His son, who had recently returned from a mission trip to Africa replied “sounds like a ‘first world problem’ Dad”. Ouch! Talk about putting things in perspective! Scott relayed how he was immediately convicted about his poor attitude and stress over such a petty problem.

So was I.

Everything I think is a problem in my life is nothing in comparison to the chronic issues of everyday life in the third world.  Most of the things I get upset about or annoyed with, I am downright embarrassed to admit I considered problems, when examined in context of the third world –they have real, persistent, debilitating, life threatening problems. Daily. Since then, anytime Erika or I get upset over minor inconveniences of life, one of us will say “having a first world problem, eh?”

There are some people, hard as it is to believe, who are truly oblivious to the plight of third world citizens – people living in some of the worst, undeveloped, poverty stricken areas on the planet. To those people, this saying might not make any sense. Unless you have been confronted with the grim realities that are the third world, in a way that leaves a permanent imprint on your soul, you most likely won’t realize how good you have it. But for the vast majority of us, we do know. Non-stop television, internet, radio and all manner of other pervasive media make it almost impossible to not know about the horrible conditions that most of the rest of the world lives with daily (over 2 billion people live on less than $1/day, nearly 1 billion people live without access to clean water, etc.). Their constant struggles revolve around survival (literally, staying alive for another day), not whether or not to upgrade to the iPhone5, or having to circle around for 10 minutes in our car loaded with creature comforts to find a parking stall at the mall.

The issues dominating headlines in the U.S. – the top concerns of its citizens, can only be categorized as “desired improvements in life” by comparison.

• Affordable healthcare – we want it to be less expensive to treat our mostly self-inflicted maladies (heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, respiratory disease etc., primarily caused by poor diet and smoking)*.

• The housing bubble – this phantom wealth thing called home equity vanished.

• Tax dollars – whether they should be used to build half-billion-dollar stadiums for one of our city’s professional sports teams (Seattle is now embarking on its third such undertaking in little more than a decade).

These are clearly first world problems. I am not at all trying to minimize their importance (okay, maybe the stadiums), but these “problems” are only problems when viewed through the lens of our privileged western existence. If we suffered ANY of the chronic conditions of poverty that exist in the third world, we would laugh at ever having fretted over such first world so-called “problems.” We live such a materially abundant life in the developed world – so far removed from a life of struggle for daily subsistence, that we don’t recognize what we have, and we forget to recognize how many others in the world have less than nothing. If we miss a meal, we’re starving. Many only get one inadequate meal a day, every day. That’s harsh. That’s also reality.

So, here’s a free gift for you. “Sounds like a first world problem”. Adopt this phrase and start saying it with a chuckle as you catch yourself all wound up over nothing. Allow this phrase and the piercing perspective it brings, to crush your momentary misguided attitude and bring you back to the reality of how incredibly good you have it (in comparison – again, I don’t discount your struggles). Then, do something. Help others who actually do have real, pervasive problems.  There are literally thousands of things you could do right now, to change or save a life. Here are a few, the first two of which I learned about just the other day:

www.on3shirt.com – buy a hunger themed t-shirt, proceeds go to feed the hungry.

www.feedthe5000.org – sponsor a child for the cost of giving up one lunch per week.

www.worldvision.org – sponsor a child, or buy your Christmas gifts from their catalog.

www.store.onecup.org – buy award-winning coffee – each $1 you spend = $1 of aid for Africa

Mark Twain once said: ‘It’s not what I don’t understand about the Bible that bothers me, it’s what I do understand’. What he was inferring there was, there is a great deal about the Bible that he understood he should obey, and it troubled him.  We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves, and come to the aid of the oppressed. We all know that we should do so. The key here is to act. The One Cup Project was founded as the result of a single phone call. The call was from me to World Vision after being rocked by reading President Rich Stearns’ book The Hole in Our Gospel. Prior to that call, 2 years had slipped by since I had seen first hand, the heinous conditions Rich detailed in his book. Two years.  Nothing changes until we act.

For fun, (and more perspective in case you haven’t gotten enough) we asked our Facebook fans to tell us their first world problems. Here’s a list of the top ten responses (paraphrased) and the corresponding third world problem:

10. First World Problem: The Starbucks barista didn’t put enough caramel goo on the top of my macchiato this morning and I didn’t realize it until I had driven away.

Third World Problem: I do not have any food for my child this morning.

9. First World Problem: My new outfit from Gap is on back order, and now that Amazon’s come out with a Kindle Fire HD, I want to upgrade, but my parents said my last year’s Kindle is still good enough for me.

