By Jill Hinckley | US Representative
I visited Trillium Charter School in Portland, OR last week to collect the letters the kids had written to their penpals in the Susana Bilingual Primary School near Bamenda in northwest Cameroon, as part of CAMAAY's sister school project. I gave a short PowerPoint presentation to teach them a little about Cameroon and their sister school, but wanted to do something more to punch it up a bit. I had read about moringa oleifera and been able to order some free seeds for our gardens from the EchoCommunity.net; moringa turns out to be near-perfect nutrition, packed with protein, nutrients, and anti-oxidents. Great for the kids to learn about and plant for their project in Cameroon, and great too, I figured, for the kids to learn about at Trillium. So I ordered some moringa powder and mixed it in with some fruit chunks and juice for a power smoothie that I brought along with me for the kids to taste.
When I showed a slide about moringa's nutritional benefits, one student keyed in on it having twice as much protein as yogurt and said, "so I could eat nothing but moringa and be healthy?" Yes indeed, I explained, though we can't get the fresh leaves here and the powder isn't palatable unless mixed with something else. When it came to the actual tasting, some of the kids were reluctant to try it, since even a little powder had turned the smoothie a vivid green. But one by one they took a sip, and one after the other exclaimed "This is really good!" Of course it was mostly the fruit they were tasting, but they were thrilled to be able to drink something that was so good for them that also tasted so good. One of the kids insisted I write down the recipe for his mom to make for him. You can see one of the kids in the youtube video that I've attached a link to who can't put his cup down and keeps drinking it the whole time.
So I'm hopeful the moringa the kids plant in their school gardens in Cameroon can have a pretty dramatic effect on their health. It's supposed to increase energy and focus too, so it should even help them with their studies.
If you want to try some yourself, or give some to a friend to try, through Dec. 31 we are offering 2 TBSP of moringa powder, together with a personalized gift card explaining its benefits, and use in the CAMAAY gardens, and the smoothie recipe, with every $50 donation. If giving as a gift, don't forget to select the "in honor of" tab for your donation.
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