Drought of 2014-15 & Moringa

The population of Nicaragua is facing a severe drought from the El Niño Pacific Current that threatens the country’s food supply both in the city and countryside.  A way of life becomes one of survival.  Children will go to school hungry.  This year only 50% of farmer’s low quality crop was harvested. Along with the drought there is also the continued debilitating high temperatures of 90 degrees. The main river that flowed by our local town was used for water, washing clothes, and bathing, dried up and just evaporated.   There are only small puddles here and there.

Somos Ohana Nicaragua in collaboration and working with the local communities offered an alternative survival plant solution to the scarcity of water for plants. The plant Moringa Oleifer, which is known locally, but not cultivated, is used occasionally for sore throats.

Many of the other benefits are unknown locally and thus not utilized.   Moringa has the added capability of supplying all of the needed vitamins and minerals for an individual. A Miracle plant.  For my community presentations,  I developed a series of charts and an explanation booklet for distribution to go along with the presentation of an ABC Moringa video to instruct the local communities about the potential of this “Miracle Plant.”  A big help in the education process was being able to obtain locally and distribute free of charge Maringa seeds.

Submitted by Dan Flavin