Third World Problem: I want to go to school and don’t mind the 7 mile walk there each day, but my family can’t afford even a used uniform and the few school supplies I need.

8. First World Problem: I finally finished washing ALL my laundry, and it doesn’t fit in my drawers and closets.

Third World Problem: When I wash my clothes, I am naked.

7. First World Problem: My husband has to work on Saturday so I’m home alone with the kids for the 6th day in a row.

Third world: my husband died of malaria and I don’t know how my children and I will survive

6. First World Problem: My cable company isn’t airing one of the 46 college football games that I want to watch.

Third World Problem: My village does not have a soccer ball, so we made one out of leaves and vines. It doesn’t really roll very well, but we still play

5. First World Problem: The electricity flickered and now I have to go around and reset all my digital clocks. So annoying.

Third World Problem: I do not have electricity. I have to scavenge for scarce wood for fuel to cook the otherwise inedible food we will have for our single daily meal.

4. First World Problem: My 2000sf home is way too small. I need to get a bigger home.

Third World Problem: We had to leave our home and walk hundreds of miles to stay in a refugee camp. We do not have a home anymore.

3. First World Problem:  I didn’t get home from work in time to tend to my Farm Ville crop and it died!

Third World Problem:  The locusts ate my crop – my family’s only source of food and income.

2. First world Problem: I waited all night in line for an iPhone 5 only to find out the store ran out before I could get one.

Third World Problem: I waited all night in line for food at a refugee camp, but they ran out. My family will go hungry today again.

1. First World Problem: I ran out of bottled water today and had to drink tap water. It didn’t taste good.

Third World Problem: Our water hole is contaminated, but we get our drinking water from it anyway because we have no other source. It has now gone dry. I have no water for my family to drink.

So, may I ask: “What’s your problem?”

Written by: Christian Kar, Founder

*CDC statistics – www.cdc.gov

• Each year in the United States, chronic disease such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes cause 7 in 10 deaths and account for about 75% of the $2 trillion spent on medical care9

◦                             In 2009, the economic costs of cardiovascular diseases and stroke were estimated at $475.3 billion, including $313.8 billion in direct medical expenses and $161.5 billion in indirect costs ($39.1 in lost productivity due to sickness or disability and $122.4 lost productivity due to premature death)10

◦                             In 2007, medical costs attributed to diabetes included $27 billion for care to directly treat diabetes, $58 billion to treat diabetes-related chronic complications attributable to diabetes, and $31 billion in excess general medical costs11

◦                             In 2008, the estimated health care costs related to obesity were $147 billion12

If you are here, on our website, reading this blog, chances are very good that you have the same desire within your hearts too.

So, when we receive emails asking about how our coffees were grown, picked and produced, we get it. You want to make sure that the coffee you choose did not get to you on the backs of those very people that we want to help. Neither do we.

Fair Trade Coffee is a governing mechanism to provide the farmers with a minimum price for their coffee. That price is currently $1.40 per pound. We currently pay more than double this price. Fair Trade has become a buzzword. The organization itself makes it very difficult for small roasters to participate. In addition, a percentage that is paid for “Fair Trade” goes actually to a company called TransFair USA to promote the idea of Fair Trade, so not all the money goes to the farmer.

Direct Trade is a direct relationship between a roaster and a farm, cutting out any middle men. The farmers therefore receive more for their crops and a direct link between farm and consumer is created.

I can tell you that the coffees that we use are not child slave labor coffees, nor are they from farms where workers are exploited. The green bean company that we purchase our other (not direct trade) coffee, is a very hands-on, socially minded company. The owner and his team travel to the farms to develop relationships. They help the farmers improve their farms and their lives. They would not buy coffees that exploited anyone. You can check them out at www.atlascoffee.com

Please don’t get us wrong. We are not bashing Fair Trade. They have done an outstanding job of bringing awareness to the issues that are prevalent with any crop that is grown in a third world country – whether it is coffee, cocoa, bananas, mangoes, pineapples or sugarcane.

What we are saying is that while we are working to bring you more TransFair Certified coffees, none of our coffees are grown or produced in a manner that would exploit or harm anyone. FairTrade is great, Direct Trade is even better, and rest assured that all of our coffees are fairly traded whether or not they carry one of these monikers.

Now, having explained all that, we invite you take a look at our Direct Trade and Certified Fair Trade offerings. We have certified coffees from all different regions and with all different flavor profiles. Enjoy!

It’s not very different from our personal lives in tough times. We have to do more w/ less help, support and resources than before. The family who has not had to significantly “tighten their belt” in recent years, is definitely an acute minority – which is a good segue into the title of this blog.

