A joint effort with our parish Caritas and the Peasant Movement of Gros Morne, Haiti

At a town hall meeting in February two sixth graders, Yolande Mereus and Emerson Tanisma, and fifth grader, Judensley Maurice a.k.a. Lele, explained how their families can fight against the sweet potato weevil that is destroying up to 80% of the crop farmers have planted.  They explained how to use a simple trap with the female sex hormone to attract the male weevils and how red traps attract more than other colors.  The students have given the same message on the parish radio station and offered to paint traps red after school on Fridays.

The fifth and sixth grade teachers will help integrate the message into the curriculum so that the students can share their information with their classmates and enlist other youth in the community to fight against the weevils.  Jesus-Mary Parish School buys sweet potatoes for school lunch from farmers using the traps..  The goal is for farm families to be sure they can harvest good sweet potatoes and for Gros Morne to gain a reputation as a weevil-free zone.  This campaign is a joint effort with our parish Caritas and the Peasant Movement of Gros Morne.  

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