|
Page 4 of 8
The Haleluya School
Sustaining through sale and demonstration of jatropha
 Mrs.
Imelda Mchome began the Hallelujah School out of her home six years ago
as a private primary school. There are smaller class sizes (12 or
fewer to a classroom versus 60 and up!) and in addition to traditional
curriculum, students are taught the importance of resource protection
and conservation and also begin learning and speaking English at a very
young age, thus preparing them for the English textbooks of secondary
school. The school itself has been growing rapidly, but Mrs.
Mchome recognizes the need to keep fees low so that the excellent
education she provides will be accessible to more people.
Unfortunately, the Hallelujah School currently lacks the building
infrastructure that would allow it to take on more students and
teachers.
Mrs. Mchome is a member of EcoVentures International's Environmental
Enterprise Development Initiative (EEDI) in Lushoto, Tanzania.
Through EEDI Mrs. Mchome learned about the current benefits the crop
jatropha has for farmers and the potential it has as a cash crop.
She became extremely interested in its development and proceeded to
purchase a jatropha seedling to determine if it can grow well in the
Lushoto area, which it did. She presented this at EVI's EEDI Capacity
Building workshop in April, following which Mrs. Mchome decided to set
aside two hectares of land at the Hallelujah school to use as a
demonstration plot for seed harvesting and pressing techniques and to
bring in additional income for the school.
In addition to using her plot as a demonstration plot, Mrs. Mchome is
excited to use the land to research the plant, as the economic
potential it holds is not completely known and to move forward with
developing the jatropha market in Lushoto, this knowledge and
understanding is key.
Next Steps:
Mrs. Mchome now needs access to more jatropha seeds and
seedlings. The plant must be two years old before it bears seeds,
and in the meantime, much training is necessary on the harvesting and
production techniques. Additionally, research must be conducted
on linking the Lushoto market with the major purchasers in Arusha.
|
