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.

 

PILOT 2008 Ballie

The meeting was a success, the trip going and coming was a disaster. We left Bijilo at 6:30 in the morning and reached back at 3:30 the next morning, due to problems at the Banjul – Barra ferry. We were exhausted from the trip but it was worth it.

The reaction of the very well organized and active Ballie community was so positive and they are starting with the preparations right away, using the seeds we provided them. There were also representatives of Senegal present at the meeting and they suggested working together: my dream about Jatropha West-Africa is becoming reality! The people at Ballie all knew about Jatropha already because of the campaigns on the Senegalese radio. One can say that they were only waiting for somebody to pass by and tell them to start and this is done now.

The next promotion action will be in Sifou, Kombo South.

 

THE PROMOTION OF GROWING JATROPHA IS GOING WELL

  Over the last weeks so much has happened that I don’t know where to start. The exhibition was a big success, there ware so many positive reactions that even our own ambassadors were kind of surprised about it, but also again convinced that they are putting all this energy in a good future for their country. At the exhibition we received an invitation for the 9-days Trade Fair. The EU had a table for the Jatropha project reserved, normal this would costs D 15,000, to be able to promote the growing of Jatropha in Gambia. We were so happy about this. The fair was an even bigger success. The Vice-President stopped at the Jatropha table for more then 10 minutes and this is special knowing that the other stands only had 1 minute of her time. She asked so many questions to Mr. Seedy Jarju (tel: +220.9701062) and Mr. Musa Samura (Tel: + 220.9980795 or 7331307) and she was so interested in the information that she even decided to come back after seeing some of the other stands. Radio and television interviewed our Seedy and Musa and they also promised to follow it up. At first all people are a bit reluctant. They all know the plant and they are all so surprised learning about the benefits and the possibilities it can give for the country. NGO’s are interested to support, schools are told to fence their school ground with Tabanane. Many people took seeds home for their own garden etc, etc. Mr. Seesy couldn’t stop talking and telling me how happy he was with all the positive feedback. I will post the letter with the report after the GREC exhibition and the Report after the fair here. But also we would like to thank Pierre again for bringing the information to us. Without him this would not all have happened. Thank you Pierre!!

The next step is now to have the Jatropha initiative registered as a Charity organisation so they are able to receive sponsoring for the costs for copies, travel expenses, oil press production and the devellopment of cooking stoves etc.

 

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!

 

What the newspapers say:

I’m not always sure that what I read in the newspapers is always true, but in this case I think they are right. The last part of the article is not an issue that will create a problem for The Gambia because we have a lot of ‘waste-lands’ that can be used for planting Jatropha. It is even the opposite: growing all the Jatropha trees in the country will build a green fence that the country needs to stop the Sahara from entering The Gambia. The northern part of Senegal (our direct neighbours) is already suffering from the effects of the growths of the Sahara southwards. I really hope this story will convince more people to stop talking and start growing the trees. Oke, here is the before mentioned newspaper article from the Deccan Herald of May 10th 2007:

Rush for biofuels could increase poverty

By John Vidal, The Guardian, London:

The EU has said that 10 per cent of all fuel must come from biofuels by 2020. Biofuels can be used in place of petrol and diesel and can play a part in reducing emissions from transport.

The global rush to switch from oil to energy derived from plants will drive deforestation, push small farmers off the land and lead to serious food shortages and increased poverty unless carefully managed, says the most comprehensive survey yet completed of energy crops. The United Nations report, compiled by all 30 of the world organisation’s agencies, points to crops like palm oil, maize, sugar cane, soya and jatropha. Rich countries want to see these extensively grown for fuel as a way to reduce their own climate changing emissions. Their production could help stabilise the price of oil, open up new markets and lead to higher commodity prices for the poor. But the UN urges governments to beware their human and environmental impacts, some of which could have irreversible consequences. The report, which predicts winners and losers, will be studied carefully by the emerging multi-billion dollar biofuel industry which wants to provide as much as 25% of the world’s energy within 20 years. Global production of energy crops is doubling every few years, and 17 countries have so far committed themselves to growing the crops on a large scale. Last year, more than a third of the entire US maize crop went to ethanol for fuel, a 48 per cent increase on 2005, and Brazil and China grew the crops on nearly 50m acres of land. The EU has said that 10 per cent of all fuel must come from biofuels by 2020. Biofuels can be used in place of petrol and diesel and can play a part in reducing emissions from transport. On the positive side, the UN says that the crops have the potential to reduce and stabilise the price of oil, which could be very beneficial to poor countries. But it acknowledges that forests are already being felled to provide the land to grow vast plantations of palm oil trees. Potentially devastating Environment groups argue strongly that this is catastrophic for the climate, and potentially devastating for forest animals like orangutans in Indonesia. But the survey’s findings are mixed on whether the crops will benefit or penalise poor countries, where most of the crops are expected to be grown in future. “The benefits to farmers are not assured, and may come with increased costs. (Growing biofuel crops) can be especially harmful to farmers who do not own their own land, and to the rural and urban poor who are net buyers of food, as they could suffer from even greater pressure on already limited financial resources,” says the report, which was complied by UN-Energy. The report also says the crops are not guaranteed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Producing and using biofuels results in some reductions in emissions compared to petroleum fuels, it says, but this is provided there is no clearing of forests or peat that store centuries of carbon.