Miguel is from the municipality of Masaguara, in the deparment of Intibucá, Honduras. He comes from a coffee-farming family. “My mother, a single mother, was able to support me and my seven siblings thanks to the income from our farm and the sale of her coffee through the organization, COAQUIL, a cooperative”.

Miguel’s journey wasn’t easy. He recalls the challenges of pursuing his dreams. “I began studying to become a teacher and worked as one for three years, often walking an hour and a half to two hours to get to school and back home due to the lack of transportation. Those three years were tough because I had to juggle both work and study. At the end of 2012, during my vacation, the cooperative offered me a job”.

That job offer sparked a turning point. “After my vacation, the cooperative proposed I stay on and not return to school. It was a very difficult decision because teaching was my passion. But while working with the cooperative, I discovered my second passion, coffee production. That’s when I decided I needed to learn more about the coffee industry.”

Miguel’s commitment and curiosity paid off. Rising through the ranks to head the cooperative’s quality control department, a key milestone that enhanced the cooperative’s bargaining power in negotiating better prices, he made the difficult decision to leave teaching and dedicate himself full-time to the cooperative. “While working at the cooperative, I proposed the idea of creating a coffee cupping school for children and young people”, Miguel recalls. This idea blossomed into Chapola COAQUIL, a school named after the term chapola, meaning a newly sprouted seed just beginning to open its first two leaves—a metaphor for the young students eager to grow and conquer the world. “The school has been so successful that the children are now well-prepared and have participated in various national fairs.”

Reflecting on his journey, Miguel says “Without my cooperative, I don’t think I would have been able to combine these two passions and serve my community.” He adds, “For me, coffee connects worlds, but cooperatives change lives.”