Growth is in the valley. We don’t often experience personal or professional growth while we’re winning, and while everything seems to be going our way. We grow when we are stretched, rocked, challenged and bruised. When things don’t go our way. When we are left asking “how could this happen?” or “how on earth am I going to contend with this?” These are the times we are wise to look inside, take inventory, and get a handle on what’s truly important. These are the times God uses to sharpen us as tools and to mold us into the person He created us to be. This is when He grows our character. It doesn’t matter what the particular challenge is, or how grave the situation seems. The answer is the same: This is when we grow. Growth is in the valley.
Life is fraught with obstacles, disappointments and downright tragedy. When we overcome these particular ones, there will be others. I’m not trying to be a downer – just a realist. That’s just life. Our character, however, is determined not by what happens to us, but by how we choose to respond to it. We can freak out, become bitter, crumble, load our junk on others, start punching the air, etc. OR we can embrace the difficult times, knowing that our Creator is at work molding His creation into what He wants it to be. It’s all in our perspective…
Perspective is a funny thing. I can be wallowing in my own issues, on the edge of despair, and then I see a photo of Edouard or Winet (the children we sponsor through World Vision), and I consider their lives on the African continent (poorest in the world) – or any of the lives of the more than 2 billion people in the world living on less than $2/day. Every day for them is a struggle, that doesn’t let up. They don’t think about what they’re in the mood to eat or drink – but whether they will even get a meal or a drink of (contaminated) water. All of a sudden, I have no problems. Gratitude for what I have sets in. You may feel like you’re poor, or that finances are always a struggle, but it’s been said that if you can afford bus fare, you’re counted among the worlds’ rich (only the top 1/3 of world population has access to transportation).
At the end of the day, we have to remember – the battle belongs to the Lord. Whatever you’re facing is not only allowed by, but specifically ordained by God, your Creator, for your benefit (Romans 8:28). Don’t focus on what’s happening. Focus on how you will respond.

The One Cup Project was born in the midst of a deep valley – in the economy, in our business, in our personal lives. But it was ordained by God to happen. From the outside, it probably didn’t look right at the time, to focus our energy and resources on a “charitable” venture. But it’s exactly what we needed to do. It was/is part of our journey. It has renewed us. It has shaped our character. Growth is in the valley.
If you’re in a valley, consider expending yourself – your focus, attention and resources on others. Whatever you have need of, give some of it away. Need time, give some away. Need money, give some away (btw, coffee makes a great gift). Need compassion, give some away. The life you change could be your own.

Christian Kar
Founder, The One Cup Project
P.S. I am going to take my own medicine here. I need coffee business – therefore I am going to give some coffee away. Leave a comment about this post on our facebook page and we’ll pick a winner at random and send you a nice box of our award-winning coffee! (we’ll contact you for your shipping address )

As a Christian University, social projects at NU are a very important part of student life and have been for many years.  One of our main social focuses is the fight against human trafficking both locally and abroad.  Each week in the Campus Chapel, students give money to the Home Foundation (www.thehomefoundation.net), a non-profit organization that fights for the elimination of Human-Trafficking across the globe.  The Home Foundation was founded by Christian singer/songwriter and NU alum, Natalie Grant.  This past school year NU students gave over $12,000 to support this cause.  So you can add Social Justice to the budget of an already financially-strapped NU student.

In addition to being the coordinator of the café, I am also the Media Pastor for a church plant in Bonney Lake, Washington.  Last October I was at the Calibrate Conference in Renton, Washington, where I was introduced to this amazing idea of a “more-than-profit” coffee company.  I heard about what One Cup was doing and I immediately wanted to jump on board. So during the winter break we made the switch from our current coffee to Silver Cup Coffee by partnering with the One Cup Project.  This is where that 2-for-1 deal comes in!  By selling One Cup coffee we are not only able to serve great coffee, we are also able to help bring about social and economic change in Zambia.  In turn, our customers, those already “social change minded” NU students, not only get to drink great coffee, but are also giving to an amazing cause that reaches halfway across the globe.

What is great about the One Cup project is that as it keeps growing, it can keep giving.   When a customer purchases a drink they unlock the ability for One Cup to give more.  Usually when I go to a coffee shop and order a drink, my money goes in the register and becomes theirs.  The One Cup Project empowers customers to be the givers.  The Aerie Café won’t buy more coffee beans from One Cup until customers buy what we already have, and One Cup can’t give more until we buy more.  The gift starts at the consumer, goes to the shop, gets to One Cup, and is passed on to Zambia.  There is an amount of joy that comes from that.  Coffee can only fulfill one to the point their body tells them, but the joy of helping someone in need is fulfilling beyond that of a caffeine fix which lasts only for a few hours.

