First Training Workshop

Whoof... the anxiety is over.

We just did our first moringa workshop for 52 guests in the Lowveld. The
Red Cross was holding a three day gardening training and commissioned us
to teach moringa cultivation and utilization on Wednesday afternoon. It
was a great deal for us getting moringa out to the communities; they
funded Thokozane's time, printing, materials, seeds, and even gave us a
venue.

The training was out near a place called Mpaka. The group was mostly
women. Why? Because the men go earn money in town, women take care of
the homestead. The women grow food for the family and care for the
children (which now typically includes orphans from extended family).
These women are aged between 25-45, some brought their babies with them.
Some even nursed their babies in the front row.

Thokozane told them how to grow moringa, how to use it. They asked so
many questions! All of it was in siSwati. I sat in the back, looking
dumb and hoping for the best. The worst was when everybody laughed.

"What? What? Was that a good laugh?"

After Thokozane spoke for a long time, everybody cheered and clapped. I
turned and asked one of the Red Cross people; somebody asked where they
could get seeds and Thokozane said that we would be providing everyone
with 10 seeds. Cheers all around!

Yeah yeah, everybody gets excited for free stuff. They also wanted to
buy more seeds however. A few of the women pressed for the sample powder
we brought along. They literally wouldn't let us leave with it. Of
course, we didn't want to start a trend of giving away our stock. The
going price is 60R that jar-full. I told her the price thinking she
would give... this old woman in this in classic old Swazi woman dress
and a mischevious smile just whips out 60R on the spot! What could I do?

We sold it to her and we're leaving another batch with a a Peace Corp
Volunteer for another woman from the group.

In this workshop, Thokozane just taught them how to grow moringa. In 4
months, once their trees are ready for first harvest, Thokozane will
return to teach them how to harvest, prune, and process it.

Quick!

Viral attack at one of the plots. They're going to cut it all back and
hope it hasn't infected the entire tree.

Has anybody seen anything like this?

Also had a viral attack on myself; runny nose, slight sore throat,
slight fever. Ruined the weekend, slow to recover.

Week 2

Alright, this is the end of week two (delayed due to internet
availability). What has happened?

I visited most of the sites and have pretty good updates to share. Won't
go into two much of the details reception has been excellent. At every
single site where the moringa powder has been shared with the community,
reception has been excellent. What do I mean by excellent? The folks
that have used it told me about that it just brought them back to life.
They say they were sick at home, couldn't eat, diarrhea, vomiting, and
so on. Then they got some of the powder and started taking it with
meals. After a couple weeks, the sickness went away. Yeah yeah, its
pretty subjective. They want more of the powder and they want to grow
it. And we will happily oblige. Of course, Im not saying its a miracle
cure or anything, but there is definitely a significant trend.

There are some folks at SIPA (Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority)
who are interested in moringa as a large-scale commercial venture. I am
also told that three top reps from the Swaziland section of the dominant
supermarket chain in southern Africa, Spar, is interested in carrying
the moringa powder as nutritional supplement. There is a high-end
organic and health foods store in town called The Thorny Bush. They
carried a small shipment of 250g units of moringa powder from our
partners at New Life Homes. It quickly sold out for 80R (10USD) each
pack. A very interesting note about this; most of the buyers were
Zimbabweans who knew it from back home. New Life Homes currently has
just the demo site with 150 trees producing leaves, but are preparing to
put in 100,000 tree dense orchard to meet the anticipated sales. There
is fair chance of later exporting it to the wealthy cities of South Africa.

What does this mean to our target clients, the rural Swazi farmer?
First, the natural information fall-out will reach into all of
Swaziland. Impala Development Services (us) is limited to getting the
moringa trees into the hands of local aid and development groups and
providing small workshops. We can't shout that loud. But, it seems that
we have shouted at some of the right people and the high-powered circles
are talking about it now. They bring the metaphorical artillery.
Everybody will know about it. Second, with the opening up of a market of
such scale, if mobilized and organized quickly, the small rural farmers
can become a significant producer. In addition to home use and
nutritional improvement, this would also mean income generation for many
many families.

I'm trying to not expect too much and not get too excited, but the scale
of interest is really beyond what I could have hoped for.

On a less exciting note, I talked to folks at NERCHA (National Emergency
Response Council for HIV/AIDS) about any interests in moringa. They
recognize the importance of nutrition, but, unfortunately, if they act
on moringa, it will instantly become "moringa & HIV", which is entirely
the wrong message. My hope with NERCHA is that at some point in the
future when moringa is better established in local knowledge, we can
offer special workshops to their networks.

Got an email from a professor of chemistry at the University of
Swaziland. Apparently, he just started working research on moringa's
flocculating (cleaning water) abilities with a Botswanan colleague. He
said he just couldn't find any moringa growing in Swaziland. I smiled a
big smile. "Well, Dr.Thwala, I have good news for you." I'm going to
help him find some seed cake (seed after pressed for oil) for his
protein analysis. Also, we're organizing an epidemiological study on
effect of moringa supplementation on health (disease incidence,
anthropometrics). . If you are a USF student, you can participate in the
Grand Challenge grant competition with Mrs.Jenn Peregoy (from USF Public
Health) and I.

Super busy week. Will have lots more updates.