Just call me: "Janelle Avocado-seed" - July 8, 2014

  

When I first decided that it was time to stop working at Health Horizons International in the Dominican Republic after 3 great years there working in medical humanitarian work and training and supporting local staff and volunteers, I knew it was time to look for a new position - either in or not in the Dominican Republic - depending where God opened the door.  But I knew that whether I worked in the D.R. or elsewhere in the future, the goodbyes would be really tough.  I love the D.R. and my friends and co-workers at HHI, and the communities we worked in.  Even if I stayed in the D.R. I'd probably be working in other, different communities than the ones where I had built so many friendships.

So I wanted to give a gift to my friends and co-workers in those communities so that we'd both remember our friendship -- in case we started seeing each other less. 

I wanted it to be a gift that would last for a long time.

Something Useful & yet also Something Beautiful.

Something that could perhaps make their lives better.

As a child I had always loved the story of Johnny Appleseed (not the real, historical story, mind, you, but the one told to children in school) -- of how Johnny Appleseed planted Apple-trees all across the United States.  I thought - hmmm, since many people in the area of the D.R. where I live don't have a lot of money, and some don't have enough food -- certainly hardly anyone eats more than Rice and Beans on a daily basis -- perhaps a food-bearing tree would be a good gift for my friends....

But what type of tree could grow from seed in the D.R.? (There are many that grow better from saplings than from seed, and I didn't want to have to buy little saplings.  I wanted to give a gift that my friends could later give again to others in the same way if they wanted to.  Something that would last. Something that  -- over time -- could spread!  So I researched... and I found the Avocado tree.  Avocadoes, my favorite food in the D.R., and a D.R. family favorite, are a great source of income for some families. Those who are lucky enough to have a tree can sell the avocadoes. They can eat the avocadoes too, a yummy and healthy addition to the rice and bean diet that many families subsist on.

Of course one avocado tree won't help you. You need two avocado trees planted somewhere near each other so that the bees can pollenate both trees and the trees can thus (in approx. 10 years after seeding) bear fruit.

So every few mornings, when I bought my 15 peso giant Avocadoes from the Hatian lady who came by my house with the bin of fruit on her head, and after I made guacamole or avocado salad for my lunch, I stuck the seeds in little white plastic cups half full of water.

Some of the seeds sprouted in a few weeks. Others seemed to take several months to really crack open and begin to get small roots down below the water, and then a little green twig coming out up top. (top photo). Once they really got a good root system and a real little tree on top, I repotted them into larger pots.  My porch got fuller and fuller of baby avocado trees of various sized and ages. I wondered for awhile if this was a stupid idea.  Perhaps none of my friends were growing their own avocado trees (a simple feat in the D.R. it seemed,) because they simply didn't want one; or because they didn't own any land of their own to plant two trees on - this was true for some of them, definitely; or because this just wasn't for whatever reason something that people wanted.  Perhaps it was a hair-brained "foreign American Girl in the D.R. idea" and all my Dominican and Haitian friends would laugh at this gift.  Perhaps it wasn't a good gift idea at all.

But soon my Dominican and Haitian friends and Neighbors started asking: "Hey, are those Avocado trees on your porch? Who are the avocado trees for?"

"For Special people" I said.

"Can I have one?" They often asked.

"We'll see." I said.  But for many of the little sets of trees, I already had people in mind.

 

Then God opened the door for me to take a position in the Main Mennonite Central Committee U.S. office in the department of Planning, Learning and Disaster Response. I was excited about the job, and the opportunity to work with MCC -- a wonderful International Relief & Development and Peace-Building organization that I have always loved!  But I was also very sad to be leaving the D.R. completely -- I had hoped to stay there longer and work more in the country.

But it seemed that for now God had other plans.... so it was time to deliver the avocado trees to as many families of my friends as I had had time to grow trees for.  

So -- for once, I rented a car for a day; a car with 4 wheel drive to take my little trees up the mountain to some of my friends living in the low income villages in the countryside.  I also gave out trees to some of my friends living in Montellano and Pancho Mateo - our more urban settings that still struggle with poverty.  It was a wonderful experience going to visit my friends in their homes or having them stop by my house for coffee or brownies, a chat, and to pick up their "very small surprise."  

I always said "I'm not sure if this is something you want or not, but I wanted to give you something that would be alive and last a long time and represent our on-going friendship."  Though I was still nervous that perhaps this was a stupid gift I was relieved that each one seemed delighted to receive their tree and talked about how they'll look forward to eating the fruit. 

I took a photo with everyone that I gave trees too, saying "ok, so now we can remember our friendship with these Avocado tree -- you'll have the trees and I'll have the photos."

