The milk in my coffee

P ELLIS WRITES:

A story written exclusively for Hage Geingob, Honourable President of the Republic of Namibia.

I would like to relay a story to you that plays itself out on an island in the Eastern Pacific Ocean known as Galapagos. In the capital, Moreno, lived a well-respected family who were upstanding people in the community. The head of the family Pedro Zapata ran the local bakery and coffee shop that was in the family for two generations before him. For all of his life he was a principled man that knew right from wrong and he could not stand any form of injustice, which traits he also installed in his only son Huberto. The family business of the Zapata family was a healthy one and especially on Saturdays and Sundays the place was packed. The imported Columbian coffee served at this favourite gathering place was legendary and enjoyed by all on the island. But one day Pedro got news that the farmer on the Northern point of the island who was a foreigner and maintained four cows who provided the whole island with milk treated his two workers, who were loyal people, very badly and insulted them continuously with racist and other deeply scathing remarks. This made Pedro furious and he took an oath never to buy milk from this “foreign intruder” again.

This conscientious decision did not sit well with the success of the family business because the quality of the coffee was just not the same without milk. At the time of Pedro's passing the family business was at the brink of bankruptcy and although all people on the island had great respect for Pedro's decision it was not enough for them to drink their coffee without milk.

Pedro's son Huberto took over the family business and having been brought up under his father's honourable principles also refused to buy milk from the abusive milk farmer, who passed away some two years after Pedro and whose son, Oratio, took over his father's small dairy.

Huberto was a hard-working and ambitious young man who married a most beautiful and clever girl who also grew up on the island, called Monalito. She also came from a good family and was well versed in finances and in her own right was a successful banker on the island. Huberto would take her advice on matters of the family business, but although he followed the advice that she offered most of the time, the family business was still struggling. Huberto then, out of desperation started importing milk from the nearby island where some farmers who professed to produce top milk were happy to provide in the needs of the family business.

Although this initially looked like a grand idea it turned out to be disastrous. Most of the time the milk was already sour when it arrived at the family business. The foreign farmers also cheated Huberto by adding water to the milk and because they had no competition, they always demanded exorbitant prices for their milk. Huberto soon realised that these foreign farmers had no respect for him or his family and was only trying to make as much money from him as possible. This deeply angered Huberto.

One day Monalito returned home from the market where she buys fruit and vegetables. She was quite excited and told Huberto that she met the wife of Oratio at the market and they started a conversation and that she found Oratio's wife who was called Helena a quiet delightful person. In fact, the two ladies got along so well that Helena invited Huberto and Monalito over for coffee on that Sunday.

Huberto was immediately irritated by his wife's involvement with this woman who was not one of the island people and part of a family that his father warned him against. Monalito however used all her charm and persuasive powers to convince Huberto to join her on the Sunday. At first Huberto said he will think about it, but by the Saturday evening Monalito got him to reluctantly agree to accompany her on the next day.

As was usual Huberto and Monalito visited the local church on the Sunday morning but Huberto did not pay much attention to what the local Padre had to say. He was totally pre-occupied with having to come face to face with the son of the man that his father detested and warned him against. He felt like he was betraying the legacy of his father and all that he stood for. He did however register some reference made by the Padre towards the end of his sermon about “love your neighbour” and thought that this might, through the grace of God not include Oratio and his wife, because surely a neighbour must imply only those that live really close to you and that the 25 miles to Oratio's farm is surely out of neighbourly range.

As Huberto and Monalito left the church he made a last ditched attempt to duck out of this date with the foreigners but Monalito gave him no choice and subtly reminded him that he had made a promise to her to go. And so it was.

On approaching the fairly humble homestead of the family, Huberto could see that the farmyard and small stable was kept very clean and was well maintained. He could see the five or six cows in the pen looked healthy and their adders were bursting with milk.

They were greeted halfway up the walkway by both Oratio and Helena and Huberto was surprised at how humble Oratio was, with his wife seeming genuinely happy so see Monalito again. While the women walked towards the front door Oratio invited Huberto to join him in the dairy because it was time for his cows to be milked for the second time that day. While he connected the cows to the milking machine Oratio explained to Huberto that he milks his cows up to four times per day because that gives him the best results in both freshness and quantity of milk. He did all of the milking with the help of a single worker called Sebastian.

Huberto was surprised at how respectful Oratio addressed Sebastian and could see that Sebastian genuinely enjoyed his work and also had a genuine appreciation for his employer. Together the two of them completed the task of milking the cows in no time and then walked up to the homestead.

There Helena had already brewed a large pot of coffee and the familiar smell of quality coffee filled the small house. Helena then explained that she buys her coffee beans from the Zapata family coffee shop because it was the best on the island.

Huberto then explained to her in some detail of the trouble that he goes to in order to only import the best coffee beans in the world and personally roast them to ensure that he only serves his customers the best possible cup of coffee. Then, for the first time in many years, Huberto got offered milk with his coffee. He knew that he should refuse it but he simply could not resist the temptation of just trying it once after so many years and after he saw Monalito taking slightly more than just a dash, he took a healthy swirl himself.

Huberto was quite surprised at how different the coffee tasted with milk -but in a really good way. It did remotely taste like the black coffee he served at this coffee shop but this coffee with the beautiful au lait colour was much rounder, so much fuller and the taste that it left in Huberto's mouth after each satisfying, smooth small sip was like heaven.

After he finished his coffee he really felt relaxed in the presence of these foreign people and actually found that he and Monalito had much in common with Oratio and Helena. They also shared their deep love for the island that they called home and truly cared for the well being of the other people on the island.

Huberto could not help himself thinking that the attitude and ­vision of their hosts clearly changed dramatically since the time of their respective fathers. He even thought that he might have missed out for not having befriended this lovely couple earlier in his life. By the time that it was time for them to leave, Huberto had arranged for Oratio to deliver just 5 litres of milk to his coffee shop the next morning, making it very clear to him that this is only an experiment to see whether it works for the Zapeta family business, and of course his customers.

The island being so small and the Zapata family being so well known it was not long before the word spread that Huberto was buying milk from Oratio. But the real talk of the island was how good the coffee tasted with milk.

The five litres ordered from Oratio soon grew to fifteen and then to thirty and then to ninety. Oratio then proposed to Huberto to also order cream from him to serve with the cake that Huberto sold at his shop. Soon Huberto was also ordering twenty litres of cream from Oratio. And this again opened up opportunities for Huberto to serve a much larger range of coffees.

The Zapata coffee shop became a most popular attraction for tourists, who visited the island in large numbers. Huberto's coffee shop soon became too small to accommodate his many customers and he bought the property next to his to expand. Very soon he realised that he required additional premises in order to set up his own bakery that served not only his coffee shop but also the whole island who came to buy cakes and bread from him. In a very short time Huberto became a very wealthy man. Where he previously employed five people, he was now employing almost 60.

He now found that he was able to look after and help so many families on the island that were struggling by setting aside only a small portion of the profits made in his booming business. He suddenly realised that he achieved his destiny and was now doing what he believed he was called to do. He also always cherished his friendship with Oratio and Helena.

He saw how his success, although in a much smaller way, was also benefitting Oratio and Helena, who now had ten cows and was employing five more workers who all earned a good wage and could look after their own families.

So one night, on new year's eve, and after Huberto closed his business, where earlier almost the whole island sat outside on the large area that overlooked the town square where the young people lit fireworks at midnight, he was lying in his bed while the last of the fireworks which were not lit at midnight were still being fired and wondered why his life had so drastically changed over such a short period and then it struck him: “The milk in my coffee.”

Mr President, with respect, the white people of Namibia could be the milk in your coffee.