the body of scientific knowledge about
mpingo–its current status and implications for
the future. The ABCP thanks Veronica
Betancourt of the San Antonio office of
Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.
(ESRI – http://www.esri.com/) for her kind
assistance in donating ArcView GIS manuals to
our project for use in both the US and
Tanzania. ABCP appreciates the support of
ESRI, makers of fine GIS software such as
Arc View, for their support of non-profit
environmental and conservation organizations
such as ours with donations of their
publications and software

.




We can do no great things—
Only small things with great love.

–Mother Teresa

Edmund, an Mpingo Club volunteer,
plants an Mpingo sapling. Dec. 1999

Farmer Mzee Mbaraka holds 2 of the 6 Mpingo
seedlings he requested to plant on his farm in
celebration of the Millenium. Dec. 31, 1999.

Mpingo Seeds

Last summer we received a package of mpingo seeds from Sebastian. We sent some of these to past contributors who wanted to experiment with growing the tree. We also gave some to Mr. Matt Johnson, of the Desert Legume Program (DELEP) in Tucson, Arizona. He is using a portion of them in an experimental program. Others will be on storage at the DELEP seed bank and the USDA National Seed Storage Laboratory, in Ft. Collins, Colorado. We have kept the remainder of the seeds in a freezer. If any of our readers would like a supply please ask.

Towards the Future

During the coming year, Sebastian will be busy making films and giving presentations in fulfilling his responsibilities to the Lindbergh Grant. We are, however, already making plans for a future 5-year program which will extend our outreach into the provinces of Kilimanjaro, Arusha and Tanga. Using the films he makes with equipment from the Lindbergh grant, Sebastian will travel to communities interested in duplicating the model project in Moshi, setting up a community nursery and educational program. The ABCP will offer start-up funding for purchasing nursery supplies and Sebastian will conduct training sessions for nursery attendants. He will also train 2 assistants to help him in the work.Of vital importance, because of the distances covered, will be a diesel engine 4-wheel drive vehicle, such as a Toyota Land Cruiser or Land Rover. We will be corresponding with fundraising organizations to ask for support for this project.

What we have established in Moshi is only a beginning. In this 5-year project we will be encouraging not only mpingo propagation but the planting of a variety of fuelwood, fruit and nut bearing and commercial timber species. In this way the communities which sponsor nurseries and orchards will maintain an interest in the trees over time because along with mpingo, which takes at least three to four generations to mature, they will have trees that produce fruit, nuts, fodder or fuelwood within a few years.

All support for this ambitious undertaking, as the ABCP seeks to expand its influence and thus the number of mpingo trees replanted each year, is greatly appreciated.    

The ABCP wishes to acknowledge with deep gratitude the support of all its contributors since its founding in 1996. Without your faith in our efforts demonstrated by your financial support, we would not have survived to secure the recent grants and be looking towards the bright and hopeful future which is now on our horizon. In addition to acknowledging the financial support of its contributors, the recent foundation grants and those who have been mentioned previously in this newsletter, the ABCP wishes to thank the following individuals and organizations for their help and support during the past year:

• Rafiki/Friends Foundation for all their kind support, guidance and advice over the years. Particularly appreciated last year was the laptop computer bought by the Rafikis to replace Sebastian's old system which was rendered inoperable by a high-voltage power surge.

• Paul Desanker for the Miombo CD (http://miombo.gecp.virginia.edu/) on Global Land Use and Cover. This project for sub-Saharan Africa provides valuable data for assessing climate, topography, and vegetative growth patterns in Tanzania.

• John Corbett of the Characterization, Assessments and Applications Group of the Texas A&M Blackland Research and Extension Center (http://www.brc.tamus.edu/char/) for a CD copy of US AID's African Country Almanac Series. John’s workgroup has created the Almanac Characterization Tool (ACT), also included on the CD–a packaged set of geo-referenced data and query tools targeted for use in agricultural and natural resource management activities. For example, one could construct a query to find all the areas in Tanzania between a certain elevation, temperature and rainfall range and the program would produce a map showing those areas which would have optimum growing conditions for Mpingo.

• Tom Dureka of the Bastrop County Environmental Network (http://www.bcen.org/) for his generosity, guidance and support in acquiring GIS capability.

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