I am a ballet dancer and instructor by profession, an interior designer by trade (http://www.andreabrovold.com/) and a social servant by choice.
I have begun my Masters in Human and Development Policy with a concentration in food security focusing in Africa and volunteer much of my time with Compatible Technology International as the Co-Chair of the Africa and Liberia committees (http://www.compatibletechnologyinternational.org/). I also was selected 8 months ago to become 1 of 2 new Oxfam Action Corps MN leaders in the Twin Cities area (http://www.oxfam-mn.blogspot.com/). Through Oxfam we work to fight abject poverty in the hardest hit areas and poorest communities both locally and internationally.
Through (our first) USAID funded grant, CTI Executive Director Roger Salaway and I will travel for a month to the Kaolack region of Dakar, Senegal on a farmer to farmer post harvest technology trip, teaching a village of 30 farmers how to harvest, develop, grind, thresh and winnow their Pearl Millet crops which have tremendous nutrition when the seed coat is left on, into millet flour that can be used personally, stored, sold in the market. With our technologies, we are able to produce 90-95% of the crop whereas normal processing-(mortar/pestle) yields loose anywhere from 40-60% due to spoilage, rancidity, time and labor intensity.
Due to the nature of the simple technology dreamed up by teams of retired CEO's of Cargill, 3M, Land O' Lakes, U of M that I work among, and the technologies efficiency, we are able to produce and teach farmers how to create and sustain their crops and lives. Many of whom are women/women's co-ops who work and tend the land and who are now turning profit with their grinder and sending their children to University.
We then depart for Mali where we will be meeting with partner organizations such as ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics). This is a very important meeting time to re-establish our connections with the heads of Sorghum and Pearl Millet divisions in Burkino Faso, Niger, and Mali-who are both women scientists, and whom I am most excited to meet. I will be leading the data analysis and field study for our pre-placement survey which I am also implementing in an Independent study GIS (Geographic Informational Systems) course within my Masters program. Pretty sweet hugh!?
Pearl Millet with Seed Coat on
I anticipate this journey and field study to be exciting, invigorating, challenging and at times mind blowing and also heart breaking. I will come home in time for the "Holidays" and I am not quiet sure how I jolly I will feel after seeing what I have seen first hand, but I hope you will join me in this amazing opportunity and really think about how it is that you might give back. We all struggle in ways and at times, but to truly know what it is like to really go with out I will try to convey. We will be over in Africa over Thanksgiving, Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world. I find it very germane that we will be giving back in a multitude of ways to a people who is truly thankful.
What will you be thankful for this year?
A bevevolent mind
