This past month David, Jordan, and I helped plant about 15 fruit trees in the schoolyard of El Guanabano. This activity came out of our relationship to the Ag University near Catacamas. Prof. Lopez and his university students made a nursery of several varieties of tropical fruits including mangos, tamarinds, limes, marañon (cashew), passion fruit, and mamón. Originally the U students were going to come and help us plant, but the scheduling didnt work out for the prof.
We met with the kindergarden teacher, the students of the school, and some of the parents to plant the trees.
Each student planted a tree and adopted it, promising to water and care for it. I told them that in 10 years I want to come back and eat all the different kinds of fruit.
It is really great to see so many different people and institutions working together on a project like this. The idea is to provide cheap food at the school to help suppliment the lunch program. Another strategy is to encourage the school to make natural juices from these fruits instead of selling the kids soda.
Included in the event were some students that recieve scholarships through Diaconia. These students are have the responsibility of doing community projects like this with the Ag/Env program. The hope is that the studens and adults learn the importance if investing for the long term benefit of the community.
We all had a great time, and got nice and dirty. I even had a chance to practice my chopping skills with the machete because the place where we planted the trees had 4 foot high grass growing.
Later that day we had a meeting in the church to do a community survey. We noticed this turtle shell that they use for the rythm section in the praise band. The different colored panels make different noises when you tap them with the sticks.
