Who We Serve and Our Impact
Nicaragua
Togo
Tanzania
Haiti
U.S. & Beyond
Join Us
Nicaragua
We’ve been working in Nicaragua since 2012 and have found the people we work with to be smart, resilient, and full of fun. Despite improvements in their economy and a drop in the percentage of people living in poverty over the last 10 years, the World Bank still considers Nicaragua to be one of Latin America’s least developed countries.
- 23% of Nicaraguan children are stunted due to malnutrition
- 15% of the people don’t have access to clean drinking water
- 50% of rural residents and 15% of urban dwellers live on less than US$1.90 per day
Moringa can address these issues for Nicaraguan families.
Because people in all settings, from urban to rural, need good nutrition, clean water, and economic opportunities, we’ve trained Peer Educators wherever we’ve found a need: in cities, small towns, and remote villages. Moringa knows no boundaries and can be grown wherever it’s needed in Nicaragua – will you help us take it there?
Meet Lesly Herrera, our Country Coordinator in Nicaragua
Lesly and his wife, Maria, love working with Strong Harvest and sharing the good news that moringa brings to families. Lesly says, “The moringa tree is a gift from God, because it provides people with what they cannot afford in my country, nutritious food and better health. People do not need to spend money to obtain this, with moringa they just need to start eating it. That is amazing for the poor people in Nicaragua!” Lesly and Maria have good reason to love moringa as its rich nutrition played a vital role in bringing their youngest son back to health when he had been so ill that they had feared losing him. Lesly shares, “I am part of Strong Harvest because we provide the knowledge that people need to start using moringa. I want to help people to have a better life physically and spiritually and to provide a better future for our children.” While Lesly has worked with us since 2013, he officially started coordinating Strong Harvest’s work in Nicaragua in 2015, working with our Peer Educators there, providing trainings in new areas, representing SHI at conferences, and coordinating our team travel. Lesly is an amazing asset to the Strong Harvest team!
Our Nicaragua Impact: 150+ Peer Educators in 7 towns and villages
Togo & West Africa
Our work in Togo began in 2014 in the small town of Noèpé, and quickly spread to the neighboring countries of Benin and Burkina Faso. This rapid growth is a testament to the need for solutions to hunger and poverty that are sustainable at the family level. As the 12th poorest nation in the world, Togolese families are in deep need of the basics of life.
- 28% of Togo’s children are stunted due to malnutrition
- 37% of the people don’t have access to clean drinking water
- 54% of the population lives on less than US$1.90 per day
Moringa can change these heartbreaking statistics.
The simple, yet powerful, benefits of moringa have been moving across West Africa as Strong Harvest Peer Educator training is taken from community to community. Moringa can improve life for millions of people across West Africa. Help us spread this life-changing knowledge!
Meet Jean Abou, our Country Coordinator for Togo and West Africa
According to Jean, “When there’s moringa in the dish, there’s life in the dish!” As our Regional Coordinator for West Africa, Jean has trained Strong Harvest Peer Educators in three countries: Togo, Benin, and Burkina Faso. He has seen the positive impact of moringa in the lives of many families, but one of Jean’s favorite experiences was right in his own community, “when moringa restored life to a boy who was dying of malnutrition. Today, the boy goes to school and is the joy of his parents.” Jean’s previous experience as the Agricultural Officer at YWAM’s University of the Nations in Noèpé, Togo, gives him a solid foundation for his current work with Strong Harvest. Since 2014, he has been continuously training others in basic nutrition and how to grow and use moringa to improve the health of their families. Jean’s wife, Olga, along with their sons, love to participate in the trainings whenever they can. Jean also provides follow-up training and encouragement, as well as problem-solving and planning sessions for those he’s trained. Jean is always looking for opportunities to expand the impact of Strong Harvest and moringa in West Africa!
Our West Africa Impact: 500+ Peer Educators in 18 villages across Togo, Benin, and Burkina Faso
Haiti
In 2015, we began our work in the Cap-Haïtien area of northern Haiti, bringing a powerful weapon in the fight against hunger and poverty to families in one of the world’s poorest countries.
- 22% of Haiti’s children suffer from stunting due to malnutrition
- 38% of the people don’t have access to clean drinking water
- 54% of the total population lives under the international poverty line of US$1.90 per day
Moringa can make a difference for Haitian familes!
Peer Educators have been trained in communities all over northern Haiti in basic nutrition and how to grow and use moringa for good nutrition, clean water, and additional income, as well as for reforestation. These Peer Educators are now training hundreds of other families in how they can have a sustainable source of health and hope right in their own backyards. With your help, we can continue to bring moringa to even more communities!
Meet Fritzner Mompoint, our Country Coordinator in Haiti
We first started working with Fritzner in 2013 when he reached out to us via the internet for more information about moringa so that he could help his community. We steadily built a relationship with him and his wife, Mariejocelyne, as they began teaching others about nutrition and the positive impact moringa could make in their lives. By 2015, they were fully-engaged with Strong Harvest. Fritzner shares, “I love being part of Strong Harvest because it focuses on bringing life for people, especially those who can’t help themselves or provide for their family. I do my best to teach, presenting to more people all about moringa. My main reason to spread the knowledge and ask Strong Harvest International to stand behind me is the importance of planting and using moringa everywhere I go, because moringa is the restoration tree for Haitian life.” Fritzner welcomed our first “boots on the ground” training team to Haiti in 2016 and we continue to go to Haiti regularly to expand our work and impact there. In addition to teaching others about moringa, Fritzner has also created a moringa co-op, Grace Park Community Moringa & Gardens, providing much-needed income for a number of local families. We are thankful to partner with Fritzner as he continues to model family and community transformation to those around him.
