Tom's Podcast

I start the podcast with Chopin's Prelude Number 9 in E Major.  Much has happened since last December.  Today, I begin with a description of our considerable success at the last fundraiser.  Then I talk about the Project Redwood grant that we received late last year with the express purpose of adding two machines for making cocoa powder and cocoa butter in the Depa chocolate plant.  Hot cocoa is a popular breakfast beverage throughout Africa and most of the mix for the beverage is made in Europe in a Nestlé facility.  With this project, we are demonstrating the feasibility of making cocoa powder at the village level.  The second project funded by this grant will be the completion of a chocolate bar facility in the village of Pezoan.

Although we were successful in raising money, our ambitious projects consume funds rapidly.  Please consider donating to our continuing efforts to make West African cocoa farmers producers of finished product rather than of mere commodities.  To donate, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org, scroll down to the bottom of the page, click the Donate button, and follow the instructions.  OR, send a check to:

DONATIONS, PH&F
1298 Warren Road
Cambria, CA 93428

Questions?  Write Tom at [email protected]

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

Did you know how much food and music resemble each other.? In this podcast, we explore my African 16-Truffle assortment, whose members I liken to members of a choir.  Some are sopranos, some are mezzo-sopranos, some altos, tenors and basses.  Some are divas and Pavarottis.  On the food side, we have the demure,  modest and diplomatic vanilla truffle, who gets along with everyone--just the opposite of the wild and swashbuckling Whiskey truffle, a baritone, and the cocoa-banana truffle, a soprano, the Noisette, a nutty tenor, and the Curry -raisin, who hails from India and whose many voices combine to make her a spicy alto.

Just as a reminder:  these chocolates, which I sell here in France, are all made from chocolate manufactured by cocoa farmers in the village of Depa, Côte d'Ivoire.  Right now, if you check out my Facebook page, you'll see videos of Adama Yamba working with his crew on 1,800 African ChocoFudgeBars.  I'll let you know when they have been exported to the US.

As always, if you have questions about our work, contact me at [email protected]

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

In this podcast, I start by exploring 10 factors that typify the Baby Boomer generation.  The 10th factor is Trust, or lack thereof.  I bravely state that loss of trust might well be the most important factor in showing who we boomers really are.  I have never paid attention to the intricacies of the JFK assassination, but because I recently had a lot of time on my hands, recovering from knee surgery, I delved into the Byzantine subject of who killed JFK and how various branches of the US government have engaged in obscurantism, leading to a gradual and deepening  loss of confidence in the integrity of our democracy.  

On a cheerier note,  David, president of SOCOPLAN in Depa, Côte d'Ivoire, has just shipped 2,000 milk chocolate and dark chocolate bars  which you can obtain  for Christmas by making a donation to Project Hope and Fairness.  A  $100 donation will net you 40 bars;  SHIPPING IS FREE.  

To make a donation, either send a check to:
   DONATIONS, Project Hope and Fairness
   1298 Warren Road
   Cambria, CA 93428

Or, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org and click on Donate, and then the first Donate button.  Follow the instructions from Paypal.   

Either way, contact me  (Tom Neuhaus) at [email protected] and let me know the following:

• Address

• Number of bittersweet (70%) and milk chocolate bars you are ordering (40 for $100)

• Your name (on the credit card or check)

• How you donated (by check or online)

Thanks!  Tom Neuhaus

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

Welcome to my 30th Podcast, which is the end of Uncle Vic’s manuscript.  In this podcast, I talk a little about international development and about the rubber industry.  Many West African cocoa farmers vacillate back and forth between cocoa and rubber.  The advantage of rubber is that there’s always a pretty high demand for it and the latex flows year ‘round whereas cocoa prices bounce all over the place and the cocoa harvest follows the rainy seasons.

Below is a picture of the tempering machine that was bought for David with USDA grant funds.  Project Hope and Fairness paid the $4,000 in customs duties to remove the machine from the warehouse.  And now David is learning to use it.

To change the chocolate world, we have to purchase machinery and build infrastructure.  The only way we can do this is with grants and gifts.  Please consider making a gift.  Thanks so much.

