Caffeine may well help Bible students pull an all-nighter, but a new coffee brand is aimed at putting Bible students from Papua New Guinea through a course of study in Australia.

Pana Wiya has started Village Coffee, a range of ground coffee and beans sourced from his home country of PNG. Though he’s lived in Australia for 22 years, Pana wants to help improve life for people back home, by paying coffee farmers more than they currently receive for their beans. He says they get only 80 cents to AUD1.30 per kilo of coffee, which ends up being retailed in Australia for $25 and upwards per kilo. He also aims to send $1 per kilo from coffee sales back to to the community that grows the coffee, and $2 per kilo towards sponsoring university-aged PNG  students through theological studies in Australia.

“It costs a lot of money to bring students over, and so I thought of raising funds through selling PNG coffee.”

Pana wants the students to study in Australia as he’s confident in the standards here. On a trip back to PNG recently he was aghast both at the poverty his people still endured as well as what he perceived of the church.

“It’s in bad shape,” he says. “People go to church on Sunday, then go back to their traditional way of living in the week. The kind of people being trained for ministry in PNG are people looking for something to fill their time. Not everyone,” he clarifies, “but most. I went to church and we sat in the service for five hours. The preaching went on for two hours… preaching nothing! I left that service thinking, ‘What were you talking about’?

“I hope by God’s grace that this will change through the training of quality people.” Pana works closely with the Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship (TSCF) in PNG. “Now we identify the right people, those who have a love of the gospel. We don’t want to invest in people who take the Bible training then become politicians or something else.”

Three months ago Pana put his plan into action. He set up Village Coffee, and registered as a coffee importer, bringing in beans from PNG.

“Setting up takes a lot of money, and so far it’s been all about paying the grower, and promotion work. I’m depending on word of mouth for publicity, and on my website. Sales are slow, but it’s only been three months and things will take time.”

But already there are others who share in what Pana’s trying to do. Brian Unterrheiner, Community Pastor at Sydney’s Newtown Mission, has known Pana for some years and says he’s a kind man.

“When he ran his footwear and clothing shop in Newtown, he used to give my wife shoes and things like that. I told him he was not going to make any money that way!

“A few months back, after a trip to PNG he brought me some coffee samples from there, and shared with me what he was planning to do. He said it had broken his heart to see his people still living in poverty. He wanted to do something to turn things around, to educate people and lift their living standards. He also wanted to help train people in Christian values, so that they know there’s a better way.”

Pana has asked to set up a coffee cart outside the Mission. “We’re still working through the logistics,” Unterrheiner says, “but I can’t see that the answer would be ‘no’. His heart is for his people, and I’m keen to support the project because it means the gospel going out to them.”

Asked if he was a coffee drinker himself, Unterrheiner replies, “I live in Newtown… everybody drinks coffee!” He praised the quality of Pana’s samples, saying that it “measured up.”

Pana has a three-prong objective with Village Coffee, what he describes as “people first, then the planet and lastly profit.”

“We have to pay the grower more money; they get a small amount for their hard work. My hope is that in ten years, PNG won’t export the green beans, and that through 
set-ups like mine, more money will go back to growers, and to students.”

Pana is now looking for ways to promote Village Coffee, both through coffee carts placed at different locations and through sales via his website. “I’m fighting against greed and unfairness, “ he says on his website. “Life seems to be about “me” and “me”. I hope to break out in a small way with this coffee project to enable others in hopeless situations, to give a little more hope, a sense of pride, a sense of recognition for effort.”

Coffee, anyone?