Teach A Man To Raise A Fish

John McMillin and His Amazing Program to End World Hunger

 

Give a man a fish... and you will feed him a day. 

Teach a man to catch a fish.... and you feed him 'till the fish are gone; 

Teach a man to raise a fish...and you feed him and his family for life.

 

 

Early last summer I had the chance to meet John McMillin and learn about the amazing work he has done concerning famine. He is a social scientist whose group, Land and Water Resources International (LAWRI), basically saved the people of Ansokia Valley, Ethiopia in 1989 by introducing interdependent fish farming and gardening techniques. Before he arrived, many had died of starvation and malnutrition; most survivors had bloated stomachs. Ansokia Valley was comparable to a living hell. One of the first to respond, McMillin described that when his small airplane was landing on the desert floor the wheels started a ferocious bumping when they touched down. McMillin asked the pilot, “What is the matter?” The answer: they were landing on dead bodies, victims of the terrible famine, that littered the makeshift runway. 

 

 

By the time McMillin was done with his work the people of Ansokia Valley had reliable means to produce both food and potable water. He had developed a two stage recycling food production process which started with finding a source of water. After that he planted seeds for growing vegetables and greens. Then he fashioned a pond for fish whose surface scum was used as a fertilizer for the gardens. Once the plants were grown a portion was dedicated for feeding Talapia a very fast growing fish that do not require much food. This way the people could have a consistent production of protein and vegetables; a fully sustainable and successful cycle.

This story made me want to take part in what he was doing and soon I found a way. Currently he is working in Canchias, Honduras on a similar food production project. This blog is meant to be a place to share information about his unique agriculture, aquaculture and waste-water recycling program and though it focuses on his work in Hondorus I hope it will serve as a place to share information with others around the world so history does not repeat itself. 

 

Here is the general idea of how to "Teach A Man To Raise A Fish".

McMillin has created a reliable means to produce both food and drinkable water. He had developed a two stage recycling food production process which starts with finding a source of water. After that he plants seeds for growing vegetables and greens. Then he fashions a pond for fish whose surface scum was used as a fertilizer for the gardens. Once the plants are grown a portion is dedicated for feeding Talapia a very fast growing fish that do not require much food. This way the people could have a consistent production of protein and vegetables.

 
This drawing is from John McMillin's Land and Water Resources International brochure.  It has a great job of illustrating how his integrated aquaculture/agriculture system works.

 

A Horrible Tragedy in Haiti Presents A Great Opportunity

 
Our family friends the Pasternak's just returned from Haiti - or Hades as Mark posted in the subject line of an email he sent to my mother. The Pasternaks were there on a goodwill mission - teaching the Haitians self sustaining rabbit farming.  It was Myriam's fifth trip this year - she has been volunteering in Haiti for the past four or five years.  This time she brought along her husband and two daughters to show them all the fabulous work that had been accomplished.   

The Pasternak's have shared their eye-witness story with us.  It is an incredible tale and nothing short of a miracle that they survived.  Here is a link to their website with many more photos of the earthquake damage.  www.devilsgulchranch.com  They say, the media can't begin to capture the true destruction and devastation.  This photo is of the school they were on their way to visit, luckily they were running late that day. The earthquake hit when they were riding in a van, just a few blocks away from the school.  They spent the next twelve hours pulling survivors and giving medical care.  They saved about 25 students, the rest- about 900 died. Myriam is a veterinarian and was able to use her medical training to perform triage.

My sister and dad started helping Haiti a couple of years ago, after Myriam shared her moving stories with them.  Check out my sister's blog www.helping haiti.typepad.com to see what life was like in Haiti prior to the earthquake.

 
  
My dad has been to Haiti.  He designed a solar clinic there that is being built by Engineers Without Borders.  Dad says the greatest tragedy here isn't Mother Nature, but that the building codes and standards are routinely not followed there.  It is common for reinforcing rebarb to be stolen from a job site and concrete to be watered down, weakening buildings even more.  My father pointed out that in 1989 we had a huge earthquake in the SF Bay Area - almost as big as the Haiti quake and 64 people died not 100,000 people, the latest number that they expect to be the death toll in Haiti.

Though this is a horrible tragedy, there is also a great opportunity here to rebuild Haiti the right way.  Yes, they still don't have any top soil, after years of abusing the land and a series of hurricanes.  Myriam's Rabbit Project is a great solution. See her the heading Rabbit Project on her website www.devilsgulchranch.com for a description and photos of the work she has been doing in Haiti. 

