Having lunch with our hosts from iDE (international development enterprises). They teach people around the world how to farm smarter and how to run a business.
This was a nice hotel far away from our city of Addis Ababa.
They took us to a project field where they display the different kinds of crops, how they thrive and do well in the area, as well as discussing benefits and marketability of each.
We saw various varieties of lentils, barley, wheat, teff, etc. The farmers come her to choose the type or kinds that they want to plant in their fields.
In some areas, where appropriate, they teach farmers how to integrate vermicompost or special worms into their crops. They talked about how the Russia/Ukraine war has caused fertilizers and pesticide prices to skyrocket, requiring the locals to use more natural ways to farm.
The farmers showed us a local natural fertilizer they use and sell as well.
This is fava bean plant with pods. In a recent post I showed making some Egyptian Falafel using fava beans.
We were introduced to a woman who opened a shop selling a special multi-grain flour that she grinds and sells to families with small malnourished children. They make it into a super nutritious porridge.
Note the sign they put up says supported by: iDE "LDSC" (stands for Latter-Day Saint Charities)
iDE focuses on training mostly women who may have less opportunities to in farming and business.
It was great to see these farmers that have been trained to be entrepreneurs. They have been taught to find the needs of other local farmers and then providing it. They work as a group.
This little feed storage structure was funded through LDSC (Latter-Day Saint Charities backed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). We really like iDE philosophy of teaching and training farmers to be self-reliant and entrepreneurs.
For example, the bags of animal feed were bought by this local farmer co-op group. They now sell it to other local farmers who use to travel a long way to get it. They also rent a thresher.
These business farmers also love to sell this solar power / battery operated light to other farmers who need better light in areas that have unreliable or no electricity. They are very popular.
We were impressed by the different grains they teach farmers to produce. They all had various level of gluten, from high gluten to no gluten.
On the way we passed through a town called Aleltu, the birth place of Tamarat Tola, 2024 Olympics Marathon Men's Champion.
He now lives in Addis Ababa but this is mainly where he trained. I was checking my altimeter for elevation in Aleltu and it was about 8,500 feet above sea level. Our apartment in Addis Ababa is about 7,700 feet.
As we drove through the city we saw lots of runners along the highway, training.
Here's a few more pics of our drive there and back.
It was refreshing to drive out there and enjoy the countryside, out of the crazy busy city.
We drove by a livestock market.
Coming back towards Addis Ababa we noticed more buildings being torn down to be replaced by new ones. The government is doing a main corridor beautification project where they are tearing down massive amounts of poorly built structures, or structures built too close to the main roads.
We had the opportunity to attend a grand opening for Finn Church Aid, and NGO from Finland that is opening up an office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
When we arrived at the building where the even was taking place we noticed the building wasn't quite finished yet. There were no hand rails installed on the stairways. This is a common thing we see here. People move into apartment buildings that are only partially finished, some quite a safety concern.
They had a few speakers and then time to mingle and snack on a few food items they offered.
The price of gas just went up 10% this week after dropping dramatically to the USD. Now 91 birr or $.76 per liter (a few weeks ago $.69 per liter) or $2.88 per gallon. 2 months ago it was $1.40 per liter or $5.32 per gallon.
During the rainy season here, we have been battling mold. I opened up the drawer to my nightstand and my wallet was moldy. I cleaned it but then noticed the case to my shaver had gone moldy. Sister Martin has been cleaning mold off the walls and curtains near windows.
Sister Martin was in our laundry room the other day and noticed one of our suitcases had mold. Thankfully, the rainy season is over and we look forward to dryer weather ahead.
Too many miracles this past week. Here's a few that the young missionaries shared.
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Wow what a week. I sure wish we had an NGO like the farm one here in Paraguay. I checked and they only work in Central not South America. I especially like the business aspect. We have some communities that could really use that.
ReplyDeleteGlad the rainy and mold season is over, ours is begins soon!
So glad we get to share our experiences. Keep up the good work!