Sr. Maite Oiartzun and Fr. Bernard Lesay, MAfr.
By Sr. Maite Oiartzun, Gitega Community, Burundi
I’m delighted to share with you that in Gitega (Burundi) we continue the project to plant Artemisia, a medicinal plant to prevent and cure malaria. I’m working in collaboration with Fr. Bernard Lesay, MAfr., agronomists and farmers in Gitega. I’m also part of a network called “La Maison de l’Artemisia” www.maison-artemisia.org which runs awareness-raising workshops in 28 African countries.
In Gitega, I’m involved with the “Ecole Sociale” and the “Ecole d’Art”, where the students are boarders. The entire education community is involved, and they’ve given us plots of land to cultivate. Every school year, together with the students and teachers, we plant the Artemisia plants prepared by the farmers. In 4 months, we harvest plenty of Artemisia for the whole year. Students and teachers take the tea 3 times a week to boost the immune system and prevent malaria. We’ve noticed that the students’ health has improved, as have their academic results.
Another objective is for the pupils to learn at school, and during the Christmas vacations and Health Week they take the seeds to the different regions of Burundi, where the pupils are the promoters of Artemisia in their families and parishes.
The director of the “Ecole Sociale” has founded a club for environmental care. Together with the pupils, they make pots from banana leaves, an organic material, and donate it to us to place the Artemisia plants and transport them from the tree nursery to the schools. This initiative fosters cooperation for the common good and the good health of the population.
This year, in collaboration with the Maison de l’Artemisia, we launched a new experiment, feeding Artemisia to cows, rabbits and chickens. We’ve noticed that their health has improved and they’re growing without any problems. This is good news, because raising animals is a source of revenue for the economy and the self-financing of schools.
We are currently preparing a workshop to encourage students to plant Moringa trees, whose leaves are rich in nutrients: iron, calcium, potassium, vitamins, proteins… Our aim is to improve nutrition and encourage reforestation. In February, our Sr. Marie Ange Ndayishimiye came from Mauritania on leave, and together we prepared the seeds in banana leaf pots for transport to the schools. Since we harvested many Moringa seeds from the trees in our garden, it’s a great joy to share them so that Marie Ange can take them to Mauritania, her Mission country.
We give thanks to God for all the blessings of Creation, and join in the prayer for Our Earth from the Laudato Si:
God, you who surround all that exists with your tenderness, pour out the strength of your love on us so that we may protect life and beauty”.