 
McMillin's Aquaculture/Agriculture Talapia Fish Farming  

There is also a great opportunity here to Teach A Man To Raise A Fish -a nickname I use to describe John McMillin's sustainable aquaculture and agriculture system.  The sustainable farming practices he created for Ethiopia in 1989 while working with World Vision would work great here.  A key ingredient is water, and Haiti has plenty. John is currently in Honduras working with an endangered valley of residents who are on the brink of famine. 

Friends in Haiti Caught in 7.0 Earthquake

My friends the Pasternak’s of Devils Gulch Ranch in Northern California are on a goodwill mission in Haiti.  They left a couple of weeks ago and are due back tomorrow.  A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit there today, around 5 pm.  Myriam, the mom, has gone to Haiti about five times this  year to teach sustainable rabbit farming. This time she bought her two daughters and husband with her.  I sure hope they are OK. The news is reporting wide devastation and destruction throughout the country.  I can’t recall exactly where they went, but I think it is in the mountainous regions just outside Port au Prince – exactly where the earthquake struck.  

So, if you are reading this.  Send them good vibes, a prayer or whatever you do.  To get a better image of them and understand the work they do – check out www.devilsgulchranch.com

7.0  

The Island School: The Most Sustainable School in The World

When visiting my sister at the Island School I was struck by how nothing, absolutely nothing goes to waste.  Every system is set up with ecology in mind from cleaning up in the kitchen, to the collection of human waste, composting, aquaculture - growing their own fish in a underwater dome, agriculture - growing their own food in their vegetable garden, bicycles for transportation, no heating or cooling devices - just smart architecture.

The school is set up with all the classes being hands on learning and tied to preservation and restoration. My sisters human ecology class team project went into the settlements and documented the effect of television on the Bahamian youth culture.  Her archeology class, identified sites on the island of early settlements tagging and documenting artifacts.  Math class, was celestial navigation, learning how to read the stars and find your way home by using trigonometry and geometry.  

Science was everywhere.  One team tagged sharks and followed their population.  Another team experimented with human waste to use as a fertilizer for the garden and capture the methane gas for heating the kitchen stoves, another group raised cobia in a underwater huge sphere,  while another group did something similar to what John McMillin did in Ethiopia in 1989 and is doing now in Honduras.  This group is raising tilapia - after identifying it as a very fast growing fish.  This group is working closely with the Cape Eleuthera Institute, a graduate level program associated with the Island School.  They are doing pieces of McMilin's work, but have not as yet recreated his fully integrated aquaculture/agriculture system that I call "Teach A Man To Raise A Fish."

Once I have more information on this blog - I intend to share it with the Island School and the Cape Eleuthera Institute. My postings have been slowed down because John McMillin is busy saving lives  in Honduras right now, and rather focus on that then take the time to share information via the web or with me.  I know he wants to, but he is in an emergency situation and that takes priority.  The information is coming slow, but it is coming through the help our friends the Newcomb's, who introduced me to John last summer.

The Island School in Eleuthera, Bahamas

The Island School in Eleuthera, Bahamas is a semester program offered to sophomore and junior high school students.  My sister Adriana was lucky enough to be accepted and I even luckier, got to visit her.  I knew it would be a cool place, based upon her descriptions during the weekly phone calls she made home, but I had no idea it would be this cool. 

My first impression was, it is so beautiful.  The ocean water is aqua green and different shades of blue and many of the beaches have pink sand, but I would soon discover one of the greatest things of all - that the water is not only beautiful but also very warm. Unlike the Pacific Ocean, where I spend most of my time or even the Northeastern part of the US, in the waters off Cape Cod in the summer, nothing comes close to the warm and clear waters of the Caribbean Sea. 

My second impression was the local people are incredibly friendly.  Though they don't seem to have much in the way of possessions, everyone seemed relaxed and content and they would stop whatever they were doing and wave at us as we drove through "the settlements", their word for little village.

After we drove about one hour we finally made it to the Island School on the southern most tip of Eleuthera.  The driveway is lined with conch shells, thousands of them.  The campus is on it's own peninsula with the buildings laid out around a circle.  The circle is used like an outdoor assembly room to start and end everyday.  It is the place everyone gathers, makes announcements, shares information.  There is a strong sense of community and joy when the circle gathers.  Sort of like our family meetings at home.    

It didn't take long before I decided I too wanted to attend the Island School, but being too young to apply I did the next best thing and moved into the dorms for parents visiting week.  I got to experience first hand what Island School life was really like.  And I will tell you in one word - Awesome!  It must be the most sustainable school in the world.  I say this without exaggeration.