To donate, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org and click on Donate and then follow the instructions from PayPal.  Or, send a check to:

DONATIONS, PH&F

1298 Warren Road

Cambria, CA 93428

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

This is the second of three readings from Uncle Vic's Manuscript.  Great Uncle Vic talks about Oliver's trip up Mount San Jeronimo with his Indian family as well as their efforts to build and develop a rubber plantation along the Coatzacoalcos River in 1905, when President Porfirio Diaz was trying to develop Mexico using neoliberal principles.  I make comments about a principle of cultural anthropology known as sympathetic magic in reference to great grandmother Jennie's aversion to eating snake and tiger.  I also talk about why goats milk tastes goaty--as Great Uncle Reuben would not put it in his mouth.  And finally, I comment about the mutual hostility between   Indios and Mestizos and how that hostility has impacted the history of Mexico.

At the end of the podcast, I mention that we, that is Project Hope and Fairness, are close to establishing a chocolate production and shipping facility near LaGuépie, a charming medieval village on the Aveyron River, about 20 minutes from my house.

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

My great uncle vic wrote this manuscript in the 1970s and my sister Joanne saved it from sure destruction during a global warming diluvian episode in my mother's basement.  Join me as I read from the manuscript and make comments about Uncle Vic's impressive contribution.

We raised $15,000 during the last fundraiser and many thanks to those of you who donated and/or joined us.  Right now, we have just sent $4,000 of that money to David so he could buy the tempering machine out of Customs Hell.  The machine was purchased for $6,000 as part of a USDA grant and David will be able to greatly improve the consistency of temper of the bars.  You can buy chocolate bars by contacting my sister Joanne at Splash Cafe ([email protected]).  They sell for $2.50 each (dark or milk) and she can ship them anywhere you like.

Also, please don't forget that our mission to de-colonialize chocolate requires capital to build the necessary infrastructure.  To donate, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org and click on Donate and then follow the instructions from PayPal.  Or, send a check to:

DONATIONS, PH&F
1298 Warren Road
Cambria, CA 93428

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

These are the five pieces that I will be playing at the upcoming fundraiser on Wednesday, Sept 22nd, 4:30 - 7:00 PM.  The organ has 64 ranks or over 2,700 pipes.  It's not too late to reserve your spot!  Just go to projecthopeandfairness.org and  scroll down to Donate, then click on Donate and follow the instructions.  $75 donation per person.

Or, send a check to:
DONATIONS, PH&F
1298 Warren Road
Cambria, CA. 93428

Enjoy!  Tom Neuhaus

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

We start with my rendition of JSB's Prelude in D Major, which is a thrilling although difficult piece.  I will be playing it at the next fundraiser on Sept. 22nd, to be held in Harold Miossi Hall (PAC) at Cal Poly.

Today's podcast is about making and selling truffles in the market on Saturday morning.  I am trying to grow the market for chocolate manufactured in Depa, Côte d'Ivoire.  Since I live in France, I'm working locally.  However, we will be selling chocolate bars in early December!  If you come to the fundraiser, you can buy all sorts of bars and appreciate the food my sister Joanne (Currie) and I are preparing.  One of the tapas is Shredded Pork Mole.  And the dessert will be a chocolate mousse cake.

I finish with the Fugue in D Major by JSB.

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

I begin the 24th podcast by playing part of Chopin's Fantaisie Impromptu and then we entertain the question, "Can Religion and Science Coexist?"  I don't believe that it's possible to actually answer the question, so I have sunk to the level of mere musings.  But I think you'll find my treatment of the philosophical question to be entertaining.

I finish the podcast mentioning that somewhere around September 20-23 of this year, I will be doing a fundraiser at the Performing Arts Center Miossi Auditorium and I will be playing 3 Bach pieces and 1 Purcell.  The Forbes Pipe Organ is a fine instrument and I have chosen four pieces that demonstrate its organic talents.    I am looking to raise money for another chocolate grinding machine for David so he can continue manufacturing chocolate.  And then finally, I finish Chopin's Fantaisie Impromptu.

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org

I start the podcast with my rendition of the Prelude in F Major by JSB,  played on the Marnaves Pipe Organ.  The bulk of the podcast is an oral history of Project Hope and Fairness, which started with visits to 15 villages and donation of tools and then in 2012 a transition to building rice hulling and chocolate making factories.  I finish the podcast with  a report on what I'm accomplishing here in France and then the rest of the prelude.

Write to me at [email protected]

To learn more, visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org