This project has been completed under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteers Marcie Todd and Garrison Harward. To read about the beginning of the project, CLICK HERE.
The project was to place a second water pump in the Faraba Moringa Garden to enable the women’s group that works there to start its own vegetable garden.
Marcie reports:
The pump installation for #18 went very smoothly and so we figured we would talk a little about what moringa is and why a moringa garden is useful.
Moringa Oleifera is an amazingly nutritious tree with a variety of uses. One may not see this tree as something special, as it is slender, doesn’t grow very high, doesn’t provide much shade and seems a bit flimsy, but they eyes can be deceiving. One can eat immature seed-pods like one would green beans, make oil from the seeds that is used in many beauty products, filter water, produce fodder for animals, and even treat malnutrition with its leaf powder. The moringa tree is considered one of the world’s most useful trees as almost every single aspect of the tree can be used for something beneficial.
When consumed moringa has 7 times the vitamin C that is in an orange, 13 times the vitamin A in spinach, 3 times the potassium in a banana, and 2 times the protein of yogurt. This is a major malnutrition-fighting tree, as it even helps new mothers produce more breast milk. Leaves can be eaten fresh, cooked, or stored as dried powder for many months without refrigeration, and reportedly without loss of nutritional value. Moringa is especially promising as a food source in the tropics because the tree is in full leaf at the end of the dry season when other foods are typically scarce.
Ballal Agribusiness and their women’s groups are working a three-fold operation with moringa. They are growing intensive beds for leaf harvest and powder production, collecting seed for oil production and producing animal feed from oil production remnants.
Pump Output: 39 Liters/ Min
Total Number of People Benefiting: 25
Funder: Julia Chung-Lun in honor of Water Charity’s Executive Director Dr. Jacqueline Chan