Three-and-a-half years have passed since we first met Irine, the vanilla farmer’s daughter, during a trip to Tanzania in 2019. Much has changed in the meantime, but one thing remains the same: it’s crucial for us to continue to support farming communities in the Equatorial regions and to always use REAL vanilla in our kitchens. To celebrate this Africa Day, Irine sent us a message from Tanzania, where her career as a certified public accountant is up and running and going from strength to strength. From the team here in East Devon to LittlePodders everywhere, it is a pleasure to share these words from Irine, LittlePod’s Voice of Africa…

Hello fellow LittlePodders and greetings from Tanzania!

Today, Africa Day, is an opportunity for people all over the world to come together to celebrate our continent and its diversity. I’m proud to be an African lady and to call this wonderful place my home. Our crops and our spices are natural and healthy, and are used all over the world. This is so important for us as Africans, and most families here are dependent on farming and cultivation, especially here in my home country of Tanzania.  

My parents are farmers who work hard to cultivate vanilla orchids. It is thanks to their efforts that I was able to meet Janet, the Managing Director of LittlePod, in November 2019. To be a vanilla farmer’s daughter, welcoming visitors from the United Kingdom was a special day for me.

Janet asked me to become LittlePod’s Voice of Africa and offered to sponsor my studies. Thanks to LittlePod’s support, I was able to enrol on a course and work towards a career in accountancy.

In Tanzania, it isn’t enough to have a bachelor’s degree to become a qualified accountant, and finding a job is very difficult. Thanks to Janet and the support of LittlePod, I graduated last October, becoming a Certified Public Accountant, and getting my first job at Mahashree Agro Processing in December.

I am so thankful to Janet and to LittlePod and I send best wishes to everyone on this special day. From Tanzania, my message is this: LittlePod’s natural vanilla paste is the best! Please continue to keep it REAL and continue to support African farmers and their families.

Thank-you,

Irine x

From East Devon to East Africa, we send vanilla hugs to Irine and her family, and to the farming communities across the Equatorial regions, cultivating their crops and preserving the precious rainforest to the benefit of us all. To LittlePodders everywhere and to all who choose to keep it REAL, we send thanks this Africa Day.