Amaranth is a highly nutritious grain that is being promoted by CRWRC in East Africa as a nutritional supplement for children and adults. It has a high-quality protein content, and is high in calcium, iron, lysine, and folic acid. ECHO is also a major resource and promotion center for amaranth. Amaranth originates in Mexico, where it was used by the Maya in religious ceremonies. Cultivation was prohibited by the Spanish priests for this reason, and it mostly disappeared from diets until people began to take interest again in the 70s-now.

Amaranth in Xiengkhouang, Laos

Tom Post has been the major promoter of amaranth within CRWRC since the late 90s in partnership with Dick Dugger and Partners Worldwide. They produced a video about amaranth planting, harvesting, cooking, and health benefits. Tom Post gave me some seeds over a year ago to test in Xiengkhouang but since no one had shown any interest yet, I waited.

Hmong people in Laos have traditionally grown amaranth as a vegetable crop: they eat the leaves in soups and stir fries. I had never heard of anyone eating the amaranth grain until this week, when I came across a woman threshing purple grain amaranth sorghum in Vieng village, Kham district, Xiengkhouang province. According to Rick Burnette, this is the first confirmed SE Asia case of grain amaranth that he’s heard of. Here’s a photo album of amaranth in Laos, which I will continue to update with new pictures. It has pictures of purple amaranth that I saw last year in Khanghong, and the grain amaranth threshing in Vieng.

The Hmong woman who was threshing the amaranth sorghum said they ate it steamed and boiled, after having threshed, winnowed, and crushed the seeds. I took the opportunity to share with the small crowd that gathered about the benefits of eating amaranth, especially for children and mothers. I said that children should eat a little bit every day, about 20 grams or 3 spoonfuls. I congratulated the woman for her good practice and encouraged her to continue eating amaranth sorghum. I am excited and encouraged that some Hmong people already use grain amaranth, because that means it won’t be difficult to spread the word about its nutritional benefits and get families to plant it for eating.

Later I discussed my idea of promoting amaranth as an ag/health activity in the villages with an agriculture coworker, a village health volunteer, and the village leader. They were excited when I told them that I had some grain amaranth seed from another country and asked me to share some. Unfortunately, I have too little to share now until we plant it to produce seeds for giving to villagers.

Since then I’ve been talking about amaranth with anyone who is interested around my office. Hopefully we’ll get enough momentum rolling to begin a planting trial of amaranth this August. I had been planning to do a small one anyway, but it would be best if we could plant all the seed I have and grow enough seed to give out next year. I’ll talk with the Ag team about it on Monday, and perhaps we’ll look at the amaranth video together.

Traditionally Hmong people plant amaranth in April-June, but the heavy rains in July-August aren’t ideal for harvesting the seeds (although they are good leaf producers in the summer). Tom Post thinks that in SE Asia monsoon climates, amaranth could be planted one month before the end of the rains and it should mature before it gets too cold in December (when we occasionally have frosts). I will post about our amaranth trial on my blog if we do it.

Amaranth resources:

ECHO Technical Note on Amaranth: Grain and Vegetable Types (529KB PDF)

Amaranth in the EDN 100: Underutilized Food Plants

Amaranth Selections – a three page article on Amaranth

Amaranth seeds – at ECHO’s amazing seed bank – note that the ECHO Asia office in Chiang Mai may also have seeds.

Search the PROTA Database for “amaranth” to see detailed information on each variety

Names for Amaranth from the Asian Vegetables Thesaurus:

In April I spent two weeks in Phongsali (pronounced pong-sa-lee) with coworkers surveying and selecting new target villages for our project in Muang Mai. We opened a new CRWRC office there this month with 10 staff working in 12 villages. I visited five villages that were quite remote: until a few months ago, they were 1-2 days’ walk from the nearest big town. Click on the map to see a flickr map of all the photos I took there. Over the next few days I will feature some of the best photos on this blog.

I once participated in a conference that used Open Space Technology, hosted by PTEV. It was one of the most invigorating, passion-filled events I’ve ever seen. The discussions that emerged during those two days responded to the question, “What do we mean by the theological exploration of vocation?” Anyone who felt passionate about an idea wrote it on a piece of paper and posted it on the wall, grabbing a sticky-note off the schedule to reserve a time and place. Once all the spaces were taken, we began talking, staying in a conversation as long as it was interesting or we could contribute, and moving on to a new discussion if we were bored. If a conversation was finished, we would disperse to other groups and the recorder would enter our notes into the bank of computers reserved for that purpose. At the end of the weekend, all the notes were compiled and posted online for all to read.

Note: what follows regarding CRWRC is only my own opinion and does not represent any part of the organization, staff, or donors.

Last night while I was knitting I wondered what our monthly meetings could look like if we used a similar process. The topic question could be, “What exciting or challenging things are happening in your work now?” Interested people could post their ideas on the board and reserve a discussion place/time. We could set up 3-4 discussion locations around the office and let people flow between them as their passions and interest lead. I bet the discussions would generate some good ideas about our work while avoiding the boring presentations of tables describing our schedules.

