Project Report
| Jul 24, 2024
Summer 2024
![Adrian, part of the Maleku Tea Team]()
Adrian, part of the Maleku Tea Team
This project is taking form, but it is still in the planning/evaluation phase.
The number of awesome interns from MUIH, have grown from two to five. Along with assistance from their faculty advisors we will receive a development study and plan in August, 2024.
Our Maleku team has changed a bit and now we have three people collaborating with us: Rosa, Maribel, and Adrian. We have met face-to-face with them and had a wonderful discussion on the project. We had brought a Mayan couple from Mexico who have been working with SoulGives, Martha and William, and they shared their experience with developing a small business without any previous experience. They could relate to the Maleku and their words had more clout with the Maleku team than if we had spoken them!
The Maleku team spent the past few months trying out various sites for planting the herbs and working with a local agronomist to test soils for chemical composition, moisture, and texture. These results will be used by MUIH to help guide them to select the most appropriate location and plants.
We have had several online meetings, which has solidified and clarified the direction for each participant. It was difficult at first because the Maleku live in an area with limited access to the internet. They were only familiar with WhatsApp messaging and call app. Although WhatsApp is rarely used in the US, it has been downloaded by over 2 billion people in more than 180 countries. We selected it because of its ease-of-use and that other tools required more bandwidth than the web services available to the Maleku.
We are now planning ways to acquire the tools for growing, harvesting, and processing the plants for a micro-scale tea business. If you are interested in supporting this venture, please contact us.
![Face-to-face meeting at the Maleku village.]()
Face-to-face meeting at the Maleku village.
![Maribel, a Maleku grower, and part of the Tea Team]()
Maribel, a Maleku grower, and part of the Tea Team
![Rosa, Maleku herb expert, part of the Tea Team]()
Rosa, Maleku herb expert, part of the Tea Team
![Our WhatsApp screen during our last meeting.]()
Our WhatsApp screen during our last meeting.
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