“Go out of
your way a little to make a difference, and big things happen.” That is the counsel of Henry L. Rigali, a member
of Second Congregational Church in Palmer, Mass., who has done just that.
Mr. Rigali’s curiosity about something
he read in a Sunday church bulletin insert in April is about to bear fruit –
literally – in Tanzania, along the most famous route in 19th century
western exploration of Africa, the 1,000-mile trail blazed by Sir Richard Francis Burton
and John Hanning Speke in 1857.
A dozen hikers
– Mr. Rigali and renowned expedition leader Jim Owens among them – will meet in
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, June 1. Over the
next three months, their expedition will retrace the steps of Burton and Speke’s
attempt to solve “mankind’s last great geographic riddle” – locating
the source of the Nile. The expedition has
required several years of planning and is believed to be the first effort in history to
retrace the original Buron & Speke path on foot.
Along the way,
the expedition will distribute 20,000 Moringa tree seeds, along with instructions for
planting, harvesting and using the tasty, highly nutritious leaves, pods and flowers of
this indigenous resource against malnutrition. “We
don’t expect every seed to grow,” said Mr. Rigali, “but we will distribute
enough seeds to plant 100 orchards of 100 moringa trees each. That’s 10,000 trees spread across 1000 miles
of rural East Africa, in places where people need it the most.”
All because Mr.
Rigali, in church on April 2, noticed the “One Great Hour of Sharing” insert
described Church World Service’s work to expand cultivation of the Moringa Oleifera
tree.
CWS documented
the tree’s dramatic effectiveness against malnutrition, especially among infants,
children and mothers, in a 1997-99 pilot project conducted in clinics across southwestern
Senegal, where the Moringa tree grows wild. As
a result, Senegal’s government is promoting Moringa as part of the national
diet.
Church World
Service, the humanitarian ministry of the (U.S.) National Council of Churches, and its
Senegalese partner AGADA now are expanding Moringa cultivation across Senegal, to other
West African countries and beyond. There is
no doubt that the tree will grow well in Tanzania. In
fact, the 20,000 seeds are being supplied by Optima Ltd., a company based in Arusha,
Tanzania.
“Optima has
Moringa plantations in Tanzania and has the goal of developing significant Moringa growth
by 2006 on farms, large and small, in Tanzania,” Mr. Rigali reported. “What they are lacking is the ability to get
the plant into the rural and remote areas of Tanzania.
We’ll walk 1,000 miles through rural and remote areas. It’s a nice complement to what they are
doing.”
Back to April 2,
2000. Mr. Rigali took the bulletin insert
home, logged onto the World Wide Web and did a keyword search for information about the
Moringa tree. The more he learned about this
scruffy looking, fast growing tree the more he liked it – especially the fact that it
is in full leaf at the end of the dry season, precisely when other foods are the
scarcest.
Moringa leaf
powder conserves well and is easy to use in porridge, biscuits, sauces served over rice or
couscous and other recipes. Mr. Rigali said
he also was intrigued that Moringa leaf powder helps purify contaminated water by settling
the particulate matter.
Mr. Rigali
– an attorney and avid outdoorsman who first met Jim Owens on a 1998 hike along the
Appalachian Trail and agreed to provide legal counsel for the upcoming Burton & Speke
Expedition – started to explore whether the expedition might distribute Moringa tree
seeds to villages along its 1,000-mile route.
He asked his
pastor, the Rev. Jeff Erb, a long-time supporter of Church World Service and of CROPWALKS
which raise funds to fight hunger worldwide, to get more information from Church World
Service.
Pastor Erb called William E. Wildey of the
CWS/CROP Office in Ludlow, Mass., who made the connection with CWS/CROP’s main office
in Elkhart, Ind., and in turn with Lowell Fuglie, CWS West Africa Director, who supplied
information about planting, harvesting and using Moringa products and pointed the way to
Optima Ltd. for the seeds.
“This walk
across Tanzania is helping plant thousands of Moringa trees, which will produce food for
generations to come,” commented Mr. Wildey of CWS/CROP. “The thousands of Americans who walk in
CROPWALKS every year also are helping plant Moringa trees and other seeds of hope through
their fund-raising efforts.”
The Moringa seed
component of the Burton & Speke Expedition has led to Church World Service signing on
as an expedition co-sponsor and has enlisted many other partners along the way. Partners include Boy Scout Troop 161 in Palmer,
Mass., and the Second Congregational Church’s sewing circle, the Cut Ups, who are
collaborating on production of 100 colorfully labeled 6”x9” seed pouches, each
with 100 plastic sandwich bags (rolled tight by the boys) to be used as plant starters. Optima Ltd. will have the 20,000 seeds waiting for
the hikers in Dar es Salaam.
The group’s
motto is “Kindness Matters” and it is their intention to share that kindness as
they travel. The expeditioners will
distribute items including soccer balls, ball caps, t-shirts, and containers of bubble
makers. The YMCA in Springfield, Mass.,
provided 1000 ballpoint pens bearing the expedition motto in both English and Swahili to
be given away.
The
expeditioners, who are all qualified in advanced wilderness first aid, will also
distribute a considerable supply of medical equipment, including disinfectants, sterile
bandages, antibiotics, anti-fungal creams, and snake bite kits.
Mr. Rigali will
walk with the Burton & Speke Expedition for about two and a half weeks before breaking
away to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. On the eve
of his departure for Tanzania, he reflected, “Anyone can make an impact on the
quality of life for people by sharing kindness and having a little creativity.
“Sometimes
we get so caught up in the here-and-now that we don’t see the opportunity right in
front of us. But if we are in our right mind,
we see the opportunity and pick up on it.”
-end-
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