Last week, a 6-men team from Goducate visited the capital of Nusa
Tenggara Timor (NTT) to do a survey trip. The team included Goducate’s Indonesian Coordinator (Thomos), our Agricultural Consultant (Ric Patricio), and 3 other Filipinos who are considering serving in Goducate Indonesia.
NTT is in Eastern Indonesia and is one of the poorer provinces of Indonesia. One of the major causes of the under-developed economy is the lack of rainfall. For about 6-8 months of each year there is hardly any rain. Furthermore, the soil is largely hilly and rocky.
In Kupang (the capital of NTT) we spoke at a seminar attended by 40 local community development workers who are working with poor children. I spoke on Goducate’s philosophy of serving the poor and Ric spoke on the potential of promoting the moringa plant to alleviate the nutritional problems of poor children.
Moringa leaves gram for gram have 4 times the vitamin A of carrots, 7
times the vitamin C of oranges, 4 times the calcium of milk, and 2 times
the protein of milk. Besides these commonly known nutrients, moringa
leaves are also packed with a host of other micronutrients that are
often lacking in the diet of many poor children. The moringa plant can
grow in almost any type of soil (except water-logged soil) and
continues to grow even in long periods of drought. It is therefore
very suitable for NTT and in fact is found growing in many parts of
NTT.
When we did a survey of the community, we found out that the residents
were unaware of the benefits of moringa consumption and seldom ate it
(even if the plant grew in their backyard).
We will be collecting more data about the community’s attitude to consumption and gathering some samples of local moringa seeds for our agricultural experts to assess.
We look to the day when Goducate will be able to help the people of NTT to help themselves with a resource that will thrive in their own backyard.
