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Haiti Moringa Project

Research Trip

September 4, 2011

Pierre Payen, Haiti

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The Haiti Volunteer group of 10 people got on a rented

van at 7:30am and traveled from Port-au-Prince to Pierre

Payen. Brother Curtis also picked up Lori Chen from the

orphanage where she works, and joined the small group

of 5 that arrived the previous day. The Tzu Chi group

will be holding Spread the Seeds of Love and Moringa

promotion activities at the Friendship Village Cultural

Center.

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The Haiti

volunteers

skillfully and

quickly

decorated the

facility.

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5

Brother Austin

teaches by

example,

showing a good

model for the

Haitian

volunteers.

6

Sisters Lori and

Nadege bring

begin the meeting

in a lively manner

with their sign

language

performance of

‘Happy Face’.

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Spread the Seeds of

Love officially

begins after

everyone bows

three times to

Buddha, the

Bodhisattvas, and

the Master.

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Michaelle

introduces Tzu Chi

to the villagers and

explains that she

learned of

Moringa through

Tzu Chi.

9

Brother Austin

explains the origin

of Tzu Chi, the

South African

volunteers’ story,

and ‘the Power of

Five’.

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This 104 year

old Bodhisattva

has walked from

her home to the

Cultural Center

to attend the

event.

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Sister

Mirielle

introduces

the

Bamboo

Bank

Spirit.

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Brother Patrick

introduces how to

use Moringa to

relieve the

problems of

malnutrition,

poverty, and

deforestation.

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This girl’s hair is

turning red

because of

malnutrition, like

many other

children in Haiti.

Their parents

should feed them

Moringa leaves.

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Villagers share

about eating

Moringa leaves,

flowers, fruits,

and seeds.

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Tzu Chi volunteers

thank the Friendship

Village for

providing land for

the Moringa nursery

and for joining the

Cash for Work

program.

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Haitian and US

volunteers

complete the first

Spread the Seeds

of Love event

outside the Port-

au-Prince area.

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The volunteers

took advantage of

the rare karmic

opportunity to go

on an ‘intellectual

journey’ near the

Friendship

Village.

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Michaelle explains

the construction

and daily upkeep

of the nursery to

the Tzu Chi

volunteer team.

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Brother Patrick

hopes that the

Haitian volunteers

can take all that

they have learned

and spread it to

other areas of

Haiti.

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The volunteers

explore the

Friendship Village

community in

preparation for

similar projects in

Haiti.

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Each home has

two rooms, a

kitchen, and a

bathroom.

Construction cost

is approximately

$6500 (USD).

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Food for the

Poor’s water

treatment system.

For a five-gallon

barrel of water,

residents pay five

gourdes.

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In the afternoon, the volunteer team has a meal in

Michaelle’s seaside home. The US and Haiti teams hold a

meeting. The local volunteers deeply hope that Tzu Chi

can have a Service Center or Office in Haiti. They also

hope that US headquarters can cover their transportation

and phone costs incurred while doing Tzu Chi work.

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In the evening, most volunteers returned to Port-au-

Prince. A group of five remained in Pierre Payen.

Tomorrow morning, they will discuss with the villagers

future plans for concentrated Moringa growing

experiments outside the nursery: growing in different

soil conditions and by different methods (seeds vs.

seedlings) to observe differences in growth rate.

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感恩 上人

恭祝 上人

法體安康

常住世間

法輪常轉

慈濟海地全體靜思弟子

恭敬頂禮