Mission Impossible

One night, as Shawn was explaining Chocolate University and the Tenende, Tanzania project, I believe the theme music for Mission Impossible played in my head.  Shawn was bouncing around some crazy idea about how he wanted to provide an internet based education system to a school in a remote part of Africa that not only is without Internet, but doesn’t even have electrical power.  Most people would have brushed aside his ideas aside as being crazy, but as a former Marine and current tech nerd I said, “LET’S DO IT.”

I won’t bore you with the details, but the plan was basically twofold: gather some gear and some software, and figure out how to power these things.  The scope went from one laptop as a test to five fully loaded classroom laptops and projectors.  In the beginning, power will come through a generator, with bio and solar solutions following close behind.

I have been working in the technology field for over 15 years and the generosity and ingenuity of the IT industry still amazes me.  With just a few requests we were able to acquire most of the necessary equipment: laptops from HealthMEDX; laptop bags from Aztec Computers; and a monetary donation from the Southwest Missouri Association of IT Professionals.  I have also had organizations that have been working in Africa offering their assistance on this project.

There is a lot of work to be done, but we are going to bring something to this community that most of the world takes for granted.  We are going to bring access to knowledge; access that has been denied due to lack of resources, extreme distance, and the feeling that it was an impossible mission.  I can’t wait until I can report back that the Mission is Complete.

I am honored that I have been asked to join this group and this project.  The 13 young adults going on this trip are simply amazing.  The passion they have to make a difference is inspiring beyond words.  Please contribute today.  Show these kids that they are supported by their community and that anyone with a dream and a desire can make an impact.

Semper Fi

Eric Ham

Chocolate University is a neighborhood program we created to engage elementary, middle, and high school students with their local and global community through social responsibility. For the second year in a row, Springfield high school students will travel with Shawn Askinosie, Founder of Askinosie Chocolate, to visit the remote village of Tenende, Tanzania.  Students will meet with cocoa farmers and learn first-hand about Askinosie Chocolate’s sustainable business practices. Perhaps more importantly, they will help implement a sustainable lunch program for the village’s high school students who are currently eating only one meal a day. Additionally, students will work with the Empowered Girls program that Chocolate University funds at the school.

Askinosie Chocolate, along with partner Drury University, selected 13 Springfield high school juniors.  Seven of the students are funding their trip themselves and six of the students qualified for full scholarships.  Chocolate University is attempting to raise $4,000 per student (x 6 scholarship students = $24,000) to cover the cost of the trip.  This includes airfare, ground transport, passports, luggage, clothing, and food – basically, everything. These students exhibit exceptional leadership in their schools and were chosen based on the impact the program will have on their future studies and careers.

The journey will begin on June 23^rd, living for a week on Drury Campus and learning about artisan chocolate making and social entrepreneurship at nearby Askinosie Chocolate.  The students will also learn about the culture and language of Tanzania through guest speakers.  The travelers will go home to pack and then fly to Tanzania with Shawn Askinosie, Drury Vice President Dr. Charles Taylor, Dr. Tom Prater, and teacher Donita Cox.  Convoy of Hope’s David Edson will also travel with the group assisting in development of the sustainable nutrition program.

This will be a life changing opportunity for each of these students and your financial support is greatly appreciated.

If interested please send a check to:

Askinosie Chocolate
514 E. Commercial
Springfield, MO 65803

Checks should be made payable to the “Chocolate University Fund.”  The funds are deposited at the Community Foundation of the Ozarks (a 501(c)(3) organization).  Or you can donate online at the Community Foundation http://www.cfozarks.org/ and select the “give online” button.

Soon after the first Chocolate University trip to Tanzania, the students who travelled discussed ways they could help their peers at Mwaya. We identified a problem — that 54 percent of girls were dropping out between the first and second years of secondary school. http://chocolateuniversity.org/index.php/2011/02/07/the-chocolate-university-empowered-girls-partnership/ And together with Mwaya’s headmaster and teachers, we looked at specific ways we can help.

