What is brother Kees van de Wiel
up to with the earthworms ?!!
With the help of earthworms Brother Kees van de Wiel tries together with a number of poor fishermen in the far Chile to get a better living for them.
THE BOAT IS DRAWN BY HORSES OUT OF THE SEA.
Our
principal concern
It is
emphasized here, that to live according to the spirit of the Founders
particularly means: to have a special concern for the poor and destitute, for
the underprivileged and disabled, for socially weak and forgotten groups, for
those who experience little love. (Constitutions FIC, art. 17)
In the village Horcon, about 40 kilometres to the north of
the most important seaport in Chile, Valparaiso, live very poor fishermen.
At night these
fishermen with their little boats – a little bit larger than a rowing-boat
- go to sea. They try to sell the fish
they catch either to the inhabitants of their village or to the lorry-drivers
of a neighbouring factory. For the last few years these fishermen have had more
and more trouble or nuisance of the voluminous factory-ships which fetch away
all the fishes and don’t leave anything to the fishermen.
A SMALL STREET IN THE
Next to it the climate-phenomenon “el niño” has made a noise in the world. Due to the slowly rising temperature of the sea-water the fishes go away to cooler waters. The result of this is that the fishermen have caught little or nothing at all for a long time.
So the poverty at that place is very great and there are a great many people who live under the subsistence minimum.
Brother Kees van de Wiel often thought about in what way these people could be helped.
About a year ago brother Kees van de Wiel happened to make contact with a person who was familiar with the LOMBRICULTURA.
After some talking with that person it dawned upon brother Kees van de Wiel. Lombricultura is very simple work and it might be work for the fishermen; the majority of the fishermen had had very little training. The Spanish word lombri-
cultura means humus-culture. Kees van de Wiel started collecting money to be able to start with that project.
The humus-culture consists of the collecting of all sorts of organic leavings, as dry flowers, grass, leaves and dung of animals. Other produce as branches and wood can’t be used by us at this moment, because the process of putrefaction of these things take too much time.
A BED WITH EARTHWORMS. THE EARTHWORMS EAT THE COMPOST
AND
The rest of the work implies that from the organic leavings “beds” are made in a specific way. The beds are 25 metres in length and 1 metre in breadth. Then the compost is mixed in a specific way, so that a quick process of putrefaction can take place and so there will be nourishment for the earthworms. The earthworms are in another kind of bed, where the prepared food is brought to. The worms eat that food and what they secrete is the humus. The humus we get in this way is a natural product without any diseases and a high percentage of protein and can be used for all agricultural purposes for the benefit of the food supply.
Since April last year the people with the help of brother Kees van de Wiel. have been busy with the humus project there. The men from the village keep fishing up to now until there is enough production and selling to pay the wages. The humus needs a long period to be ready for use. Between the collecting of the organic leavings, the period of rotting and the time that the earthworms will produce is about 9 and 11 months.
Twelve people have been selected and these people have taken a course of training about what the purpose is and how it works
“The poor person, the patient, must be conscious that he is acknowledged as an individual, that she is respected, loved, treated on an equal footing and capable of giving as much as he or she receives”.
Jospeh Jamet, CM
There are already several contacts with potential buyers. For instance there is a organization of minor farmers who together possess more than 300 hectares with avocado trees and will use their humus. Further they have made contacts with a large market-gardener who wants to use the ecological humus in his greenhouses. There are even people who wanted to buy the humus whereas the people from the village couldn’t yet deliver the humus. There is a good co-operation with the municipality of Horcon and with the official agricultural authority of the government.
To be able to cope with the demand of humus they must have a regular output. In the mean-time they have made good arrangements with two race-tracks for horses in Santiago and with the seaside resort Viña del Mar. There is also a large market garden from which they get the organic leavings free of charge and they have got permission to collect the leavings in a neighbouring place.
To be able to do all these things they of course need money. One has to rent a piece of land, one need various tools. The distances in this area are very large and the public transport is extremely irregular and therefore they need a car to visit the buyers of the ecological fertilizer and a van to collect the organic leavings and to deliver the humus. It stands to reason that the cars continue to ride.
A BIRTHDAY OF ONE OF THE PEOPLE IS CELEBRATED.
QUITE TO THE LEFT IS BROTHER KEES VAN DE WIEL.
Friends and organizations in the Netherlands like MIVA in Breda support this work financially.
When you also want to support broeder Kees van de Wiel you
might use the giro number of the brothers stating Project Kees van de Wiel.
The giro number is:
103 50 65 in the name of Stichting Kongregatie FIC.
BROTHER KEES VAN DE WIEL WITH HIS REPAIRED CAR.
SOMEWHERE
IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS PICTURE KEES HAS HIS GROUND.
THE
FIELD OF WORK WITH IN THE BACKGROUND A CONTAINER IN WHICH THE
ROW WITH BEDS
WITH EARTHWORMS AND COMPOST. THE BEDS ARE 25 METRES
LONG AND THE BREADTH IS 1 METRE.
IN THE FOREGROUND THE PILES WITH COMPOST, A MIXTURE OF DUNG AND LEAVINGS OF VEGETABLES AND FRUIT.
SOME
VISITORS WHO WANT TO LEARN THE PROCESS OF GETTING HUMUS.
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A BED WITH WORKERS.