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Global Resource Alliance: What We Did in 2013 (Tanzania)

An update from the Global Resource Alliance (GRA)

Permaculture

  • Continued developing the Kinesi Village permaculture project with the local community on 8 acres of land donated to GRA by the Village Council to grow food for 35 families caring for orphans. This plot grows hundreds of trees for food, lumber and habitat, staple foods like corn, beans, sweet potatoes, sorghum, cassava and peanuts, a variety of vegetables and moringa oleifera for medicinal purposes.
  • Sent GRA-TZ permaculture coordinator Elisha Owino from Kinesi Village to a Permaculture Training for Trainers in Kenya to increase his skills and become a teacher in the field of permaculture to educate local communities and outside visitors.

  • Helped 6 Kinesi Village families design and implement permaculture gardens on their own plots to achieve long-term food self-sufficiency.
  • Hosted interns and volunteers from around the world as well as Tanzania to spend weeks or months learning about permaculture while exchanging their work for food and accommodation in the staff housing constructed several years ago from compressed earth blocks.

Tree Planting

  • In collaboration with Belgian NGO, WeForest, GRA received funding to plant and distribute more than 100,000 trees (as a carbon offset project).
  • Hired two trainers and four permanent workers to operate the tree nursery on the 8 acre permaculture plot in Kinesi Village.
  • Planted a broad variety of trees in the nursery including fruit, medicinal, timber, ornamental, fencing and nitrogen fixing trees.
  • Trained individuals, schools and community groups to plant and care for trees. Free trees were given to those individuals and groups that prepared holes to plant the trees. This year we focused our efforts in educating children to plant trees at their school grounds, and many thousands of trees were planted there. Children and their teachers have a good track record of keeping the trees alive providing water and care on a regular basis.
  • Distributed a total of 122,597 trees.

Herbal remedies

  • Enhanced the financial sustainability of our herbal production facility that prepares and distributes low cost herbal remedies made with locally grown herbs and trees for the treatment of all kinds of tropical ailments like malaria, fungal disease, parasites, diabetes, malnutrition, rheumatoid conditions, yellow fever, tuberculosis and many more.
  • Established the Rehema (Grace) program that provides free natural treatment for people unable to pay for it. This program is dedicated to the support of orphans, elders and the chronically ill. Among the most popular remedies distributed are -Artemisia capsules (to treat malaria), moringa Superfood to combat malnutrition and Neem drops to treat any kind of fungal condition and prevent malaria.
  • Trained over 300 workshop participants to treat malaria and other tropical diseases using Master Mineral Supplement (MMS) with outstanding success.

Rural Water Supply

  • Completed 17 successful community wells with our new drilling equipment funded by Irish NGO Gorta. Most boreholes are equipped with BluePump hand pumps but several are fitted with electrical powered submersible pumps.
  • Achieved financial self-sufficiency so that fees collected for surveying, drilling and related services cover all Maji Mengi (Abundant Water) program expenses and even provide a small surplus to help cover the costs of other GRA programs in Tanzania.
  • Became the primary rural water supply resource for Rorya, a rural district in the Mara region covering just under 10,000 square kilometers and hosting a population of just over 250,000 people. Rorya is one of the newest and least developed districts in Tanzania.

Support for Orphans

  • Completed the 10th consecutive year of the Tumaini kwa Watoto (Care for the Children) program that provides 75 orphans living with foster families in the Musoma area food, healthcare, school supplies, school fees for secondary school students, clothes and weekly activities at the GRA-Tz office compound.
  • Continued support for 75 families caring for orphans in Kinesi Village. The program provides food, clothes, health care, school fees, mattresses, etc. to these children. About 35 of the families are involved in producing their own organic food at the two GRA-Tz permaculture plots. Thirty families have developed their own permaculture plots with training and subsidies from GRA over the last three years.
  • Hosted the 9th annual Serengeti Safari in August for 16 kids from the two GRA orphans programs and seven volunteers from Deloitte Belgium who funded the event in 2013.
  • Increased the scope of our after-school English, math and computer tutoring program for orphans to 5 days per week thanks to funding and computers provided by Mara Kids, a Belgian NGO founded by Deloitte Belgium partner Benoit Vanderstichelen.

Further Info:

2 Comments

  1. I want to contact GRA TANZANIA regarding SOL5 Solar bakery oven. I refuse in MOSHI Kilimanjaro Tanzania. Would like to more on solar bakery ovens and if visiable am interested to start a business in this area.
    I am 62 years old, retired mechanical engender and has worked in aviation sector till my retirement in 2017.
    Waiting for your feedback.
    Ali Sarumbo

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