we returned to Thalanar Estate to begin more construction; this time, on sanitation blocks for the farm.
We had noticed during our visits that there was no hot water present across the farm, and access to clean water was scarce. We decided that we would build sanitation blocks throughout the estate, with the aim being to provide basic sanitation and access to water.
Since their construction the sanitation blocks have continued to provide clean water and a space for controlled sanitation, with the entire community benefitting from their presence.
Childcare centre
One thing I noticed in my visits to Thalanar Estate was that the children were always present – they were running around the estate and by their parents’ sides as they worked away picking coffee.
The coffee at Thalanar Estate is grown in the shade of massive, canopy trees. These provide a lot of shade for the coffees and give the estate an appearance of a jungle. Bordering the estate is a national park, which is full of elephants, leopards and other wild animals … not an ideal space for children to be playing in.
We decided that we would fund the building of a childcare centre on the estate, to provide a safe place for the children to be taken care of as their parents worked. Since the building of this centre, the children have had a space to play, learn and be sheltered while their parents have been able to move more freely and improve their efficiency around the farm.
Back to the farm
After my initial visit to Thalanar Estate, I resolved to return to work more closely with the community there. We established a direct trade relationship with the farm; this relationship would go on to inspire the founding of my second company, Project Origin, which now sources coffee from more than 10 countries around the world and works with hundreds of farmers worldwide.
I could see that the people of Thalanar Estate were extremely passionate, caring and put community before all else. However, I also saw that they lacked basic infrastructure and resources. With the right assistance and access to resources, I believed they could make their coffee even better and that we could improve the quality of life on the estate drastically.
First visit
My first visit to Thalanar Estate came after I was visited by Pathy Kasiviswanathan. Although like me he was also based in Canberra, Pathy’s family lived predominately in Southern India at the Elephant Hills and Thalanar Estate farms.
Pathy gave me some coffee from the farm to try – I saw that it had great potential, and decided that I would visit the farm and meet Pathy’s family. When I arrived, I was met by a wonderful community of more than 50 people (Sasa is this correct?). I had brought some of the coffee that Pathy had given me, which had been roasted by the head roaster of ONA Coffee, Sam Corra. I gave it to the manager of the farm, Uncle Rabi (spelling?); amazingly, this was the first time he had ever tried the coffee he had spent more than 20 years growing!