Dr. John Woiwode, Fisheries Scientist, chronicles his latest volunteer assignment in Bangladesh

“I returned to Bangladesh [as a volunteer] this December to address a critical problem for the country: the exhaustive use of groundwater for fish hatcheries. The hatchery industry has evolved in very concentrated areas of Bangladesh, and their water requirements are massive: a typical hatchery uses up to 1500 liter per minute during peak spawning/production cycles. In the area around Jessore, for example, there are 44 such hatcheries. The water table was dropping dramatically. WorldFish, a worldwide non-profit with a large presence in Bangladesh, was my partner in this endeavor.

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Last week we ended a five-year phase of our Farmer-to-Farmer program in Mali and Nigeria. During this time of transition, F2F staff and volunteers are all reflective of the work that we have done in the last five years and of the relationships formed and lives transformed, both for the developing country beneficiaries as well as for the volunteers.

Here are some poignant reflections from our volunteers and local organizations:

• “I have enjoyed working with the whole staff [in Mali]. I think you all can be proud of the development progress you have made in Mali. It is my feeling that Mali has moved forward in food security and agricultural with help from F2F volunteers.” volunteer Jerry Nolte
• “We at Tee Ess Integrated Farms Nigeria Limited cannot thank the entire Winrock family for the unquantifiable knowledge you and the volunteers impacted. We are not only now successfully registered with USA FDA to export smoked fish to the US,
  but I am currently in Canada on my way to Atlanta tomorrow and Houston next week
  to meet with some smoked fish distributors on business collaboration. You made
  all of this happen. Thanks a million.” –Tuned Sanni, F2F host organization in Nigeria
• “It is always a privilege and an honor to work with Winrock and people in Nigeria and other developing nations to help you put food on your table and feed the world. I can’t think of anything else I would rather do. Thanks for the opportunity to serve in the past, and I hope there will be other opportunities in the future.” –volunteer Joe Sullivan
• “A heartfelt congratulations on your 5 year effort and achieving such great results for the people of Mali! From the time I spent with your [Winrock] staff in Bamako as a volunteer, you and your group are one of the best in all my travels. It is a difficult political and operating environment, still you accomplished much. In my view, programs like Winrock and F2F are far and away the best use of American foreign aid dollars and the best way to bring prosperity to countries like Mali.” –volunteer Michael Lowery

Each volunteer has left a lasting legacy in these countries. We are grateful for the service and committment each one has given!

Stay tuned for updates Winrock’s new focus areas and country programs for the next five years of F2F…

We were fortunate to have staff from USAID visit our Farmer-to-Farmer program in Bangladesh. It was great to be able to see the progress made by many of our program beneficiaries, as a result of volunteer assistance. Here are some photos from visits with different organizations:

Inspecting fish processing activities at Rupsha Fish & Alllied Industries

Examining composting at RUSTIC

Demetria Arvanitis, VTA Program Director, and Howard Prussack, an organic farmer and F2F volunteer, had the chance to dine with Chef Ismail Samad at the Gleanery, located in Putney, Vt. With menus changing rather frequently (sometimes daily), the Gleanery is a community supported restaurant that connects local farmers, producers, and consumers by offering the best of the best of local and seasonal foods. The restaurant also offers “irregular” or surplus crops that some consumers might shy away from, by providing an extensive canning and preserving program to farmers.

The Gleanery has contributed to sustainability and the viability of the farmland and has offered consumers an enticing and gracious experience. The operational model of the Gleanery is the same as an agricultural CSA, in which customers pay farmers in bulk for produce at the beginning of the season, and in return receive weekly boxes of farm fresh products. The Gleanery redeems memberships in the form of monthly credits that can be used at the restaurant. By purchasing memberships, community members help raise start-up capital and the restaurant redeems memberships for monthly credits on food. In return, the community benefits by having a fabulous place to eat!
http://www.thegleanery.com

Joe Sullivan (who has volunteered six times with Winrock’s Farmer-to-Farmer program) wrote a response so poignant, it deserved its own blog entry. Thank you, Joe, and Happy 4th of July!

–

There are a couple of sections of President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address that mean a lot to me and seem so consistent with what the Farmer-to-Farmer program is doing. The first is this:

“To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required — not because the

                                                       Joe Sullivan training farmers

Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”

“Because it is right” –What better reason can there be? But America’s gift does not come without a cost. Freedom is not free nor is there a way out of poverty without effort. Americans go overseas in the Farmer-to-Farmer program and in Peace Corps to teach people how to help themselves, to give them a hand up, not a hand out, to lift themselves out.

Kennedy continued this idea:

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”

“My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

“Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

On my last two assignments with Winrock and the Farmer-to-Farmer program, last year in Mali and this year in Nigeria, both of my hosts told me that I was like a father figure to them. Relative to gauging the success of your assignment, that is a pretty good measure when someone of a different race, religion, nationality says that to you. Citizens of the United States and citizens of the world have come together making “here on earth God’s work…truly…our own.”

Not everyone has two years they can commit to meeting the world where they live and teaching them how to help themselves as a Peace Corps volunteer. But sooner or later, almost every US citizen has a few weeks to a month to bring knowledge or to teach a skill to a citizen of the world so that together, as Kennedy said, we will bring about God’s work on earth. There is not anything I would rather be doing than this with my brothers and sisters whom I have met and have yet to meet around the world.

This 4th of July, I will be spending in Bangladesh helping women’s groups gain food security and financial self-empowerment by teaching them how to raise fish and shrimp. Patriotic, perhaps, but as Kennedy also said, it is the right thing to do and I love it…

–Joe Sullivan