Felsted School supports life-changing Safi Coffee Project

Felsted School are working to make a difference through the sales of coffee to the local community. Safi Coffee is a special pupil-led initiative that imports Ugandan coffee to sell across the UK, in partnership with Hull Collegiate School and Highgate School. Through links with Teach Uganda, one of Felsted’s core charities, it was discovered that the coffee grown in the South West Region of the country has a great flavour. Felstedians visit Uganda every two years, teaching in schools and working in the community where they tend to their coffee plantation.

Safi Coffee raises vital funds to help change lives in the Kanungu region, aiming to break the cycle of poverty for many young people. It costs just £180 to fund a child to attend school for a full year including accommodation, food, water and healthcare.

The Felsted Environment & Service Group are supporting this initiative, alongside International Baccalaureate Diploma students who are involved as part of their enterprise project. They will be working to redesign the Felsted Coffee Shop and work with parents and local businesses to promote and sell Safi Coffee, with all profits going directly to pay for Ugandan children to attend school.

It is also important to Felsted pupils to make sure the project is environmentally friendly and they have been working hard alongside pupils from Hull Collegiate School (HCS) on new ideas to make it as sustainable as possible. HCS, the original founders of the project, recently travelled to support Felsted with a special coffee tasting event ahead of the official launch on 24th April.

Pupils from each school will continue to work closely together, holding regular video calls. They have set themselves the ambitious target to fill a 20-tonne container with coffee beans in five years’ time generating around 150K profit.

Nigel Little, Chaplain, Felsted School & Trustee of Teach Uganda, said: “As a Trustee of Teach Uganda, I am delighted that Felsted School has embraced the opportunity to promote Safi Coffee amongst its community. The coffee beans are grown in Uganda, shipped directly to the UK for roasting and packaging and then distributed direct to Felsted. As a result, we are able to ensure that the funds raised from our sales are sent directly back to help the children of Uganda. It is wonderful for our students to be in an entrepreneurial partnership with other young people in Hull, Highgate and Uganda.”

Tom Brown, Director of Safi Coffee CIC, has a clear vision of how to take Safi to the next level. He said: “Raising awareness of the project is our number one aim; ultimately, the more people that are drinking Safi Coffee, the more children we can put through school in Uganda. Fuelling offices and workspaces with Safi Coffee has allowed us to increase the number of children we sponsor up to 50; this a real testament to the success of the initiative, demonstrating how far the project has come in such a short space of time.”

If you are interested in providing Safi Coffee in your workplace please get in touch with Nigel Little at Felsted School on chaplain@felsted.org. Further information can be found on www.felsted.org/saficoffee.