June 22, 2000,
ATLANTA, Ga. – As part of his ongoing effort to bring attention to Moringa Oleifera,
the “miracle tree,” former Atlanta Mayor and United Nations Ambassador Andrew
Young today received 20 six-inch-tall Moringa tree seedlings at his home – at noon,
on a hot, humid, sunny day in the middle of Georgia’s worst drought in recorded
history.
The seedlings
are a gift of Church World Service, a pioneer in documenting Moringa products’
exceptional nutritional value and popularizing this drought-resistant, fast-growing tree’s
cultivation in West Africa and beyond.
Mr. Young
quickly developed an affinity for the Moringa tree when he first heard about it last
November. The Moringa’s leaves, leaf
powder, pods and seeds are packed with protein, calcium, minerals, iron and several
important vitamins. The tree’s flowers
also can be steeped to make teas useful in treating colds.
Today Mr. Young received the
seedlings from Peggy Harrell, a volunteer with Church World Service, who grew the
seedlings in Helen, Ga. CWS is the
humanitarian assistance ministry of the National Council of Churches, of which Mr. Young
currently serves as president.
He requested the
trees to use to promote support for CWS Moringa work.
Mr. Young promptly planted two of the trees in his front yard and will
donate several to the University of Georgia Horticultural Department for study there.
“In an odd
way, the gift of the trees to Andy Young sends a message to the people of Georgia that
even in the most dire weather circumstances there is a tree, the Moringa tree, that can
bring hope and new life to the people who most need it,” commented Lee Echols of
Atlanta, a long-time communications colleague of Andrew Young.
In a 1997-99 pilot project, Church
World Service and its Senegalese partner AGADA pioneered in documenting the Moringa tree’s
exceptional value as a local, sustainable solution to malnutrition in Senegal, especially
among infants, children and mothers. Now CWS
is expanding the tree’s cultivation across West Africa and beyond.
Mr. Young learned about CWS’s
Moringa project last November and became an immediate “Moringa booster.” At the time of his prostate cancer surgery in
December, he requested that well wishers donate Moringa tree seedlings for West Africa
through CWS.
In April, at the HIV/AIDS and Malaria
International Conference in Atlanta, which he chaired, Mr. Young highlighted Moringa
products’ nutritional potential for strengthening immunity and enabling healthier,
longer lives for people with HIV/AIDS, especially in Africa. “Here is an indigenous nutritional supplement
that people can grow in their own backyards,” Mr. Young said.
With origins in
India, the Moringa tree thrives in drought conditions and grows quickly in difficult
climates. This scruffy looking, fast-growing
tree comes into 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. Moringa leaf powder also helps
purify contaminated water by settling the particulate matter.
“Moringa shows great promise as
a tool to help overcome some of the most severe problems in the developing world –
malnutrition, deforestation, impure water and poverty,” Mr. Young said. “The tree does best in the dry regions where
these problems are worst.”
As a result of CWS/AGADA’s
pioneering Moringa research, the government of Senegal is promoting Moringa as part of the
national diet. The CWS/AGADA Moringa project
last year completed training of all health workers and many community associations and
local non-governmental organizations across southwestern Senegal, and now is conducting
training across southeastern Senegal, where the problem of malnutrition is nationwide the
most severe.
Interest in the Moringa tree and in
Church World Service’s pioneering work continues to grow. This spring, the Los Angeles Times published a
major feature on the Moringa, and interest in its health and nutritional characteristics
has continued.
“Our CWS local partners in Mali,
Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Niger also are planting Moringa and doing some
training,” said Lowell Fuglie, who heads the CWS West Africa Regional Office in
Dakar, Senegal, and who is leading the CWS Moringa work.
“Thanks to publicity about our project and the information and tools we
have provided, new Moringa projects have started up in 20 or more other countries around
the world.”
This summer, thanks to the initiative
of CWS volunteer and veteran hiker Henry L. Rigali of Palmer, Mass., participants in an
expedition to retrace the historic 1,000-mile “Burton-Spekes Expedition” across
Tanzania are distributing 20,000 Moringa tree seeds, along with complete instructions,
along the way. Sir Richard Francis Burton and
John Hanning Speke in 1857 blazed the trail in an attempt to solve “mankind’s
great geographic riddle” – locating the source of the Nile.
CWS, in
collaboration with two French research organizations, is finalizing plans for the first
international Moringa conference, to be held early in 2001 in Niamey, Niger. About 100 people from around the world will
attend. And, as soon as funding can be
secured, Church World Service plans to expand Moringa training throughout the
French-speaking countries of the Sahel region and throughout the tropics and sub-tropics. CWS also foresees clinical research on Moringa’s
potential to stabilize health and nutrition among people with HIV/AIDS, and on Moringa’s
reputed ability to control diabetes.
-end-
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