Moringa is a leafy tree that is rich in nutrients, it is often called the ‘Miracle Tree’ due to its medicinal uses and the effects it has on ailments attributed to malnutrition. Its equivalent leafy green in America would probably be kale. Most Gambians know about Moringa,‘Nebadyo / Never Die’ in local language, but there is not very much of it growing in The Gambia and there is hardly any in my village. This is peculiar because the ‘Never Die’ name comes from the fact that the tree grows very quickly and easily. I planted a seedling in my backyard when I came back to The Gambia last May and one year later the height of the trunk exceeds my house’s roofline. Once people know you have a tree you get lots of requests for leaves and seeds. Many of the traditional leaf sauces that are served over rice can be made from Moringa. It’s chock full of vitamins so it’s an excellent choice. With this in mind I developed a plan to get Moringa planted in Jappineh. Approach #1 was to work with the health center since the usage of Moringa directly affects the overall health of the community. The staff at the health center were on board so we created a small nursery, advised local families on proper care of the trees, pretty basic stuff like ‘keep it fenced so the goats don’t eat it’, and then out planted about 20 trees before the rains came. All was well and good but I felt somewhat frustrated with the health worker I had teamed up with so when the next rainy season approached I decided to try something new, ‘The Moringa Nursery Competition!’. The idea was that I would involve school children in creating the nursery and in doing the out planting, thereby creating a stronger base for sustainability down the line.
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| Planting Moringa with students |
Things started out well. I developed a timeline, decided on the process of selecting competitors, chose prizes and created our graph on which we would measure the growth of our trees. I did a presentation to our seventh and eighth graders outlining the plan. There was a buzz. People were excited! Only seventh and eighth graders were eligible and interested parties could drop their names into a box from which ten would be randomly selected the next week. Kids were tearing pages out of their notebooks on the spot, clamoring to be included. That week the box filled up, it appeared that almost every student in grades seven and eight had entered. The day of the drawing a group of students gathered, not a small group but not a very big one either. We pulled ten names with bated breath. I should have made my small speech about competition and the benefits of the Moringa tree at the beginning rather than saving it for the end because the moment the last name was called the crowd vanished. Hmm. When the day of the first meeting arrived five of the ten selected competitors showed up. ‘Where are the others?’ I asked, clearly perplexed. Being chosen had been a big event and now only half show up? ‘She went home’, ‘I don’t know’, the responses were vague. Well that’s alright, better five excited contestants than ten ambivalent ones.
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| Jappineh School |
We planted our pre-soaked seeds into nursery bags and the students nodded absent mindedly as I started talking about the benefits of Moringa. Okay team, we will meet once a week to measure our plants and graph the results. In eight weeks winners will be declared based on the final height of their seedlings. Everyone wandered off, everyone except for Lamin Darbo. I hadn’t known Lamin before that day. There are over five hundred students at the school. I don’t know them all and Lamin had never crossed my path. During the time we prepped the bags I noticed that Lamin was taking more time to finish the job than the others. I let him go at his own pace and then one of the other kids offered to help him finish up at the end. He appeared sort of scatter brained but he was trying so we just let him be. Well Lamin turned our Moringa competition into a one man show. He was totally committed. The other four contestants ambled in and out over next eight weeks, letting the majority of the seeds go to waste. Lamin however was in that nursery daily, fetching water, weeding and just taking generally fantastic care of his plants. He was about attentive as everyone else when I tried to tell him about the benefits of Moringa but he was on a mission to have the tallest seedlings. And he did tenfold most of the time. We had a nail biter development at about week three though. One of the flakiest students who barely ever showed up to water had one seedling that took off in spite of the lack of care. I don’t know if someone else’s watering was inadvertently hitting this seedling or if it was just an anomaly but one week this student moved into first place, pushing Lamin into second. It was an outrage, unacceptable, she never watered! It was also when I pointed out to Lamin that sometimes you just get lucky. But luck doesn’t last, commitment will persevere. And thankfully it did. The next week Lamin was back on top and he remained there all the way up to the end. On the day winners were announced Lamin’s class cheered for him enthusiastically. I learned later that in school Lamin was less than dedicated and that his success in the competition came as a big surprise to everyone. It was heartwarming.
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| First place winner: Lamin Darbo! I know he doesn't look happy but he is. This is typical 'Gambian Picture Face'. It has something to do with portraying yourself as a warrior. |
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| Second place winner: Lamin Sarr! |
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| Third place winner: Mai Drammeh! |
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| Lamin's seedlings are in the forefront, the weedy mess behind his are everyone else's. |
