Colombia: Luz Dary Ome

Doña Luz Dary, La Esperanza:
Doña Luz Dary has spent her entire life in the village of La Llanada de Naranjos, located in the municipality of San Agustín. At 52 years old, her story is deeply intertwined with the countryside and coffee cultivation. She was born into a peasant family where agriculture played a central role. Her household included seven sisters and one brother, making it a hub of hard work and shared effort. From a young age, she accompanied her father in farming tasks.

She vividly remembers her early years: the work was more rudimentary, tools were scarce, and coffee was harvested with minimal selection processes or fertilizers. “In the past, we worked a lot, but we didn’t know how to care for the crops,” she reflects, smiling with nostalgia.

Doña Luz attended a boarding school in San Agustín until the first year of high school but soon chose a different path and moved to Cali. There, she reconnected with Don Helemile Muñoz, who also hailed from La Llanada. Both sought new opportunities, but over time, they realized that city life lacked the tranquillity, sustenance, and sense of belonging that the countryside provided.

Two years after returning to San Agustín, Doña Luz Dary and Don Helemile got married when she was 24 years old. Since then, they have shared their lives and worked together in the coffee business. They first used land inherited from her husband and later a plot they shared equally with a brother-in-law. Through their hard work over the years, they were able to buy their own land to continue growing coffee and supporting their family. One of the anecdotes she recalls most fondly is how they managed to acquire one of the small pieces of land they had long desired:
“We sold all the chickens we had and even a motorcycle, but we did it because we knew the land was worth it,” she says proudly.

Doña Luz Dary's day begins very early, before dawn. She prepares breakfast for her family and her workers, and then joins in the day's work: picking coffee, helping with the drying process, organizing the pulping process, and carefully overseeing every part of the operation. She speaks about her routine calmly, understanding that a job well done is also a form of love.

Her husband has been her constant companion in this task. Together, they have formed a solid team with a shared goal: to produce quality coffee and share it with those who appreciate it. "We have always strived to make the most of what we have," she says.

Her connection to the MonKaaba project came through colleagues from the Los Naranjos Association, who informed them about this initiative aimed at enhancing the coffees of local producers. They decided to join, and since then, they have felt that their work has opened up a new horizon: fair recognition for many years of dedication.

Today, their only son also works alongside them, contributing ideas and energy to the farm. For Doña Luz Dary, seeing him involved is a source of pride; it assures her that generational renewal is taking place and that the history of coffee will continue in her family.

Since then, Doña Luz Dary has not only grown coffee; she has also cultivated her family's history, her love for her land, and the belief that the fields contain everything she needs to live well.

Total farm size: 1 hectares

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