Sori January 2012

Proposal

Post: Sori

Date(s) of project: Beginning of May (around May 7th)

Brief description of Project:

Next to the maternity ward at the hospital, the sage femme and I would like to create a Moringa garden. The purpose of the Moringa garden would be to educate local expecting mothers on the benefits of Moringa for anemic women and how to incorporate it (both in fresh and powdered form) into their diets. Once the trees have grown tall enough and start giving leaves, the sage femme and her assistants will start pruning the trees and gather the leaves this way. This will be a continual process since, usually 2 weeks after pruning the tree, it will give off more leaves again. They will dry the leaves themselves, pound them and sell them to the women in small sachets for 25 francs each. The revenue will be used to help with the cost of plastic bags and for the printed manuals helping the benefits of moringa, where to find the trees in Sori (we have a huge field of them out in the bush) and how to incorporate the leaves (both fresh and powdered) in their diet.
The sage femme and one of her assistants attended the talk that Becky, the Peace Corps Response volunteer for the Moringa Association of Benin, gave at the hospital about the benefits of moringa, but I do think it would be useful if they attended an additional training session. I have a Beninese friend in Sori, Cathérine KPERA, who knows how to properly cultivate moringa trees and how to dry the leaves without losing its nutrients. Together, we will work with the staff to make sure everyone at the maternity ward knows how to take care of the trees and conduct the drying process. The “opening day” of the Moringa garden, we can organize an event to demonstrate everything before our target group (expectant mothers and their family members). I will talk to Patrick STARR, Peace Corps Volunteer, to see if we can get someone for this event from the Moringa Association of Benin.
In terms of sustainability, the sage femme and her staff will be trained on how to keep the garden running and the process of drying the leaves. Hopefully, this project will help improve expectant mothers’ health for years to come. Unfortunately, the staff does not do house visits, so it will be hard to monitor whether the women are actually incorporating Moringa into their diet. However, if we present the material effectively at both opening day and the following sensibilizations, I feel that many people will be motivated to use Moringa and buy it from the hospital, or even grow it themselves. I will assist the hospital once a week (every Friday) with a Bariba translator to conduct sessions with the expectant mothers, but after I leave Sori, the staff will be doing it on their own.
Due to large populations of chickens and goats in the area, we would like to purchase chicken wire to use while the trees begin to grow. We would use the chicken wire to surround the individual trees. We will invite the husbands of the expectant and new mothers to help install the chicken wire.
Additionally, we would like to pay for a sign to be made to draw the women’s’ attention to the garden. It will read (in both French and Bariba): The Moringa Garden- now open. Please talk to the hospital staff about the nutritional benefits of this tree!

Number of people involved:

Gender/Age
Category
# of
Individuals
# of Service Providers (work partners, Project co-organizers,
technicians, animators, etc.)
Women over 24 3
Men over 24 5
Girls 15-24 75
Boys 15-24
Girls under 15
Boys under 15

Budget:

Item Number Unit Cost Total Cost
Chicken Wire 10 meters 800 8.000
Painted sign to advertise garden 1 6.000 6.000
Watering Can 1 2.500 2.500
Sachets of Moringa from the Moringa Association 20 500 10.000
Total 26.500

Amount Requested: 26.500

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