Kimberton Students Can in USA to Help Canning Program in Africa

Each year the Garden Program at Kimberton Waldorf School in Phoenixville PA has a table at their annual Holiday Craft Fair where they sell canned goods, herbs, teas and salves made by the students from the produce they grow in the school garden under the direction of teacher Mrs. Celia Martin. It has been the habit of the garden department’s annual school fundraising event to donate 20% of it’s sales to a charity that the students discuss and decide upon. In 2010 the kids sponsored a family at the homeless shelter at the Salvation Army in Pottstown PA. In lead up to the December 2011 Craft Fair the students discussed many options and decided upon giving this year’s charitable portion of funds raised to MoringaCommunity.Org. The kids really liked the idea of canning in the USA to help the students of the Moringa Project in Ghana gain momentum on their own canning imitative to fight hunger throughout W. Africa. Between sales of canned goods, dried herbs, and Christmas wreath decorations, the Kimberton students raised enough money to donate over $700 to the Moringa project. Many thanks go out to students Hannah, Emily, Marie, Ella, Maggie, Areeya, Mitchell, and Ben who actively participated in this year's fundraising project and a special thanks for picking Moringa Community as your beneficiary. We will put your donated funds to immediate use in our own gardening and canning program at our compound in Ghana.

Moringa News Spring 2011

Although Moringa has quite a ways to go to reach our goal of self sustainability by 2013, we could not be more proud of all that has been accomplished and the key milestones we have passed. Our Spring 2011 Moringa Newsletter is dedicated to our roughly 250 private American donors, to our corporate sponsors, Jarden Home Brands and DeWalt Power Tools, our sponsor Rotary International, and last but certainly not least, in gratitude to the five multi-denominational churches that have supported our mission of fighting poverty through education.

Please click on the photo link 2001 Moringa News (at left) to have an enjoyable read of our latest Newsletter issue titled “Turning the Corner.” In this issue, we purposely trumpeted the news of all our remarkable achievements to date. We have much good news to share. However, we continue to struggle financially, and have additional crucial programs planned but are without the funds to move them forward. We are hopeful that as you learn of our recent activities, you will be inspired to help us with continuing your financial support. “Turning the Corner”, our spring 2011 Newsletter, is our way of holding ourselves accountable to our donors and illustrating how truly effectively we have put their funds to work. To that end, this issue is brimming with good news. However, as of this release, we are still in desperate need of funds to cover the purchase of a second project vehicle to lighten the load of our worn out 1999 Kia project truck. Without reliable wheels, well, you are Americans. I doubt that I need to do much to convince you of that very real need. We also have three programs that still remain unfunded that we believe are key to us reaching our goal of self sustainability by 2013. Thanks to all who have supported us to date and we remain ever hopeful that our project will continue to be blessed by your kind support.

Please Click Here to Donate Today,,, We Need You!

"Moringa Community Knows How" Celebration in Ghana.

On the morning of March 29, 2011 approximately 300 people will gather on the grounds of the Moringa Community School of Trades in Baako / Central Region, Ghana for a day long event that has been promoted as the "Moringa Community Knows How / Food Preservation and Small Business Development Fair". This event is planned to dramatically unveil the power of food preservation through home canning via the provision of a fine noon-time meal for 300 people using 100's of quart jars of our tomato and vegetable preserves canned at the Moringa Compound in September and October 2010 at the height of the Central Region crop harvest in Ghana. As the end of March marks the tail end of the dry season in Ghana when food is scarce and many families typically are reliant on only cassava (a starchy tubor root) to see them through this harsh time, we believe all will take delight in partaking the well balanced delicious meal such as what we will be preparing and serving to all our 300 guests from our preserved stores. We believe this will draw a very high level of interest in this simple practical solution to W. Africa's food security issues that MoringaCommunity.Org is introducing into W. Africa.

Although the size of our facility and our preserved stores are significant, for crowd control and logistics purposes, we must limited attendance to our 300 invitation advanced ticket holders only. Invited guests have been carefully selected to include key representatives from many surrounding villages, government officials from Accra, The Ghana Ministry of Social Welfare, the USA Peace Corp as well as other key local people that are credited for volunteering thier labor to build our Moringa Community Center.

In addition to formal presentations such as the keynote address by USA Moringa C0-Founder, Jeffry Lohr, there will be ongoing demonstrations of our home canning process, demonstrations of Moringa's Third World Machine Shop Program, The Moringa Computer and Business Eductation Department, our Agriculture Department, our Kente Weaving Program, Moringa's Cistern/Artesian Well Running Water and Irregation System and many other exciting things we offer on our 9 acre compound in the village of Baako.