1. Textbooks

Chocolate University donated $5,000 for textbooks for Mwaya students. A few months later, Southeast Rotary in Springfield, Mo., donated another $5,000. We bought hundreds of textbooks from wholesalers in line with the national curriculum, and transported them from Dar es Salaam all the way across the country to Mwaya, which previously had no textbooks.

Headmaster Sedekia called the students to ‘parade’, a sort of morning assembly, to dedicate the books and bless those who donated them. ‘’Before, when we had no books, this could not be called a school,’’ he said. ‘’But now, this can properly be called, a school.’’

Local craftsmen built several bookshelves in a school office, which has become a library. Students and teachers check out the books as they are needed. In the school’s severe shortage of qualified teachers, access to books gives resourceful students a chance.

2. Empowered Girls

The program aims to teach girl students life skills for success http://lenana.net/blog/?page_id=462. The club at Mwaya was founded in January 2011 after a big, eye-opening girls seminar. Chocolate University began funding the program at Mwaya.

Big seminars take place periodically http://lenana.net/blog/?p=368. In most big seminars, hundreds of girls huddle in the shade of a great tree and professionals in the community have dialogue with the students about particular life skills. Smaller internal seminars take place every other Friday. And an essay contest gave girls a chance to put critical thinking skills to work and display what they have learned.

The most recent national exam results for the school show that there’s a long way to go – especially for girls. On the exam, 36 out of 41 girls failed http://lenana.net/blog/?p=711. We want to continue to have a positive influence on the girl students – in ways both measurable and intangible.

The Africa I first fell in love with is vastly different than the Africa where I lived for five months after high school. When I traveled, occidental safari style, with my family to Zambia and Botswana after my freshmen year of high school, I fell in love with the breathtaking wildlife, the diverse landscape and the genuine warmth of the people. I thought I might return for a second safari someday, but I had no way of knowing that by my senior year I would be even more in love, but with a completely different Africa.

I traveled to Africa for the second time the summer after my junior year with a group of twelve students, two teachers and most importantly a chocolate maker, Shawn Askinosie. Askinosie Chocolate makes small batch, single source chocolate bars, each type made of beans from a village in a developing country. When Shawn decided to develop a bar from Africa, he created Cocoa Honors, choosing twelve students to participate.

We learned about cocoa beans and chocolate making but more importantly, we studied Africa: economies, stability of governments, and transport difficulties. We studied business: fair trade practices, child labor standards and the concept of “a share of the profits”. We also raised $75,000 to fund our trip, and enough resources to dig a deep-water well for the 2,000 person village of Tenende, Tanzania-our destination.

Without meaning to do so, I adopted the idea that we were going there to help the poverty stricken village of Tenende. By the time I stepped foot on American soil ten days later, I realized two things: the villagers had taught and shown me more than anything I could have done for them, and that I had to return to Tanzania for an extended period of time.

During my senior year of school, Tanzania was never far from my thoughts. The lessons I learned of a selfless lifestyle, how it felt to be genuinely welcomed and loved by a group of strangers and the memory of how happy so many of those villagers were despite the virtual absence of material goods, (ones that I had always taken for granted), stayed with me. As I considered a gap year, one thing remained a constant among shifting plans: I would spend a few months back in Tanzania.

I did not realize, however, that being under the age of 18 would create such a problem; many groups and organizations would not even consider taking me. So, I made my own “Tanzanian Experience”. The first six weeks were spent at an education center in Moshi taking intensive Swahili classes and a course on empowerment skills. Road Monkey was willing to include me on a trek to summit Kilimanjaro. Three months of my time, however, was spent working with Empowered Girls, a nascent organization whose primary goal is to teach secondary school girls the life skills necessary to complete their education.

In the five months I spent in Tanzania I learned lessons that no college offers. I experienced what it feels like to be a minority. I had crash courses in culture and language. I learned that alone does not equate to lonely. I searched for grant money, helped find land for a new school and even purchased a cow. I experienced challenges unlike any I had before, and I felt the love of complete strangers.

