Changing Focus

By Alysha Burney

I’ve been a coffee drinker ever since the age of 8. An unflavored latte with 2% milk was my dad’s go-to order. Once I had a sip, I knew I tasted something truly special. Ringing in at 5 foot 10 inches, I can attest that coffee does not stunt your growth.

A 15-year old Alysha at one of her very first jobs as a Barista.

Like most coffee drinkers, I used to let the product come to me.  Not really thinking about where it came from but only about how I was going to enjoy it. When I started traveling with OBIIS a few years ago, that all changed in a BIG(G) way.  

Life behind the lens.

As a member of the filming team, my role on these trips is mainly as an observer. I follow the action behind a camera. Thinking about the shot. The exposure. Am I getting the sound OK? Is there a better angle? Is something else going on? What am I missing? It often feels as though I’m removed from the moment – there but not fully present. Participating in a different way than everyone else. 

Which, honestly, is likely the life experience for all of us. We’re busy. Maybe even, TOO busy. We all experience pressures in life to be better in every way. Perform at work, show up at home, take care of our families and friends. Make ends meet, pay the bills, buy the food, make the mortgage. For many of us, life continues everyday at this super-human pace that seems to ever accelerate.  

I’m not sure about you dear reader, but I often feel like I fail.  Constantly comparing myself to other parents who are able to volunteer at my kids’ school. Other film-makers that give their lives up to follow incredible stories. Daughters that can take care of their aging parents with patience and compassion. Couples that actually get a date night. The list goes on and on. 

With OBIIS, I have discovered that traveling the globe is a great equalizer. We live in our lives thinking that our experiences are unique to us. They are not. Every person on this globe has the same flavors of life experience – trying to make it while caring for the people they love. That’s the crux of all of our journeys.

After a trip back in May to visit the Villatoro family coffee farm near Huehuetanango, Guatemala, my focus began to change.

Celli and Aurelio Villatoro, with Aurelio’s mom.

The Villatoro Family is busy.  The reality of being a coffee farmer in today’s world is not an easy path. In fact, there are many blog posts here that can illuminate that for you if you’d like to learn more. Farming in and of itself is more than a full time job. There are endless to-do lists to maintain your fields and ensure a good harvest – and that’s only IF the weather cooperates – which is rarely the case in the days of climate change making everything more and more unpredictable.   

On top of farming, this beautiful family is also working in their communities to educate other farmers on best agricultural practices, better their communities with innovative projects with aquaculture and windmills to increase independence from high food and energy costs. They work with other farmers to advocate for higher market prices for their coffee. They care about the environment and are working with neighbors and nearby farms to better the water quality and soil biodiversity in the region. All the while taking care of their immediate and extended family in such a genuine and loving way. 

On these OBIIS visits, our group descends on these farmers and their families, stays in their homes, asks millions of questions and sticks cameras in their faces 24/7. For anyone, this would be a highly stressful situation. But grace must run in the blood of the Villatoro family as I never detected anything other than a calm and welcoming energy. 

Aurelio, taking the time to play soccer with his family.

One afternoon, as I walked around the farm filming environmental b-roll hoping to capture a sense of this place, I happened upon Aurelio (the patriarch of the family) playing an amazing game of soccer with his nieces and nephews.  It was such a carefree moment. Even with all these people at his house, the pressures of leading the family in the difficult and nebulous coffee industry in a region in Guatemala that is deemed a ‘do not travel’ zone due to drug cartel activity by the US State Department… And a camera ever at the ready. He was playing.   

It was a moment I will not soon forget. An opportunity to shake off the pressures of our lives and just play. I realized that as life often feels heavy, it doesn’t have to. We can hold our responsibilities, but also see the light and freedom this life can afford. Aurelio and the Villatoro family care deeply about coffee, their family, their community and their environment. Instead of being bogged down by the details of daily life, they welcome it with compassionate leadership. If they can live life in this way, we can too.