THIS IS AN OPEN LETTER TO SPECIALTY COFFEE ASSOCIATION MEMBERS & ANYONE WHO CARES ABOUT THE SPECIALTY COFFEE INDUSTRY
Dear SCA members,
The last couple of months and weeks have been inevitably very tough for all of us and I do hope that you and your loved ones are coping well in the world we live in today.
Today I write this letter to you as someone who has served this community diligently for a very long time including as a member of your board for the past two years.
My past few weeks serving you as your board member -in both the Finance and sustainability committees have been extremely tough in many ways. When you elected me to serve you in this capacity two years ago, I came to serve the larger community and not my personal interests.
In the last few weeks I have faced internal misogyny, bullying and discrimination from some colleagues on the board.
I have been told to: “watch my level of ambition given Africa does not have good numbers in membership and if I would be elected to the Presidents Council (PC) the organisation would bleed membership given Europe and America’s interests would not be served well with my presence on the PC.” This same colleague then cautioned me on “starting fires”. during our board meetings that I cannot put out.
Subsequently I lost the vote for Treasurer of the organisation. I have heard it was close although I never received feedback from these meetings in which I was discussed despite their impact on my professional aspirations and, inevitably, my mental health.
Those of you that have interacted with me know that I always keep it real and will never shy away from what I believe in or from what the people I represent would want advocated for on their behalf.
I am not here to make people comfortable or to be liked. I came to serve and if that makes me unpopular with some of my colleagues on the current board then so be it.
I can no longer stay silent about the level of betrayal, bullying , dishonesty and a lack of transparency that I have been subjected to by some of my fellow board members last couple of weeks.
To teach my 11 year old daughter that she can aspire to be anything she wants to be in life and to stand up for herself when bullied or when treated in an unjust manner and not do it for myself would be the biggest level of hypocrisy I would be committing as a mother.
I sit on this board with some colleagues who have abused the board confidentiality clause using it to perpetuate self interest and cultivate accusations of which I can only speculate. Unfortunately they not only continue to do this, but they continue to get away with it.
I have brought this forward to the membership in the hope that the system will change and there shall be more transparency in processes that are handled by the board and that people’s personal lives and personal business affairs are just that — personal and private. To use my life and my experiences to advance personal goals at my expense is unjust, unfair and something I never expected would happen to me as a volunteer for this community. I call on the membership to elect representation that goes beyond cronyism and likeability.
I urge the members to pick leaders and not followers. Leaders that have and know what their real purpose is, and leaders who can stick out their necks for what is right even when it makes them unpopular in a board room.
We have to work together to rid this association of “yes” people and cronyism. The community now more than ever needs individuals who can lead with Courage, Integrity and Purpose.
I share with you a quote that has kept me together these past few weeks :
“When they go low . …we go high” Michelle Obama.
In as much as I have struggled these past few weeks, my sight of what is right and what is not has not wavered one bit — I hope you all know that if indeed I will fail in my endeavour to bring about some change in this association and the Specialty coffee community, then let me fail while still daring greatly. My track record serving this organisation speaks for itself:
-SPEAKER — RE:CO 2020 — Specialty Coffee, Race & the Urgent Need for Progress
-SPEAKER — RE:CO 2018 — Sustainability Changing Everything But the Goal
-SESSION HOST — RE:CO 2019- The role of Innovation and Technical Advancement
-LEAD INSTRUCTOR. — EXPO WORKSHOP- 2019 — Becoming a B-corp
-PANELIST- Expo lectures 2017- “Resilient Coffee: What Resilience Means & Why this Matters for All Members of Coffee’s Supply Chain”
-EVENTS SITE CRITERIA COMMITTEE MEMBER — 2018
-SUSTAINABILITY COUNCIL MEMBER — TO DATE
-REVIEWED SUBMISSIONS FOR THE SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS- 4 years to date
-INVESTED THROUGH MY COMPANY VAVA COFFEE LTD. IN AN SCA TRAINING FACILITY IN KENYA -(Green and Sensory)- premier campus stalled due to COVID19.
-BOARD MEMBER SCA- FINANCE & SUSTAINABILITY Committees (NB: The FC is one of the hardest working groups in this organisation as volunteers we meet monthly and spend 2 days in meetings discussing organisation budgets)
- INFLUENCED POLICY CHANGES AT BOARD LEVEL
-OFFERED MY TIME TO SCA STAFF COUNTLESS TIMES TO DISCUSS PERTINENT ISSUES AND OFFER MY OPINION WHEN ASKED
-EXPO VOLUNTEER 2017, 2018,2O19,2020
THE ONLY RECOURSE I AM TOLD IS TO PETITION BUT LET MY PETITION BE MY PROTEST NOT JUST FOR MYSELF AND EVERYTHING I HAVE ENDURED THESE PAST FEW WEEKS &. MONTHS BUT FOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS HAD TO SUFFER IN SILENCE BECAUSE OF NDA’S AND CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENTS WHILE THEIR ABUSERS AND BULLIES WERE GLORIFIED AS HEROES AND THE TRUTH COVERED UP!
I AM BREAKING MY SILENCE AND ASKING YOU MEMBERS TO TAKE A STAND WITH ME IF YOU ARE AGAINST:
INTERNAL MISOGYNY
DISCRIMINATION
BULLYING
TOXIC BOARD ROOMS
ANY KIND OF ABUSE PERIOD!
KINDLY TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO SIGN THE PETITION THROUGH THE LINK BELOW:
https://nom.ukevote.uk/sca/petition
YOU WILL NEED MY FULL NAMES: VAVA ANGWENYI
AND EMAIL: SPECIALTYKENYANCOFFEE@GMAIL.COM