Our Haiti Impact: 230+ Peer Educators in 10 villages across northern Haiti
Tanzania & East Africa
Strong Harvest founders, Rick and Jeri Kemmer, lived in Tanzania for a number of years and their work with moringa was born there (see our Founders’ Story). Since 2014, when they returned to Tanzania with Strong Harvest, they have been working with old friends and making new ones as they train Peer Educators across the country.
- 34% of Tanzanian children are stunted due to malnutrition
- 47% of the people don’t have access to clean drinking water
- 47% of Tanzanians live on less than US$1.90 per day
Moringa grows quickly in Tanzania’s rich soil, providing sustainable benefits for the country’s many small-holder farmers. In 2017, our work expanded beyond Tanzania as we partnered with the ECHO East Africa Impact Center to provide Moringa Peer Educator training to more than 50 people from Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and even The Philippines. These new Peer Educators are all deeply involved in healing and transforming their communities through agriculture, healthcare, education, reconciliation, and pastoral work. In their capable hands, moringa is a powerful tool in the fight against hunger, poverty, and land degredation and we are excited to see them spreading the knowledge of moringa across East Africa so that more and more families will experience improved lives. You can join us to train even more Peer Educators and be a part of the positive changes that moringa is bringing to families across East Africa!
Meet Raymond Maloka, our Country Coordinator in Tanzania
Raymond is passionate about improving the lives of families who are struggling to obtain the basics: a secure source of nutritious food, clean drinking water, and healthy and productive land that provides enough income for themselves and their children. He and his wife, Agnes, have served the people of Tanzania for years through their work with the Church of God where Raymond held many positions, including treasurer of the National Church of God of Tanzania, assistant director for the Safina child sponsorship program, and manager of Aldersgate Secondary School. Strong Harvest founders, Rick and Jeri Kemmer have been friends with Raymond for many years, and are excited for the opportunity to again partner with someone who cares so deeply about transforming lives and communities. Raymond is well-connected in Tanzania and has many ideas of how to expand the work and bring even more benefits to families through the simplicity of moringa. Raymond shares, “I like working with Strong Harvest because it touches my heart. Most Tanzanians live on less than a dollar a day and they can grow and use moringa for free! It has the nutrition they need to build their bodies. Many people are telling me that their health issues improved when they started eating moringa.”
Meet Laata Mollel, Assistant Country Coordinator in Tanzania
Laata (third from the left), pictured here with his family, lives in the Maasai village of Gelai Bomba in northern Tanzania. With Laata’s personal knowledge of Maasai culture and his language skills – he’s fluent in Maa, Swahili, and English – he plays a pivotal role in helping his community to achieve food security as they transition from a herder/nomadic lifestyle to a more settled life that includes farming as well as herding. The traditional Maasai diet of milk and blood is severely lacking in the broad spectrum of vitamins and minerals that moringa easily provides. We are looking forward to healthier families in the Gelai area as Laata continues to share his knowledge! Laata is excited about the changes moringa is bringing to his community. He shared with us that one of the village leaders who received Strong Harvest training in 2014 is now growing moringa at his home and eating it regularly. This gentleman had been suffering from a skin condition, which has been healed since he’s added vitamin-rich moringa to his diet. He exclaimed that, “Moringa is a wonderful tree!” Laata shares that in the Maasai’s dry and rugged landscape, “Moringa can be a suitable solution for our health challenges.”
Our East Africa Impact: 180+ Peer Educators in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda
U.S. & Beyond
Strong Harvest trains people who live, work, and/or travel internationally to become Peer Educators so that wherever they go, whether with Strong Harvest, with another organization, or on their own, they can train others in the life-giving benefits of moringa. We provide both in-person and online seminars, so you can take our training whether you live near our headquarters or across the world! Peer Educators who have been trained in the U.S. or online have gone on to provide moringa training to local people in Columbia, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Haiti, Uganda, Rwanda, Cameroon, Togo, South Sudan, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Yap, The Philippines, and Indonesia. The reach and impact of Strong Harvest and moringa grows exponentially as more people become Peer Educators and then share their knowledge with the world! If you would like attend a training seminar and join our world-wide network of Peer Educators, just go to our Training Resources page. You’ll be able to register for a currently scheduled seminar or reserve your spot in a future one. You can even provide a scholarship for someone else to receive training – what an awesome gift!
Our U.S. & Online Peer Educator Impact: 80+ Peer Educators providing training in 15 countries. Your support of our work in the U.S. will provide training for countless others around the world!
Choose the Impact Team that speaks to your heart!
Your investment provides families with the knowledge and tools they need to grow and use moringa for improved health and additional sources of income, while caring for their land and improving the local and global environment.
Through your support, Strong Harvest is able to provide trainings in new locations, manuals and materials in the local language, continuing education and follow-up support, a monthly stipend for our country coordinators, equipment, logistics, transportation, and communications. Your support increases Strong Harvest’s reach and impact, enriching the lives of families with sustainable resources right in their own backyards!