~ 11 Oaks ~
Of Leelanau County, Michigan, USA
and Maseru, Lesotho, Southern Africa
A 501 c 3, public charity
and Maseru, Lesotho, Southern Africa
A 501 c 3, public charity
We are promoting the distribution and teaching of drip irrigaton culture to subsistence farmers in drought plagued lands. Both regular (pressurized- where there is electricity) and bucket kit (gravity fed-where there is no electricity). This will improve diet and have a positive effect on health, income, and general quality of life among villagers. The dry season often forces family gardeners to eliminate fruits and vegetables from their diets, relying heavily upon the easily stored grains. Vitamin A deficiency is a major cause of preventable childhood blindness in the 3rd World. Pass the veggies, please!
We plan on laying about 20 miles (100,000 ft) of drip pipe from November 2008 thru January 2009, and, this is just the beginning. We work in Lesotho because it offers an extremely high probability for success for this technology. By this we mean: English is spoken, it is politically, socially, and religiously stable, has a climate similar to Michigan's, there is an infrastructure in place that allows us to aid schools and orphanages so we can work thru the 'government' and not create a culture of 'haves' and 'have nots'.
Alternatives to Immigration
excerpted and paraphrased from La Cosecha...Sustainable Harvest International (SHI)...Fall 2006
No doubt you have heard some of the issues surrounding immigration into our country. But through the efforts of organizations like SHI, more and more Central American families are staying together and are less likely to send an individual across the border into the United States.
In Central America, the family is highly valued. The absence of one or more family members can be utterly destructive to the family unit. Unfortunately, many families in C.A. fall into a cycle of poverty and environmental destruction that often brings them to the U.S. as a last ditch effort to change their destiny.
The heartbreaking cycle often looks like this: Impoverished families, who know only slash and burn agricultural techniques, eventually degrade their land through repeated burning and erosion. Fertilizers and pesticides only worsen the situation... Without other options, many families send an individual to a city within their country in search of work. Often this is unsuccessful and the individual is forced to separate even further from his or her family, this time in an attempt to enter the United States.
However! Through integrated educational projects like the ones offered by Sustainable Harvest International, farmers learn sustainable land use practices that allow them to farm the same land again and again. Family income increases and participants in the programs are not forced to migrate to the cities or emigrate to other countries.
It's probably too late to keep the 'Great Wall of Texas' from being built, but we can empower families to stay together.... in their own villages...
Perhaps people come to our borders not to be 'Americans' in this country but to not die from poverty in their own. We can confront the immigration issue at its source, by stopping and repairing environmental degredation and the ensuing starvation through education and sustainable agricultural technologies.
In Central America, the family is highly valued. The absence of one or more family members can be utterly destructive to the family unit. Unfortunately, many families in C.A. fall into a cycle of poverty and environmental destruction that often brings them to the U.S. as a last ditch effort to change their destiny.
The heartbreaking cycle often looks like this: Impoverished families, who know only slash and burn agricultural techniques, eventually degrade their land through repeated burning and erosion. Fertilizers and pesticides only worsen the situation... Without other options, many families send an individual to a city within their country in search of work. Often this is unsuccessful and the individual is forced to separate even further from his or her family, this time in an attempt to enter the United States.
However! Through integrated educational projects like the ones offered by Sustainable Harvest International, farmers learn sustainable land use practices that allow them to farm the same land again and again. Family income increases and participants in the programs are not forced to migrate to the cities or emigrate to other countries.
It's probably too late to keep the 'Great Wall of Texas' from being built, but we can empower families to stay together.... in their own villages...
Perhaps people come to our borders not to be 'Americans' in this country but to not die from poverty in their own. We can confront the immigration issue at its source, by stopping and repairing environmental degredation and the ensuing starvation through education and sustainable agricultural technologies.
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