25 Marselina Walu, Wajamala - Indonesia 2021

I am 5th from 6 siblings and in my 46. I have been a single mother to my 15 years old son since my husband passed away when my son was 6 months old. My parents are small farmers with unstable income depending on harvest season and produced plants at the time.
To become a farmer is not my dream. Since long ago my dream was to become an accountant, but unfortunately my parents can only afford my study until high school. I have done various jobs from becoming security of Labuan Bajo, pearl cultivation company owned by Japan, insurance agent, kindergarten teacher, village cadre, and farmer collective manager, and I do all of them with all my heart.
Becoming a farmer collective manager also made me a coffee farmer and I love this job. My late father bequeathed his land to his children, each gets 1 hectare except for two children who decided to become civil servants since my father acknowledged them to be resourceful enough as is. Initially the land was planted by Palawija.
Increasing daily needs can’t keep up with only Palawija as a source of income, so when there was an Arabica Coffee area expansion program from our district’s plantation office in 2007, I made a farmer collective in my Radabata village, consisting of 80% females. We changed our lands to coffee plantation areas since our altitudes are also ideal in 1.340 – 1450 mdpl.
After our coffee harvest in 2013, the price unfortunately dropped. We did consider going back to palawija planting, but thanks to motivation, discussion, and socialization with government and NGO, and other coffee enthusiasts, we decided to keep planting coffee and focused on improvement instead.
Even by the time the price still had not improved since we entrust everything to the marketing agent, we never gave up. I enrolled in training and learned various things about coffee and I am passionate about it. At first we were also a great target for fraud and slanting schemes, in which our coffee is slandered and given rumors about poor quality. It’s based on these bitter experiences that drive me to learn more about the culture, harvest and post harvest, and marketing. In time I really fell in love with this particular plant.
There are lots that I gained from coffee from inspiration, experience, relations, and of course as my main income source, “Coffee is my life source, I’ll nurture my coffee”
I hope by becoming one of the participants in Cup of Excellence Indonesia 2021, my coffee can be known and loved by all coffee enthusiasts worldwide.

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