All four of Durley’s siblings work with the collective, including her brothers Orlando and Rigoberto who we have worked with in the past.

Huila

The Sánchez family

Mid-century Colombia wasn’t an easy place to earn a stable living, and Durley’s father was displaced from Caicedonia by violence in the mid 1940’s. This was not an uncommon occurrence at the time, and each farmer knew they had to take with them some sort of method of creating a new livelihood. Of course in this case Durley’s father brought coffee seeds, a particularly old strain of Typica, and planted them in land not far from Palestina when he settled here in 1949. Since then, the family has become rather successful in coffee, especially Orlando. In fact, there was such respect for him within the community that he was pushed to run for mayor of Palestina, serving two terms in 1995 and 2000. He has his own farm now, leaving the original Sanchez lands from 1949 to his sisters Durley and Marisela, and brother Rigoberto. The Sánchez family are still very respected both in the community of Palestina, and in the wider speciality coffee movement in Huila, and that has gained great momentum over the past decade or so. Due to this, they are very sought after coffee growers, but choose to work with LaREB as their goals align; a genuine and passionate drive to preserve coffee growing communities across Colombia, and help them to prosper.