US PEACE CORPS INTRODUCTION MEETING – 23rd April 2008

It was good to be back in the Wellingara horticultural gardens again. In 2003 PSTS planted there the first 10.000 Mahogany seeds and these were planted all over the country by the US Peace Corps.

 

 

The moment we arrived poultry lessons were given inside the building and it was suggested that we would do our introduction outside under a beautiful tree and that was a good idea. We started with a wide circle but in the end everybody was sitting very close to the PSTS team because they didn’t want to miss a word.

 

 

The meeting was successful including loads of critical questions and as you can see in the pictures, Seedy and Musa had everybody’s attention. We asked the Peace Corps workers to come back to us with the numbers of trees and Jatropha’s planted in the villages. We also met one of the US Peace Corps workers from Guinea Conakry who liked our idea of working together and opening the doors for Jatropha West Africa.  

 

A positive meeting, let’s see what we will experience in Sifou this Saturday!

 

PSTS website is online

P.S.T.S. is online: www.ppsts.com.  We did it, of course with a ‘little bit’ of help (thanks for that)! For the project it is a big step in the right direction and I hope the funding starts coming in now. We have achieved a lot over the last months and funding is important to continue. The research and development of the oil press and the cooking stove is the next money consuming project. We found a wonderfull press at the German Bosch/Siemens website http://www.bsh-group.com/index.php?page=109906 and they made a good looking stove, I think everybody wants to cook on this beautiful stove. I’m going to contact them and see how we can work together and share knowledge.

 

If you like to help the project grow, please contact us through the www.ppsts.com website and have a tree with your name on it (your name will be mentioned in the site), make a link to the psts website on your own website or blog (we will link back), start avertising the project at your school, work or business or just send us a donation so we wil be able to promote the Jatropha and to make Gambia green again. We are all looking forward to hearing from you!

 

Meeting the US Peace Corps

We are invited for the regional meeting of the US Peace Corps in Wellingara to inform the Peace Corps workers, that are working in the country at the moment about Jatropha. This is an excellent opportunity to reach  a lot of people, since the Peace Corps is covering the whole country and they are always looking for small projects to work on together with the villagers. A few weeks ago I was talking to one of the Peace Corps Officers and he was very interested in our project. The good thing is that we will not only meet Peace Corps people that are working in The Gambia, but also from the surrounding countries. I think it’s good news!

 

THE FIRST FUNDING HAS ARRIVED

 

The costs for traveling and printing are rising and the money is coming from our business Global Energy but help came around: we have received the first donation from the German Dresden – Banjul rally. http://www.rallye-dresden-dakar-banjul.com/news.php  We would like to thank all participants to the 2008 Rally for their contribution: they are all helping to make Gambia green again.

 

Finally……publicity!

On November the 28th there was the great opening of the alternative energy exhibition at GREG (Gambia Renewable Energy Centre). Lott’s of people went there and of course the Jatropha table was there manned by Musa, one of the very active Jatropha-ambassadors . He copied the brochures I made and he volonteered to do the exhibition and a lot of people are very interested in Jatropha.

Today I visited the exhibition and as you can see it wasn’t easy to see the Jatropha table, to many people around. Bakary Jatta has a very interested audience there and this is what we all liked: let the word spread to encourage people to plant the trees!

 

MORE TREES ARE PLANTED AND THE FIRST STEP IN SOAP PRODUCTION.

The reports of newly planted trees are growing every the day:

My new Jatropha ambassador friend Bakary Jatta told me that he was talking to a man who is starting a 100 HA farm in Sutukoi and 50 HA are going to be Jatropha! Now we are talking!! 

Through our business we met with “Future in Our Hands’, a Swedish organization. Yesterday I learned that 28 schools all over the country, build by FIOH, are going to be fenced with Jatropha. FIOH already designed a brochure and FIOH is from today an official Jatropha ambassadors. Thanks Joran! 

My friend Samba in Samba Kalla (North-bank region) informed me that his 200 Jatropha trees are growing up very good and that he is going to ask in his village to start collecting seeds in the bush and bring them to me. 

Jim, one of our technical staff members came into the office today to inform me that he found a huge Jatropha area in the bush over the weekend and that he is going to collect seeds for us. YES! 

Soon we are able to press our first liters of Jatropha oil. In the mean time I was making my first bar of soap. Just to have some experience before I have Jatropha oil available. Today the bar of soap was coming out of the mould and our maid was testing some soap. We found her dancing in the kitchen: ‘She never experienced nice soap like this’.  I do consider this a complement for my first step into soap making.