Perhaps Open Space Tech would be more fitting for a strategic planning meeting with CRWRC Lao staff. As part of a conversation between the interested parties – staff, communities, and donors – the process could generate creative ideas that spur innovation and transformation. It would be best for all the interested parties to listen to each other and be willing to change. To some extent the Open Space method asks those in power to lay down their veto pens and be willing to listen and change; just as it asks of all participants to understand that their ideas are part of an ongoing conversation before and after the event, and therefore not binding to anyone. If this balance is achieved without betraying anyone’s trust, then the process will be successful.

The easiest way to do that is by way of photos. You can enjoy my photos from Bangladesh (in reverse order). The captions might give you an idea of what I was doing.

Here’s a quick summary: I was in Bangladesh for nearly two weeks; the first week spent visiting CRWRC’s big USAID-funded Child Survival Project. I went with three Lao colleagues, 4 people from CRWRC Cambodia, and a few Americans.

I went along because I want to learn about different approaches to community development. CRWRC Bangladesh provided an excellent learning opportunity, not only in health areas (the main focus of this exchange visit) but also in their general way of working with communities. Although the cultural context differs from Laos, many of the things I observed can be adapted to work here. Above all, the trip got me excited about what good community development can look like after ten or twelve years. I’m grateful to CRWRC for making this great learning exchange visit possible. I love my job!

The title, translated literally, is “How to use a latrine/outhouse”. These posters were designed for use in schools because both the boy and the girl wear the public school uniform: white shirt and black or blue pants/skirt.

Perhaps the most difficult part of the whole process are steps 3-5, where one must balance carefully without letting clothes or hands touch the (usually) wet, dirty floor. Practice squatting with feet flat on the ground and you’ll begin to get an idea. Those wearing pants would do well to follow this young boy’s example of scrunching pants near the knees to keep them from falling. Finally, note that water is used instead of toilet paper (see #5 for details).

I must note that the toilets I use on a daily basis are rather boring western-style toilets.

tags: howto, squatty potty, asian toilet

An explanation is due, of course: I stopped blogging about a year ago while applying for this Program HOPE! position in Laos. I wanted to remove as much as possible about myself from the internet, lest it get in the way of getting a visa for Laos. I have a visa now, so there should be no problem, as long as I’m careful what I say.

This blog will host more frequent updates of a wider range than what fits in my newsletter. Expect to read more about my daily life, travels, and knitting projects. Listen in on my thoughts about development work, communication, cross-cultural living, and global faith. Enjoy photos from my flickr site and perhaps even videos of my work.

I imported all the posts from my old blogs; feel free to browse what I wrote in years past. I wondered whether to create some posts about what happened since I last wrote, but decided that it would be a bit dishonest. Here’s the brief summary:

March 06: Accept Program HOPE! position in Laos
May 06: Graduate from Calvin College
June 06: Start working for CRWRC
thru September 06: training, waiting for a visa
September 20ish, 06: arrive in Vientiane, Laos
Oct-Nov 06: Study Lao language in Vientiane
Nov 23 06: Move to Phonsavan, my home in the Xieng Khouang province

Anyway, I’ll try to post something at least weekly from here on out. You may subscribe to the RSS feed, subscribe via email, or just check back often for updates.

I am honored that the person who got offered the job is a good friend and one whom is highly qualified: Sharon Bemis, with whom I went to Hungary and who graduated last year from Calvin. Send her an email if you know her.

And for me, I simply ask for your prayers: for wisdom, for peace, and for comfort.

And that is good.

It is good to be home once again, everyone all together for –perhaps– the last time of our college years. Little has changed, it seems, compared to any other homecoming of the past four years. My house is the same. My church has not changed one bit, and the people seem to be exactly where they were a year ago. My neighborhood looks the same. Even the streets of Santo Domingo have not changed one bit in the past year. It’s comforting, in a sense, and also just plain normal. To be honest, I’m the sort of person who sees more beauty in the ordinary than in the extraordinary. This ordinary homecoming brings tears to my eyes.

On Sunday night we sat in our backyard under shadows of stars and Christmas lights on the yard wall, cradling glasses of red wine and rocking in the chairs we’ve owned for more than twenty years. A light mist cooled our faces in the sultry, humid air, which smelled like the color green. We talked for hours about life–this night, my life: Laos, Romania, post-college… As usual, my family listened carefully, asked probing questions, interjected with their own stories and opinions, and offered pretty wise advice. It was probably the most helpful conversation I’ve had yet about this whole Program HOPE! thing. Other than an increasing inclination toward the Laos position, I also felt a sense of peace when someone reminded me that this is not the biggest decision of my life. 2 1/2 years will pass quickly, and both positions (should I be offered the Romania one) fit me well. I can’t go wrong, and I believe God is with me no matter what.

I’ve got till Dec. 23 to respond to the verbal offer; unfortunately I won’t be able to weigh Romania against Laos because I probably won’t find out about Romania until the end of January. The HR person told me I must evaluate the job “on its own merits”.

Please keep me in your prayers. This is a big decision for me. I just want to make sure it’s a good one.

Email me if you have questions, or want to offer congrats.