#SheisCoffee: Bernardina Sanchez

Bernardina Sanchez is a coffee farmer and owner of La Cuesta farm in Guatincara, a small village in the municipality of Erandique, department of Lempira in Western Honduras. 

Doña Bernardina—as many respectfully address her– is 50 years old and started working in coffee around 1990 along with her husband and their six children. After the passing of her husband five years ago, Doña Bernardina decided to continue growing coffee to sustain her six children, four of whom now work at the farm with her, while two attend college at the department capital, Gracias. Despite the challenges of being a single mother, through her determination, Doña Bernardina has been able to increase her productivity and expand future opportunities for her children. 

In 2019, she received several visits from field technicians for the LIFT program. Because she has never received any kind of training or technical assistance on how to implement environmentally friendly practices, improve coffee quality, improve farm productivity, she was very interested from the beginning. Now, Bernardina is part of the LIFT cluster in the department of Lempira. Bernardina is currently on the second year of the LIFT program and she expects to continue for many years to come. She is a strong and determined woman who continues to thrive and blossom in spite of all the adversities she has faced.

Bernardina is #Resilient, #SheisCoffee.