In this different, unvarnished Africa I found that while some teen themes are universal, many more are not – girls whose fathers want them to marry young for their bride price, and those whose tribes still practice female circumcision. I watched women and girls walk hours a day for water leaving no time for education and met a young Maasai warrior whose desire for, but impossibility of, an education is so great that while talking with me tears fell – Maasai do not cry.

While I have discovered much beauty and joy here, there are a litany of raw images etched in my memory that will stay with me focusing my thoughts on the infinite need. I am left with questions I cannot answer. Who to help? Where to help? How to help? How do we as individuals, communities and governments make these decisions given finite resources and time? There is no correct answer to these questions. I only know that for me to glean my answers, I need an education that teaches beyond the facts, one that helps me learn to ask the right questions, to think critically and analyze options. Maybe then I can return to Tanzania and continue learning.

As soon as they arrived, we had the students circle around for introductions. One by one they shared their name, what they enjoy learning most in their classes, and their favorite pastimes out of school.

Just as we suspected, this was an active bunch–scholastic interests spanning from math and science to art and humanities. They’re dancers, readers, musicians, care takers to younger siblings, and so much more.

We guided the students through the factory where they saw first hand how we make chocolate from scratch, also having the opportunity to taste chocolate produced from different cocoa origins.

The day before we had received our shipment of over 12 tons of cocoa beans from Davoa, Philippines, along with 500 cases of Tableya! (And, to make for a delightfully busy bean week, we also received 8 tons of beans from Tanzania the day before.) The Davao shipment was particularly exciting to the Pipkin students though because through his travels to origin, Shawn Askinosie connected Pipkin Middle School with a school in Davao, Philippines called Malagos Elementary School.

Pipkin students were responsible for raising the funds to get internet connectivity for Malagos as well as a computer (and it’s the first computer in a school in Davao, Philippines and first connection to the internet.) Using flip cameras that Shawn sent to Malagos, the students in the Philippines are able to communicate with students from Pipkin in Springfield and learn about each other’s cultures. Last year’s group of Chocolate University students from Pipkin researched Filipino culture throughout the school year and held a Cocoa Fair at our chocolate factory ,  open to the public, to share about the Philippines, Chocolate University, and of course offer tastes of the chocolate we make with cocoa beans from Davao, Philippines.

After visiting our factory this past Thursday, this year’s Chocolate University students from Pipkin are brainstorming what they would like their particular learning project to look like. Something tells us it might have to do with a very special new product of ours called Tableya. Made from roasted cocoa beans, milled into a tablet, Tableya is a traditional Filipino drink. You drop the tablet into hot water, add sugar and milk to your liking to have a unique hot chocolate drink!

Well, why Tableya? Many students at Malagos Elementary School are extremely malnourished. Rather than meet their scholastic and technological needs, we wanted to work with the school to make sure that first each student is getting a hot nutritious meal each day. The PTA of the school at Malagos made Tableya for us in Davao (and it’s GOOD! The villages in Davao have Tableya make-offs to see whose is the best!), then the PTA packaged them using labels we sent to them and shipped the Tableya with our shipment of cocoa beans.

They sold each package to us for $1, we are selling them in our store and on our website for $10. ALL $9 profit go to Malagos. By selling only 500 packages of Tableya, we will feed the ENTIRE school at Malagos this upcoming school year. Each package of Tableya provides 232 meals!

In discussing Tableya, Shawn shared with Pipkin what makes this feeding program unique from other donation-based programs: it’s 100% sustainable. There is no donation required, and it’s because of the investment of the PTA of Malagos that this program works. These parents and community members are able to make and sell a product that will feed their children.

Not only did the Pipkin students have a chance to see and learn about Tableya, but Shawn whipped up a batch for them to taste. A few of their responses…

The tableya was one of the most amazing drinks I have ever tasted.  It was more bitter than hot chocolate and it was grainier.  It tasted really good!  -Kate S.

I felt like I was in Davao when I was drinking it!  It was amazing.  –Aubrey B.

The tableya was twenty times better than regular hot chocolate.  It’s much more flavorful and the taste lasts in your mouth!  -Halle F.

I thought it was awesome.  It was delicious, with a chocolate and grainy taste.  It also had a great after taste.  –Nathalie L.

