Damien is a seventy-seven-year-old coffee farmer from Nkonge hill in Burundi who seems to carry his walking cane, worn leather hat and good sense of humour everywhere he goes. The last time that Damien held a copy of his photograph was when he applied for his national identity card in the early 1960s.
Category Archives: Before + Now
Before + Now: Emilienne
When she was just sixteen years old, a student named Emilienne fell in love and dropped out of school, choosing marriage over her schoolbooks. In 1993, just four years later, she tragically lost her young husband to the civil war ensuing the assassination of Burundi’s first democratically elected president.
Before + Now: Apollinaire
Apollinaire has grown coffee for more than four decades but rarely had the chance to taste it. Like many other coffee farming parents in Burundi, Apollinaire has gone to great lengths teaching his children how to grow and care for coffee
Before + Now: Dorothy
With her loveable personality and seemingly endless wisdom, Dorothy is an anchor in her community. At forty-three years old, she’s no stranger to farming coffee.
Before + Now: Salvator
Salvator is a forty-two year old coffee farmer from Gaharo hill. He comes from a big family, and is a father to four young children- all of whom he dotes on.
Before + Now: Mama Claude
Mama Claude started farming in 1970, when she was just sixteen years old. She doesn’t just farm coffee; she’s also a tea farmer, and grows an assortment of subsistence crops to sell and feed her family.