Mission goes 'green' to supplement food shortage

By RACHAEL OSBORNE

April 28, 2008 04:00 am

— Staff Writer
PLATTSBURGH -- With global food prices on the rise, there is concern that the cost of staple items in developing countries may spiral out of reach.
In Nicaragua, the price to feed a child for one day through the Mission of Hope's Children Feeding Children program has risen to 35 cents, up about a dime.
Sister Debbie Blow, Mission of Hope executive director, said the increase comes to a part of the world where every penny counts.
"At least here (in the United States), even with increased prices, we have a supply of food.
"There, it's not even an issue of supply. There is a lack of food in the country, and they are struggling to find it."
GREEN PROJECTS
She says these issues bring even greater urgency to the mission's drive to "go green" and provide long-term sustainability to the country.
"It doesn't mean just saving energy," Blow explained. "It means using the available environmental resources in the country to counteract the food shortage. We're going green in the sense of providing food and health care and education."
During recent trips to Nicaragua, volunteers have constructed above-ground gardens and planted and harvested maringa trees.
They have worked on projects concerning water development and storage, food dehydration and environmental cleanup.
They have built ramps to prevent erosion near roads hit hard by severe weather.
PASSING IT ON
Oscar Flores of Plattsburgh, who is from Nicaragua and regularly returns as a mission volunteer, said the country's food supply needs to improve.
The garden at Niño Jesus de Praga School in Chiquilistagua is used to teach students irrigation, grafting and growing techniques, in hopes the children will instruct others in their community and increase their food supply.
"The teacher will teach students, and then (it will) spread out through the community," Flores said, his Spanish accent heavy. "Start with the school and incorporate the community.
"What we want to do is improve the lives of people. We're trying to give them the opportunity to empower themselves."
GARDEN PROJECTS
Students have planted tomatoes, sweet peppers, beans, carrots, ochra and lettuce to help supplement the Children Feeding Children program.
"I was so excited to see how excited the students were," said Sarah LeFloch, director of campus ministry at Santa Fe High School in Lakeland, Fla., who went on the February mission trip.
She said students made a recycled pop-bottle fence around the outside of their garden, where vegetables sprout in tires filled with soil.
"It's ingenious how they use everything."
Because the climate in Lakeland is similar to Nicaragua, LeFloch said, her students are planting a garden on the Florida campus to coincide with the one in Chiquilistagua.
"The students will be in touch with each other and share plant stories," she said.
Maringa trees are growing throughout the region and are planted with each new home shelter. Their leaves are highly nutritious, and nearly every part of the plant is usable, right down to the seeds, which can be used to purify water.
"The project is taking on a life of its own," said Judy Charland, who was instrumental in starting the maringa project. "We're planting seeds of hope."
Blow said missionaries are also beginning to explore options for solar energy, and a local family recently donated a solar-powered oven.
"These projects are the long-term solution to the energy crisis," Blow said.
"It's really been a driving force."
rosborne@pressrepublican.com

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