A big objective of the "Moringa Community Knows How Event" is to introduce and encourage development of a self sustaining management plan that will enable Moringa Community Ghana to become more and more self sufficient as we move into our fourth year of the Moringa project next year in 2012. We intend and hope for this to be a major media event for the people of Ghana to better encourage Moringa's model of African's helping African's to develop a practical, sustainable, small business economy that is African owned and African Run.

To see first hand what we will be exhibiting at this March 29th event and also to catch up on the latest news of our achievements to date, please have a look at our March 2011 Newsletter - "Turning The Corner" that you will find on our site at: http://www.moringacommunity.org/Events/Newsletters.html

Moringa Goes Green

It is often said that the first one to be served by service, is the server. It is true. To give yourself over to service to others releasees an energy you did not recognize before, and this special energy has incredible power. The power not only to reach out to others, but to reach within yourself, and feed that place in our spirit that is the wellspring of all the goodness man can do. It changes who you are, it changes those you service, and it tips the scales a tiny bit towards having the good guys get some help. The satisfaction of knowing your efforts ease the burdens of others is a richness that Jeff and I will continue to embrace in our lives.

The most demanding part is getting started. Even this project was an unintended visitor in our lives. We invited Abu to come to our home and to Jeff's shop, without even conceiving that an entire village in Ghana would be coming with him. But instead of reluctance, we let excitement be our guide and the adventure began.

All leaders get weary. The conventional wisdom that help should be supplied to the weak is one I would like to challenge. For it is the strong too that need the help, for they are the engines and engineers that make things happen. The Moringa leadership of Abu/Jeff/Linda are struggling under the strain. This is becoming clear in our household, but fortunately we do have a new volunteer that has signed on... our lovebird Chong is assisting Jeff with his proofreading his emails, as you can see in the photo. Birds are notoriously stupid, but a smart parrot is about as smart as they get, and we are desperate for help, so Chong will be helping with correspondence. You can see Chong already at work in the photo, he is the little "green" bird on top of the monitor.

So if anyone has felt they would like to help us, but were concerned about talent or ability--remember we have just hired a parrot.

Seeds for Moringa

Under the guidance of congregation member and long time Moringa supporters Milton & Louise Aldridge, the members of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church of Midland, Virginia completed thier spring 2010 Moringa Seed Drive and shipped a box of 344 prized seed packets to the Moringa compound in Central Region Ghana on May 14th. The seed project was headed up by (pictured from left to right) Nancy, Savannah, Kinsley, and Sarah of this mission minded farming community church. Having learned about the Moringa project through his attendance at the J.D. Lohr Woodworking School in PA and also having witnessed the extreme levels of poverty that is everyday life in third world countries by themselves living overseas in the 1970's and 80's, it was abundantly clear to Milt and Louise how effective the Moringa project clearly was. It was therefore a quick decision to put their oars in the water for Moringa.

The girls pictured here, who meet every Wednesday at the church, handled the challenge of making signs and placing collection boxes at the two main entrances to the church to encourage members to purchase garden seeds as a gift to the Moringa Commmunity in Ghana. Several times during the three months of the seed collection project, the members of the church were reminded of the girl's project, and the members came through with the seed packets. A follow-up annoucement was made to the church members when information was received of Jeff Lohr's trip to Ghana earlier this year. This encouraged the members to purchase additional seed for a final count of 344 packets for the the Moringa Community project in W. Africa. In Milton's words, "It has, truly, been a pleasure for Louise and I to have been involved in this effort, for the Biblical scriptures reminds us of the importance of sharing with others."

SHIPS

"All the strength and force of man comes from his faith in things unseen. He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions."
James Freeman Clarke

Moringa is such a different critter. We are an organism whose viscera is trust and faith in our belief that this is the fuel that drives the engine that roots to an energy with endless power. For these strong, unwavering convictions carve out the sacred ground for great deeds.

Mythology has taught us that man has always believed that help from the universe will come, if you call it by the right name. We summon help in the name of the truth of goodness, reliance of character, and recognition that service is the higest form of spirtual discipline.

And we have received responses. There are those who have answered our call, have heard our unique voice.

Last week, a truck frighteningly overloaded, left Tema with five pallets of high quality machines lashed to the bed, to make the long journey to Breman Baako.

Somewhere in the Atlantic, a cargo ship is charting it's way to Spain. In the belly of the vessel, is a treasure that will not be unloaded in Spain. But instead, a few weeks later, make port in West Africa. And the food preservation supplies aboard will begin the quiet revolution permitting Africa to feed itself, one village at a time.