Just a few blocks from the Askinosie Chocolate factory is Boyd Elementary School. Classes are back in full swing which means so is Chocolate University! This our fourth year of working with Boyd Elementary, where we are involved in every unit of study throughout the school year. The first unit of study is “Let’s Negotiate!” and the next unit is “Exploration.”

Later this year students from Boyd will visit the factory to experience chocolate making hands-on, but today, this class of 5th graders received a special visit from Shawn Askinosie which made learning even sweeter.

What better way to tackle the topic of negotiation than through the perspective of chocolate? And of course, before the lesson began the students prepared their thinking caps by enjoying some Askinosie chocolate.

Negotiation is constantly occurring throughout the Bean to Bar process at Askinosie, whether it’s with farmers, employees, customers, and beyond. So Shawn outlined a few different aspects of negotiation for the Boyd students to consider:

• People and organizations with whom Askinosie negotiates
• Different methods of communication
• Reasons for negotiating as well as problems that can (and do) arise through this process

For example, Shawn discussed how language barriers as well as contacting people in an area without electricity are all common challenges when negotiating with farmers. The students brainstormed solutions for these problems: translators, language study, internet cafes, etc (these students are whip smart, by the way!)

The students were right, in many of the regions from which Askinosie sources cocoa beans, internet cafes are a popular means of keeping connected. But if there is no electricity, there still is the problem of keeping phones and computers charged. Shawn explained how village members will take turns turns biking to a nearby town where they will charge a backpack full of cell phones for their fellow villagers.

Shawn then talked about the new feeding program at Malagos in Davao, Philippines. Askinosie has partnered with the Malagos PTA on a product called Tableya. The PTA will make the Tableya in Davao, Askinosie will sell it, and 100% of the proceeds will provide lunch for every student at Malagos throughout the school year. That’s 579 elementary students who will benefit from this!

As Shawn explained this new program to the Boyd students, they considered all the negotiation that must occur to make something like this possible–working with the PTA in Davao to negotiate production, costs, shipping logistics, and so on.

The lesson on negotiation concluded with the spelling word for the week “stakeholder,” an essential word in the business philosophy at Askinosie Chocolate. A great example of a stakeholder is each one of our farmers. They have an incredible influence on the quality and flavor of Askinosie Chocolate. This is why we offer them a Stake in the Outcome, 10% of our net profit in addition to above market prices for their beans. At Askinosie, it’s so important that our farmers, as well as everyone through the Bean to Bar process, are valued and compensated for their work.

And while that might require quite a bit of negotiation, it allows us the opportunity to connect the dots, and make chocolate to make a difference.

We are looking forward to our next visit to Boyd as well as our other Chocolate University schools.

Since the last blog post, so much has happened. As a guest blogger here, let me tell about it.

The 13 students from Central High School came back from their trip to Tenende Tanzania, where Askinosie Chocolate’s newest cocoa beans are sourced. They’ve had meetings to debrief and look forward. The cocoa beans that they saw freshly harvested in Tenende, Tanzania have been shipped halfway around the world by truck, ship, train, and truck again. They received the beans here in Springfield, Missouri, and some took part in the various stages of chocolate making.

When the Tenende chocolate bars were finished, they worked and spoke at a release party at the factory for the product, where hundreds of dollars were raised for their friends at Mwaya Secondary School back in Tenende.

In November and December, the Central students strategized ways to best help the students at Mwaya. Having a little experience with Tanzanian schools, my wife and I were able to contribute to this effort by pointing out the specific problem at Mwaya of the number of girls who drop out after their first year of secondary school. With the Central students, we talked about ways to help tackle the problem.

In our project description we quantified the problem with the most recent data provided by Mwaya’s headmaster. It showed that 54 percent fewer girls are in Form 2 than in Form 1, though the number of boys actually goes up. Based on similar experience at other schools, we theorized that the factors include:

• Inability of families to continue paying school fees

• Dropouts due to pregnancy/marriage

• Students are needed for labor for their families’ farming/herding activities

• Poor test scores discourage student from thinking they have the capacity to succeed academically.

