Hi,
Good morning! Efforts for bringing about livelihood improvement and economic development have more often been questioned for their deleterious effects on environment. I would like to share with you this week the story of a lady who proved that it is possible to change the quality of lives of people while aiding rain forests at the same time. To learn more about it, pls read further….
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Story of Erika Vohman and Her Mission of Changing Lives with Maya Nut
Source: Internet info ( http://articles.cnn.com/2009-04-16/tech/cnnheroes.erika.vohman_1_nut-rain-forest-hearty-foods?_s=PM:TECH )
Erika Vohman is a 45-year old American biologist who first encountered the Maya Nut tree while visiting rural Guatemala a decade ago. An indigenous colleague told her of this native resource that it was once an essential food staple of his Mayan ancestors, but is now totally forgotten. Maya Nut is produced by a large tropical rain forest tree, the Brosimum alicastrum. That colleague also prepared a Maya nut soup for Vohman and she found it delicious.
Having watched impoverished Guatemalan communities clear rain forests to plant food, it struck Vohman that the key for uplifting Central American communities was to help them return to their roots. She immediately decided that she could help these populations make the most of Maya nut -- a resource that didn't require forest destruction for planting. In 2001, Vohman created The Equilibrium Fund to help alleviate poverty, malnutrition and deforestation by teaching communities about their native Maya nut forests.
With one tree able to produce as much as 400 pounds of food a year, using the Maya nut prevents rain forest clear-cutting to harvest other foods and increases populations' food supplies. Dried, the Maya nut can be stored for up to five years -- a lifeline for regions with frequent drought. The Maya nut has high levels of nutrients including protein, calcium, fiber, iron and vitamins A, E, C and B. Erika has been conducting training workshops in several Central American countries on how to harvest, prepare, and cook or dry the prolific seeds into tasty, hearty foods. People who were once living right there, in extreme poverty, not even eating more than one meal a day, though there's Maya nut lying all around, now know how to feed their communities year-round with the Maya Nut. There are now more than 700 communities where “The Maya Nut Revolution” as it has come to be known, has taken hold. The quality of lives of these people changed, and rain forests too remained safe and conserved
Erika Vohman is now considered a heroine for her fight to empower the women of Central America. Her initiative and efforts over the last one decade in empowering the women with knowledge has inspired many mothers in the region to inspire their daughters, passing along the torch to the next generation of young women who will perpetuate this movement.
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Knowledge is power. That’s what Erika tried doing by educating women and empowering them to be the source of strength and nourishment. She made a difference by helping people with right knowledge to help themselves. Is there a way by which we too could help the rural people by empowering them with the right knowledge so that they too could help themselves better? Ideas are welcome.
To learn more about Erika and her mission, pls visit her website: http://mayanutinstitute.org/
The Best for you always,
With love and regards,
Siva
value4value@gmail.com
Good morning! Efforts for bringing about livelihood improvement and economic development have more often been questioned for their deleterious effects on environment. I would like to share with you this week the story of a lady who proved that it is possible to change the quality of lives of people while aiding rain forests at the same time. To learn more about it, pls read further….
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Story of Erika Vohman and Her Mission of Changing Lives with Maya Nut
Source: Internet info ( http://articles.cnn.com/2009-04-16/tech/cnnheroes.erika.vohman_1_nut-rain-forest-hearty-foods?_s=PM:TECH )
Erika Vohman is a 45-year old American biologist who first encountered the Maya Nut tree while visiting rural Guatemala a decade ago. An indigenous colleague told her of this native resource that it was once an essential food staple of his Mayan ancestors, but is now totally forgotten. Maya Nut is produced by a large tropical rain forest tree, the Brosimum alicastrum. That colleague also prepared a Maya nut soup for Vohman and she found it delicious.Having watched impoverished Guatemalan communities clear rain forests to plant food, it struck Vohman that the key for uplifting Central American communities was to help them return to their roots. She immediately decided that she could help these populations make the most of Maya nut -- a resource that didn't require forest destruction for planting. In 2001, Vohman created The Equilibrium Fund to help alleviate poverty, malnutrition and deforestation by teaching communities about their native Maya nut forests.
With one tree able to produce as much as 400 pounds of food a year, using the Maya nut prevents rain forest clear-cutting to harvest other foods and increases populations' food supplies. Dried, the Maya nut can be stored for up to five years -- a lifeline for regions with frequent drought. The Maya nut has high levels of nutrients including protein, calcium, fiber, iron and vitamins A, E, C and B. Erika has been conducting training workshops in several Central American countries on how to harvest, prepare, and cook or dry the prolific seeds into tasty, hearty foods. People who were once living right there, in extreme poverty, not even eating more than one meal a day, though there's Maya nut lying all around, now know how to feed their communities year-round with the Maya Nut. There are now more than 700 communities where “The Maya Nut Revolution” as it has come to be known, has taken hold. The quality of lives of these people changed, and rain forests too remained safe and conserved
Erika Vohman is now considered a heroine for her fight to empower the women of Central America. Her initiative and efforts over the last one decade in empowering the women with knowledge has inspired many mothers in the region to inspire their daughters, passing along the torch to the next generation of young women who will perpetuate this movement.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Knowledge is power. That’s what Erika tried doing by educating women and empowering them to be the source of strength and nourishment. She made a difference by helping people with right knowledge to help themselves. Is there a way by which we too could help the rural people by empowering them with the right knowledge so that they too could help themselves better? Ideas are welcome.
To learn more about Erika and her mission, pls visit her website: http://mayanutinstitute.org/
The Best for you always,
With love and regards,
Siva
value4value@gmail.com
1 comment:
It is not the magic of maya nut that brought the revolution in the livelihoods of several hundred communities in Central America. It is the concern for the plight of people and display of assumed responsibility to the havenots by one single humanbeing, Erica Vohman. We do have several Erica Vohmans in India too, but the dispensation blocks such people with roadblocks. The crisis is attributed to lack of right leadership. Therefore my dear Siva and friends, find leaders and we all must do something to identify, train and instal right leaders from villages to capital. Several Erikas we can see working for communities in India too.
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