the manzanar project in eritrea dr. gordon h. sato 2009 low-tech solutions to hunger and poverty
TRANSCRIPT
The Manzanar Projectin Eritrea
Dr. Gordon H. Sato
2009
Low-tech Solutions to Hunger and Poverty
The Manzanar Project is named after the Japanese American internment camp I was in during World War II, and is dedicated to the eradication of poverty and hunger, and to relieving global warming. The approach adapted comes partly from my long experience as a scientific researcher, but mainly from my experience in the Manzanar Desert of California.
About the Manzanar Project
After losing their homes, businesses and basic freedoms, Japanese Americans were forced to begin life anew in desert internment camps. For many people this tragic injustice would have been the end of life and hope, but for most of the inmates in these camps it turned out to be - in many ways - a new beginning. Forced to start their lives over in a hostile environ-ment, they created new and vibrant communities. Through ingenuity, hard work and a sense of community they literally made the desert bloom – producing fruits and vegetables to supplement their meager and monotonous war-time rations.
This continues to be the inspiration for the Manzanar Project - using ingenuity and low-tech solutions to overcome hunger, poverty and suffering.
- Dr. Gordon Sato
Manzanar internment camp, WWII
Eritrea is located on the Rea Sea coast of East Africa.The Manzanar Project is headquartered in the town of Massawa.
The village of Hergigo is the site of the largest mangrove plantings.
Entering the port town of Massawa
Amanuel Haile - one of the project managers
Massawa’s mangroves
Trees planted by the Manzanar Project thrive and enhance the beauty of the waterfront.
Village of Hergigo
Lying about five miles to the east of the port of Massawa, Hergigo is an impoverished village. Unfortunately, abject poverty is still common throughout Eritrea.
Mangroves in Hergigo
The Manzanar Project started planting mangroves in Hergigo 10 years ago. Now over a million trees have been planted. (The fence is meant to keep camels out of the mangrove forest.)
Agriculture and Ecology
The trees provide food (leaves and seeds) for livestock. They are also a habitat and nursery for many species of fish and birds. Livestock waste can be used as cooking fuel which helps to alleviate deforestation. It can also be used as fertilizer. From an ecological perspective, the mangroves transfer nutrients from the sea to the land.
Healthy mangroves
Mangroves over-grazed
by camels.
Feeding Time
The project maintains a small flock of sheep and goats.
The animals relish the leaves of the mangroves.
The animals’ diet is supplemented with mangrove seeds and fishmeal made from fish waste.
Without the fishmeal supplement, the females can produce offspring but not milk.
The animals enjoy the fishmeal and mangrove seeds. Nothing is left over.
New Addition to the Flock
Female goats and sheep give birth twice a year to either one or two offspring.
Shepherd with lamb
Ending hunger. Building wealth.
Villagers who work for the Manzanar Project were given four animals four years ago. Now their flocks number about 30 animals. By Eritrean standards they are wealthy.Here, one family poses with part of their flock.
Feeding the flock mangroveleaves.
The animals provide milk and meat, as well as much needed cash. For the children, though, they are mainly pets.
This family lives in a modest home that is actually quite comfortable by Hergigo standards.
Most of Hergigo’s residents live in shelters that are barely more than stick huts.
Workers prepare fertilizer bags for planting mangrove seedlings. Mangroves require nitrogen, phosphorus and iron supplements to grow in seawater that does not receive run-off from the land. The bags are buried in the ground
next to the seedlings. Careful monitoring has shown that there is no detect-able leakage of nitrogen or phosphorus into the surround-ing seawater.
Planting mangrove seedlings.
Dr. Sato inspecting the progress of the plantings.
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Mangroves at approx. 1 year. Low Tide.
Young trees. High tide.
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The mangroves at about eight years. Mangrove forest may be one of the most efficient carbon sinks in the natural world - storing up to 1.5 metric tons of carbon/hectare/year. The leaf litter ends up in sediments which can sequester the carbon for thousands of years.
Alleviating global warming
The mangrove forests have created a new fishing industry for Hergigo. This fisherman catches 10 kg of fish in just a few hours each morning. This is more than enough to feed his family. The excess is sold in the village to augment his income.
Birth of a new industry
With the help of the Manzanar Project this girl no longer goes to bed hungry. Her parents do not worry about feeding the family. The Manzanar Project has given them the tools to create a quality of life they could only have dreamed of a few years ago.
A better future…
Dr. Sato with Hergigo villagers
Dr. Gordon Sato’s Biography
1927 Born –12/17 Raised Terminal Island, Los Angeles 1944 Graduated Manzanar High School1951 BS Biochemistry, University of Southern California1955 PhD Biophysics, California Institute of Technology1958-1969 Professor, Biology, Brandeis University 1969-1983 Professor, Biology, UC San Diego1980 Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences1982 Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Science, Brandeis
1983-1992 Director, W Alton Jones Cell Science Center1984 Elected to the National Academy of Sciences 1987 Begins work in Eritrea 2002 Rolex Award for Enterprise, Manzanar Project 2002 Lifetime Award, In Vitro Biology 2005 Distinguished Alumni, California Institute of Technology 2005 Blue Planet Prize, Tokyo, Manzanar Project
Contact Information
For more information please contact us at:
The Manzanar ProjectP.O. Box 98Gloucester, MA 01931 USA
LinksWikipedia entry
Rolex Award 2002
Blue Planet Prize 2005
National Geographic Article 2007
Tel. [email protected]@themanzanarproject.com
http://www.themanzanarproject.com