With input from Mwaya’s headmaster, we decided on a three-pronged approach to help: Textbooks, Empowered Girls, and equipping teachers.

Books

Most prominent is funding textbooks as a way to shrink the gap and help the school improve test scores. And to address the problem, the books would be in the most needing subjects: English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology. We developed a pyramid-shaped formula for buying most of the books for students in their first year of high school and fewer books for those nearing the end. Most of the books cost $3 to $6 US.

Chocolate University had raised $4,500 for textbooks by mid-January. The money was sent to my wife in Dar es Salaam, who worked with the headmaster and a friend of Tenende named Iddy to buy the books according to the national curriculum and to ship them to Kyela, the district where Tenende and Mwaya school is located.

Last Sunday, Kellen and some of the leaders of Uwate, which is the cocoa farming co-op that supplies the cocoa beans for the Tenende chocolate bar, opened the boxes of books. They had ink stamps specially made and stamped each of the hundreds of textbooks, ‘Donated By Chocolate University.’

There was so much excitement in the air on Monday that it might be hard to explain it from an American vantage, where textbooks in high school are a given. The students at Mwaya had no textbooks. Even many of the teachers were working without textbooks.

A school assembly was called. Kellen presented the books to the school on behalf of Chocolate University. Leaders from Uwate, including Mama Kyeja, were there. Later that day, the books were divvied up and checked out by the students, as if the administration office had become a library.

Students will have to share books because the funds raised weren’t enough to buy books for even half of the students. But now students and teachers will at least have access to textbooks. We look forward to seeing the long-term improvement in the learning that happens.

Empowered Girls

The second prong of our efforts is to start an Empowered Girls club at Mwaya to help girls learn ways of confronting certain problems unique to females and to know their value to society is much more than a baby factory. Leaders were chosen and an Empowered Girls seminar was held with speakers who came to dispel some myths that get girls in trouble. We have photos from the seminar that can give you a good idea of what went on.

Equipping teachers

We did a quick assessment, asking teachers what their needs were and looking at ways we can help in the future on a tight budget. When we go back to the area in July, we’re looking at ways to bring some on-the-job training for them, and we want to make sure they have access to books and resources they need as teachers. Other needs are more basic: Staff housing is needed because some teachers have long commutes on foot or bicycle, electricity is needed to allow teachers and students to work in the evening dark.

Having gone on this adventure has been a real awakening for me as well as the students. Maybe the thing I am most appreciative of is the way the students behaved while away from home. I think of myself when I was seventeen years old and I know there was no way I could have carried myself with the kind of poise and compassion these thirteen students did. From the moment we entered the first airport, there were no petty arguments, no self-centered needs. We suffered through a twenty-one hour bus trip and not one Central student complained. We used facilities that were less than acceptable by American standards yet these students were excited by the experience. They tried eating things I still have trouble trying. These are all experiences they will hopefully carry with them throughout their lives.

Central High School teacher, Donita Cox interacts with students in Tanzania

Since this trip, most of the students have been anxious to do more. They came home to convenience and ease yet didn’t embrace the comfort. We decided not to forget. We have asked all the clubs and organizations at Central High School to band together and help this school we visited. We are working as a school to get funds for books and possibly more. Ultimately, we want to get electricity to the school, training for the teachers, scholarships for the needy students. It is up to us to inspire the rest of Central to keep the project going. I think they will do so.

I feel honored to be working with these students and Shawn Askinosie. This is something I will hold close to my heart and hopefully keep me thinking of those we can help.

In fact, just later this afternoon the students will convene again for their first meeting as a group since being back in Springfield.  Now that they have returned, the next phase of the project is set to begin and the focus will shift to marketing and actual production of the single-origin bar.

To hear more about what the students had to say about their trip, read the latest article in the Springfield News-Leader:
Cocoa Farmers Impress Students
Tanzania Trip Generates Student Aspirations

You’re gaining a great appreciation of our ability to positively change and affect the lives of people – in our home town and a continent away. I look forward to hearing the stories of your trip and the day we get to taste Tanzanian chocolate!