Stopping malnutrition

Malnutrition is a major problem on the island. Over half of the population suffers from it. The problem is a lack of food volume but also a lack of variety. LDS charities helps fund programs to educate and enable rural food producers. Here is a sample of one of their Farms.
The growing process includes compost pits.
The farm produces its own seedlings.
LDS charities has funded one Farm project in this area each year. We visited all three and found each one still operating effectively. At one of them the farming group had prepared a thank you dinner and traditional presentation of appreciation scarves for Cheryl and I.

The meal was interesting. Bananas were prepared some way that made them taste bad. We had some sort of pickled papaya. Rice was prepared the traditional ways. Part of it was cooked in banana leaves. Another part of it was cooked inside of bamboo. There was of course the traditional greens and cut up chicken. It's always frightening to eat these meals. Flies are everywhere and no precautions are taken to keep them off of the food. There's probably not a refrigerator in the entire Village. We are the guest of honor and no one eats until we do. It's been been 24 hours and we're still well so I think we escaped again.


This is a picture of us just after eating the meal. The men the right are the village leaders.


This is the village matriarch.

It is remarkable to see these Rural Farms. They use drip irrigation in the dry season. They dig Wells. With the proceeds from their first crop they buy a generator to operate a pump to fill the drip system tank. They rotate crops. And they find markets to sell their leftover produce too.

In order to make this all happen 14 of the village farmers are brought into the major city where Cheryl and I live given one week's worth of nutrition and agricultural training. They then are sent home to apply there knowledge. After they get started three times during the year representatives from the training company come out and evaluate and assist. Also the province Agricultural Extension person make several visits during the year. With all of this assistance these farmers are given the necessary knowledge and advice to be successful. It is a remarkable process. Cheryl and I will probably recommend funding another Garden project for of the next year.




Comments

  1. The PiersJanuary 22, 2018 at 8:55 PM

    We are so glad to hear the gardening projects are doing well. It seems to be successful in most areas. I was especially interested in the fact they use the proceeds from their crops to buy equipment to further improve their business. We had to smile as we read about your eating the unusual meal. In South Africa we had a meal we will never forget...warm pork and beans smothered in cold mayonnaise. I ate all of mine but sister Pier took a couple of bites and then just moved the rest around on her plate...she was afraid if she ate more she would throw up. Senior missions are certainly educational.

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