Dorie Hagler Photography specializing in editorial,social documentary and environmental portraiture. Covering New Mexico and the Southwest.

Projects: Behind Every Cup

"Behind Every Cup" illustrates the story of coffee growers in Mexico and Latin America. It was commissioned by Coffee Kids, an international non-profit agency that gives micro-credit loans to women and families who live in coffee growing regions. From 1998 to 2002 Coffee Kids sent me on five trips throughout Mexico and Central America to document their projects.

This was by far, my favorite assignment to date.

Standing above the processing machines, a Guatemalan coffee cooperative worker looks out toward the volcanic mountains where coffee is grown. photo by Dorie Hagler
  
At a cofffee cooperative in Nicaragua women sort coffee beans on a conveyor belt. They earn $2.85 per day for their labor. photo by Dorie Hagler
   
A young boy in Guatemal picks coffee on his family's land. photo by Dorie Hagler
     
  
In Guatemala a woman roast coffee on a comal. photo by Dorie Hagler
   
In the highlands of Oaxaca, Mexico a young girl stands beside a window. photo by Dorie Hagler
   
At a coffee cooperative in San Pedro de la Laguna, Guatemala cooperative members garry 100 pound bags of freshly harvested coffee cherries. photo by Dorie Hagler
     
  
Many children are forced to sacrifice moving forward in their education so that they can harvest coffee and thereby help their families scrape together a living. Even so, children are not paid equal wages for equal work. photo by Dorie Hagler
  
At a cooperative in San Pedro de la Laguna, workers dry coffee on the patio. photo by Dorie Hagler
   
     
  
   
  
     
  
   
  
Alonzo Cruz, 78, and his wife Justina Reyes, 65, live on a coffee plantation in Oaxaca, Mexico. They own no land and live in a one-room house, provided by the plantation owners, which has no running water or electricity. Alonzo, who works full time on the plantation, earns 120 Pesos ($12) per week.