WHERE WE WORK

san gaspar chajul, el quiche, guatemala

San Gaspar Chajul, located in the Western Highlands of Guatemala, is one of the poorest coffee-growing regions in the world. It joins Santa Maria Nebaj and San Juan Cotzal to make up the Ixil region, an area decimated by the 36-year-long Guatemalan Civil War (1960-1996).

Predominately made up of Ixil peoples (an indigenous Maya people), the area was formerly a subsistence farming community. However, the allure of cash for coffee drove farmers away from their ancient agricultural practices and towards coffee farming.

While coffee fetched a nice price, the lands in the area were devastated by the unsustainable cropping methods and over 90% of the people fell into poverty. To this day, Chajul continues to recover from the war, with coffee as its main export.