A Duka Stop Now

When I came to school Wednesday I was surprised to see a man sitting out front with various types of snacks and drinks for sale. Evidently, he figured that our school was an opportunity to make a few lempiras. He asked Manuel for permission and so we shall see what happens. It is strange to think of our students as being a market opportunity. My guess is that the man will move on in a few days. For now, he sits on one side of the road in the morning and then moves, with the sun, to the other side for the afternoon. (btw - duka is the Swahili word for a small shop).

The Duka man - perilously close to hurting some of my plants - and earning my wrath :))

 This morning, a student, Maynor,  came with a ginger plant in a bag. He wanted to trade for Vetiver grass and Lemon Grass. It is such a delight when something like this happens.

Maynor with the Ginger plant

 With the rains, we can begin to plant some more stuff and that is exciting as well. Edgar has planted a whole bunch of plants on the opposite side of the road from the school. He is, as well, gradually creating more space along the roadway. Erosion has built up a good amount of soil. He takes the soil, uses it to create seed bags and then uses the resulting space to plant more plants we want to propagate. The road looks nicer as well so everyone is a winner.

Maynor with Juniapa - edible plant / good for cooking

  This week Edgar started some seeds and cuttings in tubes. We are experimenting growing things in 2 foot tubes. The idea is that they will have a much longer root mass when we transplant them. This will mean the roots can head for moisture much more quickly. As well, we can use a post hole digger in the future to drill the hole for planting. The tubes can be reused for more plants. Saw a picture of a company using 3 and 4 feet tubes in the States so want to see what happens. If we can gain 3 or 4 months in the field it will be worth the effort, especially for higher value trees.

Edgar with tubes - leaf dryers in the background

Someone passed on a very neat world clock site - Poodwaddle. It has some incredible statistics to absorb. One of the staggering things I noted was that there is 1.6 more sugar produced than vegetables, 2.13 times more sugar than milk, 14 times more sugar than fish. The cost to health and environment is and will be staggering as this imbalance continues to grow.

We spent a number of hours working on some land issues for our next housing project. The importance of finding a way for poor people to get homes and land legally was underscored yesterday. We passed one location where 80 people are occupying some land. The person with me said that in this area alone, over 600 people are invading land. Unfortunately, often this process is done simply as a way to make money - either through extortion, bribery or future sales of stolen land. However, a root cause is the problem of legal ownership of property.

So ... today so far - cropping Vetiver grass for worm food; planting ginger; giving Vetiver and Lemon Grass; taking and sending photos of edible Honduran plants to an African friend working on a book; organizing photos of students for biographies; helping a young man create a business plan; tracking down prices for equipment; accounting (month end); phoning condolences to friends in Vegreville ... and it is just coffee time. Certainly not boring at all.

TTYL

BB

Wow - A Month

For the past ten days, in addition to keeping things going at the school, we have hosted two Canadian visitors, a father and son. The father, Bruce, and I worked with the same organization (MCC) in East Africa twenty five years ago. He was in Somalia and I was in Northeast Kenya.

 

Testing the water

Column Blocks - Bruce and Carlos

Column Block and U shape mold

Edgar, Bruce and me - Planting seeds

Bruce is one of those amazing people who can look at something mechanical, understand how it works, why it works and how to fix, modify or replace it with something else. I am always in awe of that type of skill. He was here to see what types of things we are doing and to see how they can be implemented in Haiti where he is working with various groups. Fortunately, we had a few things to look at.

Last week we visited Siguatepeca where we saw a Waterstep water purification system. For less than $2,000 this system was installed and is capable of purifying 38,000 litres of water per day. Imagine what a difference that can make. One of these has been installed in a primary school and the children are able to get clean water for their homes. The principal says he already notices a difference in attendance and the ability of students to participate more fully because they do not have stomach problems. This is likely the new system we will use in our next housing project.

We also tried out two new block molds ... with varying success. The good news is that we now have a model to work from. The welder was involved in making the blocks so now has an idea of what was lacking. These two types of blocks should save time, money and lumber. One type is already being used in other communities but not here in Santa Cruz.  The column type block is not yet being used. We will find out next week if builders are interested. The first blocks are curing now and need a couple more days to get hard enough to work with.

 

Closer look at the tup - Cucumbers sprouting ... enlarge the picture and you can see them.

Bruce brought with him some drip irrigation supplies. He and Edgar spent a morning putting a short run together. The cucumbers are up and we wait for the other plants to sprout. This type of system will be of great value for small gardens as well as larger plantations. Even though we get plenty of rain in a year for trees, the sporadic nature of several months a year makes it difficult to grow vegetables. This system can be used on a large scale as well. In Ontario, a man used it for 40 acres of corn. In a side by side test, the field with drip irrigation got 280 bushels/acre and the one without 80. We will work with this more over the next few months.

Land conflicts are an ongoing problem. We met a group of 50 families who are being pushed off their land by a "landowner". Haven't heard what the final verdict will be. In our own case, a housing project is being held up by unexpected negotiations and intransigence. I always think of how hopeless it must be for the ordinary Honduran when facing these kind of difficulties. I have options and some connections. They don't.

Thank you for following along.

TTYL

BB