5/17 Update from Holly - Moringa Project

There are 4 words to describe today: hot, dirty, exhausting, and fulfilling. The moringa team woke up at 6am to travel to the Murundu village, which is located about 1.5 miles from the Congo border. There are about 17,000 residents and no running water; it's what you think of when you think of Africa. We started out by meeting Pastor Joseph at his house and then walking to/through town to a plot of land that he had selected. Pastor Joseph runs an orphanage in the town for about 30-40 children; many of them are malnourished and sick. He asked us to help him plant some moringa so that when it is full grown they may add it to the food of the orphans to enrich their diet. We plotted out the area and put stakes in every 3 meters, then dug holes that were 1' wide x 1' deep. The ground was hard and sandy, but not as bad as they clay that is found at Dr. Thinus' house. Digging the holes took all morning, even with a few extra helpers. We did not want to do all the work, but instead show them how to do the work so that they would have a sense of ownership; we ended up doing a lot of back-breaking labor, though. As we walked through the town and worked in the field, many of the local children gathered to watch. We then obtained some chicken manure and mixed it with compost/hay to fill in the holes. Water had to be brought a ways from a well in buckets. It took about 5 hours for us to dig the holes and add the soil mixture to a few holes. It was incredibly hot and some of us had dizzy spells from laboring in the heat. We tried to keep ourselves hydrated by drinking lots of water, but we could only drink the bottled water that we had brought with us, which was in short supply. I (Holly) had a real adventure when I had to use the toilet. After asking for a deserted area in the trees, I was instead led to their version of a restroom. It was a small, thatch-roof mud hut with a piece of fabric covering the makeshift door. The "toilet" consisted of a hole in the ground with a large dug-out hole underneath. There were flies everywhere and it stunk horribly, but I am proud to say I survived. I was thinking of making a shirt that says "I survived a Murundu long drop." Afterwards we went to lunch at Pastor Joseph's house. They made a wonderful meal of kasava, Zambian sweet potatoes (which are very different from the ones in the U.S.), rice, and fresh fried chicken. The girls actually saw the chicken being killed in the morning and were mildly disturbed by it. It sure tasted good though.

After lunch the team went back to the plot and finished adding the compost/manure mixture to all of the holes. After soaking the holes thoroughly, we added the moringa seedlings. A larger crowd gathered after lunch, and all of the orphans and other children sat around and stared at us. When we'd take a short break, they'd all automatically surround us. Carol played with them, picking them up and being silly. Jessica took many photos- they all posed and smiled. It was obvious that many of them were not used to having much attention. One girl in particular broke our hearts. She is 6 years old and is the size of a 2 year old. She is severely malnourished and is also HIV+ (she does not know this). She was as thin as a stick and had to be picked up because she couldn't walk. Both of her parents died of AIDS and she is being taken care of by her grandmother that is very elderly. She will be the first to take the moringa powder. We are consulting with US missionaries in the Congo that work with moringa to determine the proper dosage for her, as she is so weak. By the end of a LONG day, we had planted 57 moringa trees. By the time that we come back next year, we expect the orchard to be fully grown and producing many leaves.

After finishing at the plot of land, we hiked back to town to wait for the public transport. All the kids followed us and many more joined from the market. They wanted to be videotaped, but would only smile. Holly finally broke out in a round of "If you're Happy and You Know It" and the kids tried to follow. Carol joined in for the encore, the Chicken Dance. The ride back to Mufulira was another adventure. The minivan-type vehicle was falling apart with no shocks, and we had to cram 18 people in. Talk about uncomfortable! On the way home the van stopped at the Congo border, so we got to look across and take a picture with the Zambian guard, who was surprisingly nice.

Tomorrow we will have a much needed day of rest. Well, kind of. We are going to spend the day finishing the grove at Dr. Thinus' house. At least we don't have to wake up at 6am.
Dr. Thinus wanted us to add that Pastor Joseph's wife made us Zambian bologna (chikanda) to bring back to the house. It was quite smelly and it looked funny, but he forced us to try it.

Until then....

-Holly