Mt. Meru Coffee Project

 The Mount Meru Coffee Project started with a one-word answer and has transformed into a massive undertaking of outreach and partnership between the Greater Milwaukee Synod and the Meru Diocese in Tanzania.

 In 1999, a pastor from the Greater Milwaukee Synod embarked on a visit to Meru, a small town in the northern part of Tanzania and home to coffee farmers who struggled to make a living selling their beans to buyers. Most of these families belonged to the Meru Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.

During one of the discussions with the residents, many of whom lived on the volcano that provides Meru its name, one of the farmers asked: “We grow coffee; you drink coffee; will you buy our coffee?” The answer: yes.

That simple question became the foundation of the Mt. Meru Coffee Project, a joint partnership between Lutherans from two cities tucked away in the quieter regions of their respective countries that has not only established a niche product of the synod but also lifted up the living conditions for farmers nestled on the mountain. READ MORE