Jadon Haynes

Aerie Café Coordinator

Northwest University

For more information on Northwest University visit www.Northwestu.edu and you can follow what’s going on at the Aerie Café on twitter, @AerieCafe.

Winston Churchill said Uganda is the “pearl of Africa,” a statement I’ve found to be very true. Uganda is in sub-sarahan east Africa and is full of beauty both in landscape and people. She is full of rolling hills, arid flat lands, and bustling cities. Her people are eager to extend themselves, open their arms, and invite other into their families. Yet, she has been ravaged by hunger, disease, poverty, and a 25-year long war. During my time in Uganda, I found that these things do not define the people. Instead, the people are filled with irrepressible joy, love that overflows, and a selflessness I long to posses.

People like Jjaja Rachel (the grandmother of Rachel). As soon as I met Jjaja, she became my grandmother. She welcomed me into her one-room home with grace and pride. With her beautiful 74 year old hands, Jjaja makes a living making hand-woven mats. We sat on one such yellow and pink mat and shared a meal together. Jjaja has lived through so much heartache and struggle, yet that afternoon, I saw more real joy and love than I ever had before. She smiled a full, yet shy, smile; she embraced me in long, tight hugs; she gave me more than I could ever give her. She let me take home that bright yellow and pink mat and with it she let me take a piece of her livelihood and her heart. It’s one of my most precious possessions.

Africans have a concept that doesn’t translate well into English. It’s called ubuntu (oo-boon-too) and it means to count every person as family. It means that everyone belongs to someone; that there is no hunger, no orphan, no need because everyone is caring for everyone else. In a sentence, ubuntu means “I am because you are.” It’s selfless love at its core. Jjaja extended ubuntu to me as she shared her food, her story, and her heart with me. She cared for me that afternoon as if I were her own.

Jjaja is like so many in Uganda. She is warm, welcoming, and struggling to provide for her family. Too often, the grandparents are left to care for children and struggle to do so. In other situations, children are left to care for themselves or are relied upon by younger siblings. HIV/AIDS, poverty, an almost 25 year long war, and innumerable other factors have left this African pearl desperate for sustainable lifelines.

However, I’ve found that even under extreme hardship and heartache, Uganda is living up to its name. A pearl is created as a defense against a threatening intrusion. When the mollusks’ shell is invaded by bacteria or organisms, the mollusk secretes chemicals that cover the intruder. After layer upon layer, a pearl is formed. Out of hardship and potentially devastating circumstances, mollusks produce pearls – things of beauty and worth.

Uganda is doing the same thing. I’ve seen more real joy in the face of poverty and more love in places of lack and broken families than I have anywhere else. The people of Uganda can’t help but share what they’ve been given; they live ubuntu every single day. It’s from her people, like Jjaja, I’ve found what real love, real joy, and real beauty is like: a pearl.

One Cup, after all, is a movement of many, doing a very small and seemingly insignificant thing – buying coffee. But that small act has the power to change the world. What if your coffee purchase could save a life? It can. Every dollar spent on One Cup coffee generates a dollar of life giving aid for our friends in Africa – the poorest continent on earth. Did you know what contaminated water is one of the leading causes of death among the poorest humans? So much so, that 40% of children don’t see their fifth birthday. They get sick and die, simply due to lack of access to clean drinking water. One single dollar can provide clean water to one African for one year. Startling isn’t it? That’s the cost of a single bottle of water to us here in the developed world. One Cup was born out of our desire to change these statistics of loss and death to accounts of victory and life.

So here’s what we’re working hard to accomplish this year, with your help. We’d like to have generated $100,000 in aid by the end of 2011. As of this writing, One Cup has generated $27,050 in aid since the official launch in September 2010. Since One Cup is a viral, social media driven message, we believe one “open door” could result in a great increase in awareness and momentum – so our “stretch” goal for 2011 is $200,000 in aid generated! How cool would that be? All it takes is people acting on their desire to effect change – Buy coffee for home, Introduce One Cup to your church or workplace, Tell others about One Cup so they can do the same. (Did I mention the coffee is award – winning?)

