As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I had the opportunity to work with some brilliant and inspiring people on a variety of forest restoration, agroecology, and environmental education initiatives.
Tropical Agroecology Toolkit Initiative
Our team of Malagasy and American stakeholders – including subsistence farmers, researchers, and non-profit organizations – initiated and scaled forest restoration and agroforestry efforts with the goal of preserving biodiversity, empowering farmers, and combatting malaria. Our team was funded through the Bridge Collaborative’s Spark Award to carry out our activities in three locations across the eastern rainforest region of Madagascar. With this generous support, we constructed several tree nurseries filled with over 10,000 trees and helped over 40 farmers expand agroforestry systems over 20+ hectares. We worked to both remove land from frequent slash-and-burn cultivation cycles and increase household incomes, providing access to seedlings of both native species and popular income-generating agroforestry species. Team members also collected data on air and water quality in watersheds under different land uses and reduce habitat for malaria-spreading mosquitos.
Although this project officially wrapped up at the end of 2021, local partners have continued to cultivate trees the nurseries we created, and provide support to farmers participating in this initiative.
Photo credit: Odonald Damo, CRS.
Native Tree Reforestation with GreenAgain Madagascar
In September 2019, I helped jumpstart a new native tree nursery with the generous support on NGO GreenAgain Madagascar (GAM). With seeds and seedlings provided by GAM, as well as technical training and wages for two staff members in our community, we were able to build off existing expertise to quickly get a nursery up and running. By mid-March 2020, we had over 2,000 native tree saplings of nearly 20 different species. In Sept 2020, after pandemic restrictions on internal travel started to lift, the team was able to start planting our native seedlings around the fields of enthusiastic farmers. See my blog post “I Speak for the Trees” to learn more about my visit to GAM‘s nurseries and reforestation sites. GAM has continued to operate at this site, expanding reforestation of native trees in the region.
Photo Credit: Matt Hill, Green Again Madagascar.
Middle School Science Club
Early in 2020, I started a science club for middle schoolers in Ampasimbe to share my appreciation for the natural world and provide opportunities for hands-on learning experiences beyond the route memorization generally found in Malagasy classrooms. I reached out to middle school girls, in particular, hoping to spark an appreciation for continued learning and empowering them to seek out new opportunities.
Gardening and Tree Planting with CEG (Middle School) Students
One of my favorite parts of science has always been outreach and education – especially though working with schoolchildren. I was delighted to find the directors of both the elementary and middle schools in my community excited to work with me as soon as I arrived in Madagascar! I taught an environmental science and sustainable agriculture class, sharing foundational ecology concepts and guiding the kids in building a garden and tree nursery.
English Lessons With Madagasikara Voakajy
Madagaskara Voakajy (MV) is a Malagasy NGO operating mainly in the Aloatra-Mangoro region of Madagascar. Originally, this organization was supposed to be my host parter during my Peace Corps service, but that unfortunately changed along with my site change (long story short: the road was impassible when I was supposed to move in, so some things changed…). I maintained my connection with MV throughout my Peace Corps serving by teaching weekly English lessons to the staff, sharpening their English skills to aid them in their work and research. English is, for better or for worse, the primary international language, especially in science and conservation, and being able to speak English opens up a new world of information and connections – and as we all know, knowledge is power!
Home Gardening
In an effort to fulfill our Peace Corps Agriculture mission at site, I stated a “demonstration garden”, and worked with my Malagasy colleague, Fazara, to hold several workshops on agricultural techniques. People in my community were particularly excited about composting, as the nutrient-poor degraded rainforest soils could definitely use some good fertilizer!
katsnotinkansasanymore.home.blog 