Changing lives in the village of Fiarenana

Dear friends,

We just got the latest pictures for the last site visit to the village to Fiarenana we would like to share this short update with you.

BEAN SEEDS Since out last update bean seeds were delivered to the village. With s short growing cycle the villagers wanted to plant beans as an in-between crop in rice paddies right after the rice harvest. As great ‘nitrogen fixers’ beans could prove very beneficial for the rice paddies, besides providing another great protein source to eat.

NURSERY: As intended the once functioning nursery has been revitalized and the former gardener, has been hired by Zahana to tend to the seedlings until they are big enough for transplanting. (See photo) The goal is that every family starts growing more coffee, so the have some for sale. To date, while they already are growing coffee successfully, all of it is consumed in the village.

MALARIA PREVENTION: Zahana was able to get a hold of mosquito nets for every household in the village of Fiarenana. These nets have been distributed and as you can see in the photos have been received and put to good use. (see photos)

GRAIN STORAGE BUILDING: The building has been finished and officially inaugurated (See photo). The village community wanted to wait until the arrival of Zahana to have this formal dedication. The building is now housing Zahana’s seed bank rice, some of this years rice crop that the community is currently still storing.

POTATOES: 100 kg of potatoes as seed stock was delivered and distributes in the village as requested by the community. As with beans, potatoes can be planted in the fallow rice paddies because they mature before the next rice planting season starts. This is the first time that this variety of potatoes has been introduced to Fairenana.

The next steps:

The microcredit project with poultry and may be other life stock, will be launched in Fiarenana in the spring (starting around September in the southern hemisphere).

Please check out website for more detailed updates as we get more photos.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Links:

• Whats' new in Fiarenana
• Zahana's home page
• Solar Cookers in Action (hopefully in Fiadanana soon)