In order to accomplish this, here are some targets we believe will get us there:

Increase Partners:

·      Add 300 New Home Subscribers

·      Add 100 New Churches

·      Add 10 New Colleges

·      Add 10 New Businesses

Increase Media Presence:

·      Local/Regional Articles

·      Local/Regional Radio/Television exposure

·      National Story in Major Media Outlet

Increase Social Media Presence:

·      More “Sharable” Video Content

·      5000 Facebook Fans

·      10000 Twitter Followers

Increase Events Presence:

·      NW Ministry Conference

·      Bottom Billions/Bottom Line

·      Missions Fest Seattle

·      Calibrate 2011

·      2 – 4  Additional Events (TBD)

Increase Website Content:

·      Project Updates from Africa

·      Testimonials / Stories of Transformation

·      More to Buy (Specialty Coffees, T-Shirts, Teas)

·      Wholesale Online Ordering Function

Increase Interns:

·      Marketing, Communications, Social Media, Street Teams

·      6-8 Total Student/Graduate Partners

While the list seems long, we have many more ideas and sub goals not mentioned – too many to list. But we hope this gives you an idea of what we’re up to, and inspiration to join the movement in any way you can. The children and families are counting on you!

If you haven’t already done so, please join us! Together we can change the world – one cup at a time.

With Much Gratitude,

Christian Kar

Founder

Very few things in life matter.

Most of us spend most of our time doing things that don’t matter.

This realization hit me anew this weekend, when one of my boys was off at a friend’s for a sleepover, and it was just me and my youngest boy alone at home – and I totally blew it! Here I had a rare and perfect opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with my seven year old, and somehow I convinced myself I needed to try some more tricks to see if I could get my horribly slow laptop performing again. Really?! It sounds so ridiculous, now, and yet I realized that it happens all the time. This time especially, I missed all the clues- we had made plans and he reminded me of it. He followed me all over the house waiting for my cue – and I put him off until it was too late. The opportunity was lost forever.

Now, I knew what I should do, but I allowed MY agenda to rule the day. And what in my entire world is as important as shepherding my son’s heart and bonding with him as an individual? Not a whole lot, but that’s the unsugar-coated, unglamorous, unjustified truth of the matter. I only have one chance to pour everything I can at every moment allowable into my sons’ hearts – and then the opportunity expires. I know this. But knowledge isn’t enough. We all know how to lose weight right – eat less, exercise more! If knowing were enough, we’d all be the hard bodies in fitness magazines. The fact is, we need to ACT on that knowledge, and in order to act, we need to be inspired.

That’s what happened to me when I went to Africa. For me, the first step was to ‘just say yes’. There was no apparent reason or urgency for me to go, except to follow my heart, and the seed of desire God planted there. This first step – the action of just saying yes – ultimately led to the birth of The One Cup Project and led to my business life being molded to the shape of my heart. Business doesn’t own me now. It’s just a tool to help me fulfill the plan God has for my life.

The title of this blog entry comes from the words of King Solomon, widely considered the wisest man ever to have walked the earth. He starts his book of wisdom, “Ecclesiastes”, with this: “Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” He goes on to describe all the things man does to occupy himself in order to try to derive happiness and fulfillment, and how it is all ultimately meaningless. To get the full effect, you have to read the book. The book has had incredible impact in my life – because I could identify with Solomon’s search for meaning. Later he says “And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”- which is exactly where I was at – competing in the race to be found worthy by my fellow man. This is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Because I took that first step, I was able to continue walking down the path in my life marked “purpose & meaning”. As soon as the idea of The One Cup Project started to form, I knew that one of my purposes would be to inspire others to begin walking down the path in their life marked “purpose & meaning”. Yes, I admit, if you drink coffee, I want you to buy it from One Cup. Perhaps you’ve felt moved by the mission enough to “like” it, but you’ve stopped there. That could be your first step in obeying what your heart is telling you that you should do. If that is the case, then follow through right now and buy it. Then share it with your friends and maybe tell a business owner or church leader about it so they can turn their coffee into mission too! – OR – Maybe you’ve thought about sponsoring a child through World Vision, but have never followed through. Do it now! – OR – Maybe you’ve become aware of something you’re supposed to do or give (time, talent, treasure) and you just need that prompt to act – here it is! As Nike would say, “Just do it”.

Here’s what King Solomon would say to encourage you to join the One Cup movement:

“Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun:

I saw the tears of the oppressed—

and they have no comforter;

power was on the side of their oppressors—

and they have no comforter.”

Will you be their comforter? I guarantee you, you will be blessed.

Oh, in case you’re curious how Solomon, in all his great wisdom, summed up his search for meaning, here it is:

“Now all has been heard;

here is the conclusion of the matter:

Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment,

including every hidden thing,

whether it is good or evil.”

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%201&version=NIV