Chocolate University students arrive in rural Tanzania to work with cocoa farmers

Fourteen students from the Springfield area recently arrived in rural Tanzania to work with cocoa farmers as part of the Chocolate University.

They will spend a week in the community along with employees from Askinosie Chocolate.

The students are expected to help Shawn Askinosie, Founder & CEO of Askinosie Chocolate, on cocoa bean business and implementing community development projects in Mababu, Tanzania, one of the four communities across the globe from which Askinosie sources cocoa beans for his chocolate.

Askinosie, facilitated by the students, will share profits with the farmers. inspect the company’s next shipment of cocoa beans and lead a chocolate tasting for cocoa farmers.

After months of preparation, the students will also engage in a few community initiatives they helped create, including:

• “Vision of Greatness” sessions for the Empowered Girls club Askinosie Chocolate funds.

• Instituting an Enlightened Boys club for whom the students will also lead a “visioning” session.

• Installing sack gardens for widows and orphans in the village with the help of the cocoa farmer group.

“Throughout the week, our students will work alongside our farmer partners, spending time in their homes, helping to harvest cacao and getting to know their families," Askinosie said, in a news release. "This is a business trip. But it’s also about strengthening relationships and building community, together. The most important Swahili word we teach the students is ‘kujengana’ which means ‘to build each other up.’

"That, to me, is what business is about.”

The Chocolate University class of 2016 includes the following students:

• Alec Hilton, Central High

• Amanda Morrison, Central High

• Aneva Jefferson, Central High

• Anna Mercer, Grace Classical Academy

• Bao Ha, Central High

• Baylor Barnes, Parkview High

• Desiree Johnson, Central High

• Emma Brand, Glendale High

• Emma Weiler, Springfield Catholic High

• Leila Ismaio, Nixa High

• Ronnie Warren, Nixa High

• Sydney Martin, Glendale High

• Timothy Hodges, Central High

• Zachary Smith, Nixa High

A Drury University student, Abigail Akinyemi, is traveling with the group as a student leader.

Follow along with the group’s journey on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #OriginTripTanzania2016 and by following @askinosie on social media. For more information, visit chocolateuniversity.org.