In bed, laying on a comfy mattress in a college dorm room after having my family visit me, I think back on how lucky I am. I’m at a university solely for the purpose of exploring what I want to do with my life, having to worry about money but knowing there is always a way to get the funds I need for educational expenses. There are kids my age who have their own families and are trying to help their farms succeed, pouring hours of manual labor into a work that may or may not render funds sufficient for the survival of the five to ten people in their family. This project started knowing that the coffee trade suffered many of the same injustices as other international problems, but the coffee trade is one of the less represented in the scheme of things. Because there isn’t gang dreamstime_cup-of-coffee violence or brutal murder associated with it, media coverage is pretty  minimal, in my opinion. People aren’t aware of the starving children in  South America and Africa who could be saved if we made a worldwide effort  to push just wages. Unfortunately, major coffee companies see their margin  of profit decline with the proposal of Fair Trade prices- they need to suck it  up and realize there are people who need that money more than they do. I  certainly am more impassioned to check for Fair Trade labels and donate to  organizations that promote the cause of the farmers after all this research,  and I hope I can carry out spreading the word about the lives of these  hardworking, under-recognized coffee farmers who provide that morning  burst of energy to millions of people around the world.

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