Turihamwe: Burundi's First Women-Owned Washing Station

In Burundi, cultural norms are slowly shifting in the coffee sector. Historically, women have been restricted to traditional roles: housekeeping, caring for children, growing trees, and harvesting cherries, while heads of households deliver the cherries to the wet mill and control the flow of money, often paying women unequal wages. Land in Burundi is also passed down through men, making it incredibly difficult for women to own farmland.

Today, companies like JNP Coffee are helping change the narrative by maintaining a strong focus on women’s empowerment. JNP was founded in 2012 by Jeanine Niyonzina-Aroian: a Burundian who had a successful career in Corporate America for over a decade before realizing that she could help fellow Burundians by working within the coffee industry.

Baskets of freshly picked ripe red cherries.

At JNP Coffee, all farmers, including women, are paid directly for their work, giving them immediate cash to help feed their families and cover the costs of managing a farm. JNP also provides farmers with a second payment through their Dushime® Program. “Dushime” means “let’s be thankful” in Kirundi, and this second payment is given to farmers later in the harvest year, after the coffee has been sold to coffee buyers worldwide. This second payment helps farmers reinvest directly into their communities, often paying for school supplies, uniforms and school fees, fertilizers for next year’s crops, and jobs for additional laborers on farms. 

Farmers submitting their daily harvest of cherries to the Turihamwe washing station.

Some women farmers chose to use this second payment to help cover costs of financial literacy classes. Sponsored by JNP Coffee and its partners, these classes teach the basics of savings and microfinance, where farmers contribute to a savings pool that allows small loans to its members. For many women, this is the first time in their lives they have had their own money to save. Seven women who participated in the financial literacy program formed their own small investment group, Turihamwe Turashobora (“Together we can” in Kirundi), and used their savings to build their own wet mill in 2019. Turihamwe (“Together”) is the first women-owned and women-led washing station in Burundi.

After sorting and washing, coffee in parchment is placed on raised drying beds at Turihamwe washing station.

Nearly 2000 smallholder farmers in Burundi contribute to the coffee produced by the Turihamwe washing station, and more than 60% of them are women. Each farmer cares for an average of 25-30 trees, and a single day’s harvest may yield as little as one or two kilograms of ripe cherries. After harvesting, farmers bring their cherries to the Turihamwe wet mill every day, where each lot is carefully hand-sorted and washed before drying. The founding members of Turihamwe take pride in controlling the quality of their coffee beyond growing and harvesting, and their attention to detail has allowed them to unlock a coffee prized for its bright, sweet, and citrusy flavor. It’s lively and balanced as a drip coffee, refreshing over ice, and smooth and tea-like when pulled long as an espresso. We taste lemon, black tea, and honey, but we’ve also picked up notes of plum, golden raisin, and light brown sugar!