Food Security Myanmar Project #25612

DARE Sustains: MoringAid Startup

by DARE Network (Drug and Alcohol Recovery and Education Network)

Summary

International Aid dependence often brings with it a power imbalance. Big agencies regularly ignore indigenous ways & knowledge and impose western ideologies onto their beneficiaries. To help break free of this dynamic, DARE will start up an Income Generation project called MoringAid. DARE Network can create a sustainable source of funds by growing, processing and marketing Moringa helping refugees to help themselves. But we need to your help to get started. What is Moringa? Read on.

$18,000
total goal

$3,666
remaining

104
donors

2
monthly donors

4
years

Challenge

The recent ceasefire between the Burmese Army and the Karen Freedom Fighters has opened the door to safe passage of drugs from Northern Burma straight to Karen State, instead of through the Golden Triangle. Here is a no man's land. Drug mules will carry the heroin/meth/opium for a pittance. Many ethnic people of Burma are exposed to drugs they have never seen before. Villages inside Burma are anecdotally said to have addiction rates as high as 80%. For the drug lords profits are everything.

Solution

DARE Network is dedicated to helping prevent and treat addiction among its own people. DARE has operated in the refugee camps on the Thai side of the border for 20 years; always dependent on donors for food for their treatment centre. In the Refugee Camps & in Karen State, Myanmar we want to help our clients experience healing using organic agriculture at our DARE Centre. MoringAid project will help our program to sustain itself for the future, as the program can grow and sell its own food.

Long-Term Impact

If you are not aware of the amazing Moringa Tree and the many benefits of its leaves, roots and pods, let me tell you about it. Moringa is a tree that grows in tropical countries in Asia, Africa and South America. It is used by local people to enhance their diet providing high levels of protein, iron, calcium and B &C Vitamins. It can make the difference between malnutrition and good health. More recently, people in developed countries have started to use Moringa to maximize well-being.