Moringa Madness

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  Materi, Benin
Monday, June 13, 2005

Hello Everyone,

We've had a busy couple of weeks since Jason's dad and stepmom left and the first rains of the seasons have begun.

Since last October, Jason has been trying to hold an Environmental education training seminar for all of the elementary school principals of the county. This will help teach them how to incorporate environmental education into their curriculum as well as how to motivate students in creating an environmental club at the schools. Well everything was planned to begin the Monday after dropping Lou and Bek off at the airport on Friday. So we zip back up to Nati, meet with Jason's counter part in the training and then head up to Matéri on Sunday evening to begin the next morning. It was at this point that we ran smack into the debilitating and extremely frustrating beaurocracy here in Benin. At 8pm that night we go to the superintendent of Matéri County's house to be told that he's delayed the training because he doesn't have official written permission from the "State" Superintendent to go through with it. This in spite of the fact I had written to and received an oral approval from the state superintendent. Apparently the guy in Matéri had just been to Nati and talked with his supervisor (who is actually somewhere in between the county and State superintendents in the hierarchy) who didn't know a thing about it. So because there was a failure of communication within their system, we ended up wasting two days in traveling and had to postpone the training session yet again. As of right now it is scheduled to happen on the 20th of June and this time we had written approval on every level imaginable so there shouldn't be (keep your fingers crossed) anything to derail us yet again. The more disappointing aspect of all of these delays is that the school year is about to end, so we have to hope that the teachers will retain all of the information we give them and then use it starting next school year.

But on more cheerful fronts tree day was a very big success. June 1st is Benin's arbor day and it also coincides with the beginning of the raining season. This year the mayor's office had decided to try and reforest a stretch of land near a reservoir and rice patty cooperative. The area was completely void of trees and the idea was that through reforestation we would be able to increase the total number of trees, increase the shade and thus decrease the evaporation of the water in the soils, and also reduce erosion and thus keep the reservoir and rice patties from filling in with runoff. All of these issues are very real and current problems trying to be addressed in order to fend off desertification and the encroaching Sahara. So for several days before and after the 1st Jason worked closely with the local "Forest ranger" (closets translation) in plotting out where to place the trees and what types of tress would be best for the area. We helped in the distribution and planting of over 500 trees in that area.

Also on the environmental side of things, the town of Matéri had its first monthly cleanup day. Everyone from the local government agencies came out as well as a lot of local villagers to sweep up the trash and just improve the appearance of the main thoroughfares of Matéri. We then helped in planting Moringa (the miracle tree we've talked about in other logs), which we had been growing in our own nursery, all along the main road of our village. The day was a success and should hopefully be continued the last Saturday of every month.

We have been talking about and promoting the powder made from the Moringa leaf throughout the tree day and clean-up activities and we have had a noted rise in demand for the powder which Rebecca helps sell at the maternity clinic. We now have random people coming up to us on the streets telling us that they heard from someone who heard from us about this powder that helps children recover from illnesses and is good for the overall health of the entire family. We then proceed to reaffirm all the good things they've heard, sell them a bag, and instruct them on how best to use it. A close friend of ours had a chubby 1-year-old child (rare in Matéri) who had suffered from diarrhea and lost a ton of weight. He wanted to see if this powder would help his child return to his previous form. We were elated to find out that after a week the child had completely recovered all of his weight and was once again a very healthy and happy baby. Our friend has now turned into one of our spokespersons and is spreading the attributes of this amazing tree and his own success story to anyone and everyone. He was so hooked that we planted over 100 of these trees around his uncle's field and hopefully by October there will be lots of wonderful Moringa growing all over the place.

On top of all this plantings, Rebecca lobbied for the local health center and maternity clinic to create their own Moringa garden so they would be able to produce and sell the leaf powder throughout the year. This is especially important because during the dry season very few green leaves or veggies are available and vitamin deficiency is a big problem. So with the center's participation we fenced off an area and planted around 100 Moringa trees that will be used for harvesting the leaves and making powder. We are also looking into building a solar dehydrator/dryer so the production of powder can be increased and is less time consuming. On Friday, there were bunches of sprouting tress and everyone is pretty excited about the possibilities of this project.

So that should fill you in on some of the work we've been doing. We had a great visit with Dad and Bek. Hopefully photos will be online soon. We'll keep you posted.

We hope you all are enjoying the summer weather. We'll talk to you soon.
Love,
Rebecca and Jason

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