Several hundred years ago, ships came to Africa to load slaves to take to other countries. Hopelessness, poverty, misery, and greed were the harvest from the bad seeds these deeds planted. The ships that arrive today bring the gift of hope, the restoration of dignity,the promise of economic growth, a respect for opportunity, and relief from painful circumstances through generosity and good will.
A good seed, and thus, a good harvest.

Thank you for those who helped load these ships. Thank you for those who were courageous enough to captain these ships. And thank you for those who never doubted the ships would arrive.

Wait till you see what happens next...

Linda Lohr

Jeff's trip to Ghana - 2010

Having returned from a two week "working" tour of the Moringa Project in Ghana, my only fear with this entry to our BLOG is that I don't find the words to adequately express how truly important this project is to so many desperately impoverished, but no less deserving, hard working and wonderful people. Abu, Yusif, Rafani, Isaac, Sarah, Joanna, Sowah, John, Kate, Fati, Ebo, Hackman, Quaino, Bugier, Kassman, and easily over 100 other villagers, volunteers and workers that I labored alongside while in Ghana, I honor you and I am humbled by you. I am so very proud of what you have accomplished with the relatively meager resources Moringa USA has been able to find ways to supply to you to date. Clearly you understand and trust that you are building a future for yourselves, your children, your village, and your country. You could not be more deserving of our help.

Before I begin, I can say with certainty that very few, if any, Americans reading this entry can comprehend the complete lack of the most rudimentary resources on hand and available in Africa that we in America assume are just as easily available to all.

My leading photo will mean little to those among our Moringa supporters that are not woodworkers but considering the majority of our donor base consists of humble American woodworkers and carpenters like myself, you will understand this photo immediately and why I choose to present it. Note on this glue-up, we had to find some way to get it done, given that there were only two C-clamps to be had in the village. Nonetheless, we had to meet the challenge to devising a way to glue and clamp a configuration that needed 12 clamps.

Because I had the privilege of living in a country where we have public libraries, where I was given the gift of a public education, where information is free for me to find it if I am ambitious enough to simply look for it, I was able to meet this challenge. Because of the educational opportunities afforded all western countries, improvising alternatives to basic problems in physics is possible. There are no such educational resources in West African countries, even in Ghana with the highest literacy rate in that part of the continent. This is evident in Baako as the community and surrounding villages has no library. Even the local school I visited with a student body of 200 plus kids had little more than a dozen books that I could find and these books were spread between 8 classrooms with roughly 30 kids to a class. In my opinion, anyone of these fine carpenters could have done what I was able to do had they had even the most fundamental book of simple physics.

This is why I selected this first picture as a backdrop to set the stage for what I must tell all our supporters of what I found life to be in the Central Region of Ghana. Here are some quick examples: any kind of healthy food was hard to come by. A bed consists of a floor (or if you are lucky) a board with a mat on top of it. No doctors or clinics within 100 square miles, books are not to be had and the luxury of a piece of paper and a pencil was like a gift from the heavens. No post office in the entire district of 244 settlements. Few wells for drinking water. Electricity, even when available, is unreliable. Phone lines are non-existent. Shopping for consumer products is erratic and typically only second hand goods are available. Roads that were last paved by the British circa 1950, and not maintained since (except by local farmers who patch the holes), but more on that later.

Now try to enter that world, then look at what these wonderful people have built. By themselves, 100% by hand labor, in circumstances that make even the simplest of tasks difficult. And I have not even mentioned the punishing heat (temperatures between 100 - 114 degrees F during my stay) that makes even modest physical effort stressful and back breaking daily toil incomprehensible.

Nevertheless, the communal will of the people was harnessed under Abu's and Yusif's leadership and the power of hope was the engine, and when I walked into the village, I found this waiting for me. We had a vision that crossed oceans and cultures, and together we simply made it happen through one essential ingredient, "TRUST". How to express the emotions I felt when I saw that we not only had a dream, but we put feet under that dream, and what we carved out of the jungle was now the finest building in all of Baako. Our Moringa Community School of Trades.

I will post more information on my experiences in the weeks to come. Right now I have work demands so that I may make a living for myself and my family as none of our Moringa USA team earn any wage from our work on this project. For those of you that are already donors... Be very proud. You have lent your muscle to this project, and look at what was created. For those who now can see what we do and have done, join us, and enjoy the satisfaction and pride that comes from showing your true strength by lifting others up.

Sincerely, Jeffry Lohr

Please donate today to MoringaCommunity.Org.

You can be confident your money will go exactly where it is intended. Everything is ready to go but we still need $5,850 for 6 utility poles installed and get the Moringa Community Center connected to the main power grid.

Sidebar, Only Jeffry's plane ticket was paid by Moringa. All other travel expenses were funded personally.