By Magdalena Stuehrmann
George Washington students, faculty and staff now have a simple way to help bring safe drinking water to Haiti. All it takes is the cost of a cup of coffee.
GW recently became the first university in the country to sell coffee from Coffee for Water. Founded by the father of former GW student Bobak Tavangar, B.A. ’11, who graduated from the Elliot School last May, the company sells coffee from Haiti and uses the profits to design and purchase water purification systems for Haitian schools, communities and medical clinics.
Founder Jahan Tavangar came up with the idea for the enterprise while he was in Haiti in March 2010. Hoping to help the survivors, he had come to Haiti with a medical relief team to assist in relief efforts following the devastating January 2010 earthquake. Since the water in Haiti was not safe to drink, Dr. Tavangar, who has a doctorate in environmental engineering and water resources, brought a water purification system.
The team camped at a school that had a contaminated well. Dr. Tavangar set up the purification system and was struck by the immediate benefits that it provided to the students, staff and the surrounding community.
“My colleagues had said that the drinking water in Haiti was not safe and that we would have to take bottled water from the Dominican Republic into Haiti. That seemed like a crazy idea to me, so I thought, ‘Well, why don’t I take with me a water purification system?’ since that was my field, and I know how to do that,” said Dr. Tavangar.
He realized that purification systems can make a significant difference for the struggling survivors of the earthquake. He returned to the country four more times to install five water purification systems in schools, medical facilities and an orphanage.
The rugged purification systems were designed for a rural setting. They can be run by generators, car batteries and solar panels, and use only about 80 watts of energy (roughly the same as a light bulb) – ideal for a country with unreliable electrical systems.
After tasting his first cup of Haitian coffee, Dr. Tavangar realized that the coffee could be sold in the U.S. and the profits used to purchase water purification systems for Haiti. He launched the online company Coffee for Water in March. The company buys Haitian coffee through co-ops at a premium price to benefit the growers and sells it online.
“Haiti grows very good coffee, and I wasn’t aware of that,” he said. “One day at breakfast time, the teacher that I was staying with gave me some coffee. When she told me that it was Haitian coffee I started trying to figure out how to leverage what they have.”
The water purification projects that the profits fund have so far been focused in Port-au-Prince, though the company hopes to expand its influence. Currently, clean water is provided by Coffee for Water purification systems to schools, a medical clinic, an orphanage and the oldest hospital in the Port-au-Prince area.
Coffee sold by Coffee for Water is now available on the GW campus thanks to the efforts of former GW student Danny Workman, B.A. ’11, the Office of Sustainability and Sodexo. The coffee is available at GW in brewed form at G-Dub Java and as beans, soon to be sold by the GW Bookstore.
“GW is thrilled to be partnering with Coffee for Water to help support water filtration systems in Haiti,” said Sophie Waskow, sustainability project facilitator in GW’s Office of Sustainability. “We encourage the GW community to stop by G-Dub Java and try the coffee and to purchase it at the GW Bookstore. It makes a great present.”
In the few weeks since Coffee for Water debuted on campus, it has already made a difference. The coffee sold at GW has earned 6,250 water credits, the company’s way of counting the number of liters of water that have been cleaned. One water credit is equal to one liter of purified water. One cup of brewed coffee equals 25 liters of clean water, and 10 bags of coffee beans are enough to provide safe water to one Haitian child for a full year.
“I’m so grateful to the university...everyone has been so supportive, and such visionaries, really, to be able to recognize how significant this social enterprise,” said Dr. Tavangar. “GW students are making a difference in the world one cup of coffee at a time.”
Though the program is currently limited to Haiti, the company hopes to expand to other nations such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda. In the coffee-growing areas of the world, roughly one third of the population lack access to safe drinking water, and a leading cause of child mortality is infection by waterborne diseases.
The company is working to expand to other universities as well, encouraged by the swift success the program has had at GW. To cater to more college students, the company is also developing a mobile phone app that will allow students to track their own water credits based on their personal coffee consumption. The app should be available for use by 2012.
“Coffee for Water is about much more than just coffee or water,” said Dr. Tavangar. “We want to partner with a university in terms of student engagement, faculty engagement and international development.”