The Java Sweater Program

The History

The JavaSweater story started as a "what if?" during a mission trip to Guatemala by Stephen Cassar and his then 10-year-old daughter Taylor in the summer of 2009.

What if we could find one commonly-used product and have it handcrafted by real Guatemalan villagers? What if we could do this and pay the workers a salary designed to end the cycle of poverty? What if that salary could effectively put them in business for themselves, not provide a factory job. And what if we could help the environment at the same time?

From this simple idea evolved the JavaSweater you see today.

Why JavaSweaters? In the USA alone, millions of to-go coffees are sold each and every day. The majority of these coffees are served in disposable paper cups with a thin, cardboard insulator sleeve. Coffee sleeves are not particularly attractive and are typically not reused. We see this as a waste of resources, and an opportunity!

All JavaSweaters are made using locally sourced cotton strand and woven on traditional back-strap looms, using skills handed down from generation to generation.

Each JavaSweater is purchased directly from the villagers that make them. Our villagers earn a wage that is roughly 1.5 times higher than that of a fully qualified tradesperson in Guatemala. This opportunity is life changing for these communities, and it is not uncommon for our team to be greeted with tears of joy when they present the JavaSweater opportunity to the villagers.

Ending poverty involves three basic steps:

1) Clean Water. The average villager in a third-world country spends 3 hours per day finding and collecting water. The quality of this water is typically questionable with high levels of toxins waterborne bacteria and parasites. The JavaSweater team installs cost-effective BioSand filters in villages to provide fresh drinking water.

2) Sustainable Income. Once the water issue is solved, the next is sustainable income. Quality produce and protein is available in Guatemala if you have the money. The majority of the villages we serve do not earn a high enough income (if any at all) to afford quality protein. These villagers do not want a handout. They want opportunities to earn money. And programs like our JavaSweater Program provide them with good, steady income that pays well enough for them to finally start investing in their families’ health, nutrition and future.

3) Long Term Infrastructure. Once the first 2 needs have been met, the third, more challenging part can begin. It takes a long time and lot of money and effort to build infrastructure to support a village through the ups and downs of crop cycles. Schools are often non-existent in the villages we visit. Medical clinics are equally absent. We involve the whole community and come alongside them to bring missions teams and resources, pairing them with labor and resources from the villagers themselves to modernize each village’s infrastructure. As these and other vital infrastructure are completed, we often see a community come together, take pride and ownership, and pick up where we leave off.

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