News & Events

Our goal in this section is to bring you stories of those directly helped by your support of Benevolent Bean. For you to see the direct connection between the lives of those helped and the cup of coffee you enjoy. In addition, we will feature selected events which we feel will be of interest to you as our work goes forward.

Her name is Tsehainesh Digo and we first encountered her in November 2006 at our coffee processing plant in Yirgcheffe, Ethiopia. She had recently been provided a place to live at the plant as she had no family to speak of other than an elderly father living elsewhere in the area.
Tsehainesh had suffered from polio all her life and crawled under the coffee drying tables collecting beans that had fallen through the wire mesh of the tables.

A call to Dr. Duane Anderson, an orthopedic surgeon at the Soddo Christian Hospital four hours north of Yirgacheffe, put in motion of series of events that would change her life forever. Through the support of Benevolent Bean, Tsehainesh was transported to the hospital where Dr. Anderson and his team successfully operated on her and then began the months of rehabilitation she would require.

In early April 2007, Tsehainesh returned to Yirgacheffe walking with the assistance of crutches much to the amazement of those who had known her before she left. She will soon reenter school to begin learning to be a seamstress no longer crawling in the dirt for the rest of her life.

Stories such as Tsehainesh's happen everyday. Her experience is symbolic of the potential that exists in third world countries to raise their level of self-sufficiency. It has been reported that if the GNP (Gross National Product) of African countries could be increased by one percent, it would surpass by more than five times the amount of US aid now pouring into these countries. Your support of Benevolent Bean is helping to create a model internationally recognized for its ability to enhance the lives of individuals and regional groups of people. It is also a model that can be re-created elsewhere in the world.

New stories will be appearing regularly here so that you can follow our on-going efforts with the knowledge that you are directly making it all possible.

Published on Apr 21, 2007. View Past Publications