Lamp Post Reports

Highlights: Preferable to grind and dry in close proximity to the where the leaves are grown. Drying time: 3.5 days (but you could probably settle for 2 or 2.5). Yield depends on coarseness of grind. I have 2.9 kg of finely ground leaf powder, and 2 kg of less finely ground leaf powder that together [...]

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Highlights: 270 km road from Awassa to Arba Minch is in disrepair, but a new road is under construction, with portions already paved. A household south of Konso sells Moringa seed pods, harvested from their 13 trees, for 20 birr/ kg, which constitutes an estimated 12.5% of annual household income. The same household also mixes [...]

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I’ve posted some pics from Nachi Sar National Park, which is located between Lake Abaya and Lake Chama, just outside of Arba Minch in southern Ethiopia. The purpose of the trip was to learn more about how the local populations surrounding Arba Minch and Konso use Moringa trees. A more in-depth report will follow shortly. [...]

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Highlights: The Moringa tree is believed to be one of the most nutritious plants on earth (see bullet-points below). It is a fast-growing, hardy tree that has multiple uses, including nutrition for humans and livestock (from leaves and stems), oil extraction (seeds), as a growth hormone for other crops, as a bio-fuel crop, for reforestation, [...]

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After completing nearly two years of work with Cherokee Gives Back (5 months in Raleigh, NC and some 16 months in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) I have moved to Awassa, Ethiopia to begin a six month contract with Selam Awassa Business Group (SABG). SABG is a start-up (2007), for-profit enterprise focused on the production of appropriate [...]

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Carbon credits could save the Sheka Forest and enhance the livelihoods of those actually ensuring the forests’ protection. From the forest floor, however, carbon credit financing appears to be more of an abstract ideal, than a reality. ‘We hear about carbon credits on TV and in the press, but we don’t see them,’ remarked Wetatu [...]

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Lately, I’ve been pondering the role of culture and its effect in cultivating a happy, lively and balanced society. Ethiopia, as many people know, is certainly not among the more developed nations – nor, unfortunately, even considered among the progressive nations of the developing world. Factors contributing to the state of the economy, politics and [...]

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On April 28, 2009 MELCA Mahiber hosted a consultative workshop on biofuels at Ethiopia Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The intent of the workshop was to enhance the capacity of Oromia Regional Government officials when making decisions concerning biofuel investments.  Workshop participants, including representatives from agriculture, rural development, environment, energy and investment sectors, donors, NGO’s and [...]

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Thomas Friedman, an op-ed columnist for the NY Times, in an April 21st column titled ‘Swimming Without a Suit’ commented on the negative economic impact of the United States failure to place an emphasis on retaining the worldwide lead in providin quality education to all citizens. The article can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/opinion/22friedman.html?_r=1 .  As Friedman notes, [...]

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The trend, these days, in funding developing world projects is to apply market based principles to development projects in the hopes of supporting underserved entrepreneurs and others to gain enough financial independence to pull themselves out of poverty. Sustainability, they call it. If you do not mention this word in a project proposal, grant application, [...]

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