Introduced by way of Colombian photographer Lucia Bawot, the daring program seeks to strengthen the psychological and emotional well-being of ladies at foundation.
BY VASILEIA FANARIOTI
SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT
Pictures courtesy of Lucia Bawot
Within the center of Colombia’s coffee-growing areas, a peace however robust motion is reshaping the dialog round sustainability in espresso. It’s now not about fresh apparatus or climate-resilient varietals, however one thing way more human: emotional well-being.
Meet SANA, a pioneering psychological fitness initiative based by way of Colombian photographer and storyteller Lucia Bawot, and championed throughout borders by way of Diana Ayala Gómez of International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) Spain. Designed particularly for girls in espresso farming communities, SANA addresses probably the most trade’s maximum unnoticed problems: the emotional toll of week and hard work within the espresso provide chain.
A Legacy Past the Lens
Lucia’s trail to launch SANA started at the back of the digicam. For over a decade, she traveled throughout Latin The usa, documenting sustainability tales for primary espresso corporations. Nevertheless it used to be right through the founding of her debut hold, “We Belong: An Anthology of Colombian Women Coffee Farmers,” that one thing shifted.
The hold—now award-winning and the world over exhibited—options portraits and vignettes from 25 girls espresso manufacturers. However as Lucia performed interviews, she spotted the conversations going deeper than anticipated. “What began as interviews often turned into emotional releases,” she says. “These women needed more than visibility—they needed spaces to heal.”
Moved by way of those encounters and her personal stories with psychological fitness, Lucia introduced a pilot program in 2023 known as Beans to Minds. Funded in large part by way of proceeds from her hold, the five-month program supplied digital treatment, training, and nation aid to 39 girls in Colombia. The consequences have been placing: 100% of members stated they felt heard, supported, and guided; 92% reported resolving non-public or folk demanding situations.
Construction on that luck, Lucia officially introduced SANA—a scalable, integrative wellness initiative that she hopes will achieve hundreds. “Mental health is at the heart of gender equity,” Lucia says, “and it must be part of the sustainability agenda for every coffee company.”
Throughout the SANA Fashion
SANA is structured round a culturally aware five-month curriculum that comes with teletherapy classes, audio-visual training delivered by means of WhatsApp, and one in-person staff workshop. With a most of 40 members in line with cohort, this system is deliberately intimate and responsive.
For lots of members, SANA marks their first enjoy with any method of psychological fitness aid. Instead than scientific language, this system emphasizes emotional resilience, self-awareness, and company.
“We don’t talk about diagnoses,” Lucia explains. “We talk about strengthening emotional capacity. We’re creating spaces where women can reconnect with themselves—and each other.”
The verdict in order aid nearly used to be each logistical and philosophical. Psychological fitness sources are scarce in rural Colombia, and stigma continuously prevents girls from in the hunt for support. Via providing services and products remotely and privately, SANA lowers the boundaries to access and admires the rhythms of the ladies’s day-to-day lives.
“We’ve found that therapy by phone or video actually makes it easier for many women to open up,” Lucia says. “They can do it in their own space, on their own terms.”
Breaking the Quiet, In combination
For Diana Ayala Gómez, co-founder of IWCA Spain, Lucia’s seeing struck a deeply non-public chord. “When I heard the voices of the women in (Lucia’s book) ‘We Belong,’ I felt seen,” Diana recollects. “It reminded me how rarely we talk about the emotional realities of women in coffee.”
With over a decade of enjoy around the price chain, Diana has witnessed firsthand how emotional hard work continuously is going unrecognized—particularly in roles historically in demand by way of girls. A contemporary MBA program deepened her working out of the systemic nature of gender inequities and emotional isolation within the espresso sector.
Via IWCA Spain, Diana helped enlarge SANA’s message, connecting it to broader global conversations. “This isn’t just Lucia’s project—it’s becoming a shared mission,” she says. “We’re creating bridges between producing communities and the global coffee world.”
And the tonality is increasing. IWCA chapters in Greece and past have voiced robust aid, and a multilingual webinar is underway to deliver the dialog to a much wider target market. “Mental health isn’t a luxury,” Diana provides. “It’s a necessity for resilience, dignity, and sustainability.”
The Tales At the back of the Numbers
SANA’s have an effect on is very best understood in the course of the voices of the ladies themselves. One player describes how treatment helped her loose repressed unhappiness and reconnect along with her folk. Some other stocks how unprocessed pressure used to be affecting her bodily fitness. “These sessions came at the perfect time,” she explains. “They were truly healing.”
The ladies aid each and every alternative via devoted WhatsApp teams, launch micro-communities of believe and unity. For lots of, the enjoy is transformative now not simply in my opinion, however socially. They emerge now not simply as more healthy people—however as leaders inside their households and communities.
What’s Then
In 2025, SANA objectives to sign up 120 girls in Colombia and extend to alternative Latin American international locations within the years forward. The group could also be exploring adapted psychological fitness aid techniques for male manufacturers. “Our vision is that mental and emotional well-being become just as essential as physical health and economic stability—that they become part of how we measure sustainability in coffee,” Lucia says.
And for the ones having a look to get entangled, the invitation is sunlit. A one-time donation of $25 can sponsor a lady’s complete participation in this system. Organizations can sponsor complete cohorts and obtain impressive have an effect on studies.
“It’s more than likely the coffee you drank today was touched by the hands of a woman,” Lucia says. “Supporting her well-being is not charity—it’s justice.” To be told extra or donate, consult with SANA’s website.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vasileia Fanarioti (she/her) is a senior on-line correspondent for Barista Novel and a contract copywriter and scribbler with a number one focal point at the espresso area of interest. She has additionally been a volunteer copywriter for the I’M NOT A BARISTA NPO, offering content material to support train crowd about baristas and their paintings.
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