(Below) I gave one to my friend Beatrice who helped me put up my Christmas tree last year and who helped me with my first Avocado tree planting experiments!  She taught me how Avocado trees are grown in Haiti (in the ground, not in cups,) but she liked the cups of water idea. :)

Then I drove up the mountain to visit my friend and Co-worker Estela and her family 

(above and below) in Negro Melo.

Her youngest daughter loved our little tree and immediately yanked a weed out of they're flowerbed and replaced it with the tree still in it's pot.

Estela said she wanted to carry the tree out to her garden several miles away on a protected hillside and plant it there so that the farm animals that she and her husband raise couldn't eat it's young leaves and so that the little tree would live long, grow much fruit, and be protected for years to come....  :)

But alas, she really couldn't do that, because her little tree was alone and it's sister tree -- the one that needed to be near it so that both trees in the town would get pollenated and bear fruit -- still needed to be delivered to her neighbor, my friend Mireya, who lived across the street.

So Estela swore to plant her tree right there in her front yard, facing Mireya's across the street, and to put up a fence around it to protect it from the animals...

And she said "hey, I'll go with you to deliver hers," so we set off together with the sister tree 

to Mireya's house.

 

Mireya, who I met three years ago because she needed medical care and Estela and I were able to help her with that (and did,) is a hard-working grandmother, currently single-handedly raising several of her teenage grand-children in a little house in the country. When I first met her she didn't have a job and feeding those grand-kids was a real struggle. Now she travels 30 minutes by motorcycle down the mountain to town, and then 25 more minutes on a public bus every few days to go clean house for a wealthier lady in the capital city of the province.  She expressed delight at receiving her tree, and when she heard it was because I was leaving she immediately offered to come down the mountain to see me off at the airport so I wouldn't be alone and sad while leaving. This was an expensive proposition for her that would have required her to travel almost an hour on various transport just to get there.  I was honored to give this tree to Mireya, a wonderful friend, loving Grandmother, and one of the only people I've seen in her town who is friends "equally" with the Dominicans and also the Hatian Immigrants who live there - a true bridge builder!

 

I love my friends up there in Negro Melo (Mireya on the right,) and will definitely miss them!

I also gave trees to my friend and co-worker Corina (who has created one of the most beautiful tropical gardens on all 4 sides of her home up at the top of the mountain in Arroyo de Leche), and one to her neighbor, my friend and co-worker Mercedes who is one of the best cooks in the D.R.! Mercedes already cooks food for half of her community some days it seems, so I thought she would be able to share her great cooking hospitality with even more people if she had an avocado tree of her own!

I gave one to my friend Dania, a great friend from Pancho Mateo, who always invited me over and  let me have the wonderful opportunity of spending holidays like New Years, Christmas, Easter and other important events with her fun extended family. She was married for a long time but now is a single mom and a great gardener with 3 growing children to feed, and - luckily -- neighbors (my great friends Carlito and Claudia,) who already have a "sister" avocado tree to get pollenated along with hers! :)

I would have loved the fun opportunity to share avocado trees with so many more of my friends who've been such an important part of my life in the D.R. -- but I only had a few trees left.

So I gave one to my landlord -- to plant in his back-yard;  and one to the mayor of my little town -- Mayor Sanchez, who has been a good neighbor to me, fixing the problem of water pooling in the road near my house when I and the neighbors asked him to do so, in an attempt to decrease the mosquito population and thus decrease the prevalence of mosquito-born illnesses like Dengue and Cholera in our town. Once we talked to him about the medical problems that can be caused by standing water he had workmen out there working on it the following day! So a tree seemed fitting for his family as a thank you.

And I gave two to my downstairs neighbor, Solangi, (photo above) who had been watching them grow for months. She's been a great neighbor!

And I gave 2 to the Community Health Workers of Severet, my friends and Co-workers Dorka, Catherine, Fones and Jahaira, so they can plant them at each end of the community garden that the community hopes to build, so that the neighbors in Severet finally have better access to vegetables to improve their diets and prevent the ever increasing Diabetes type 2 caused by a diet of mostly rice. (Great idea, Dorka! Dorka's the one in the pink.)

  

These friends from Severet (led by Dorka) had already prepared wonderful hand-made gifts for me (without knowing anything about the trees). They gave me a hand-decorated card signed by all, and several hand-crafted butterflies (a symbol of the D.R.)(inside the bag) that they'd thoughtfully created, covered with poetry, and signed -- for me to hang in my new office in the States.

So it will probably take about 10 years of love, sun, and warm Dominican rain to grow those little Avocado saplings into trees that are big enough to bear fruit.

But with the way that my past 3 friend-filled years in the D.R. flew by so fast, I can only assume that those next 10 years of love, sun, and rain will fly by too!

Of course handing out all of these trees gave me the great blessing of visiting so many of these wonderful friends to say "hasta la vista - let's keep in touch!"

Much love to all of my Amigos and Colleagues in the Dominican Republic!

I hope there will be many more avocadoes sprouting soon! :)