Bird Village was already a phenomenon. It was known as a holy spot, where people would come from miles away and be healed. Stories of healings started to spread as we were conducting our moringa field test.
We were not impressed by these stories. Our goal was to see how people could empower each other by sharing the benefits of moringa. Our goal was not to impress people with what outsiders like us could do.
For our first step, we met with the people to talk about moringa. Some of the groups were small, some large. They were men, women, young people, teachers, students, farmers, businessmen, and social workers. The greater the variety of people, the better it was. We called them focus groups and recorded and discussed most of what we learned each day. We must have met with 200 such groups.
We used flip charts, posters, leaflets, and even a specially designed comic book. We had taken care that the information was scientifically correct.
We explained that a very important medicinal tonic was available to them right at their doorstep. They did not have to spend their precious resources to improve the health of their families, especially the women and children.
We told them it was important that they articulate the message themselves and determine how it might travel through their own network, without the interference of outsiders and without resources expended on advertisements in the newspaper, or on radio and television. Outside interference was to be avoided, if possible, because outsiders had an agenda of their own.
This went beyond moringa. Our question was: How can economically deprived people solve their own problems?
No one from our Wichita group spoke the language except me, so I was the main person the villagers could talk to. One of the village leaders found this process to be so important that he went to all the villages around that area and arranged meetings at 8 o’clock at night, which was the best time for the villagers because they had finished all their daily chores, including meals, and there were no other distractions. Most of the time our team traveled to the villages on the Training Center’s tractor, the only tractor for miles around.
We were surprised how cogent the villagers’ inputs were. Though they were quite poor and mostly uneducated, they were capable of precisely articulating their messages, as long as they were not being lectured to and knew the questions were sincere. For example, in one focus group a man spoke:
“People from the outside who come to our villages think we are all alike,” he said. He added that when outsiders get advice from one of the villagers, they think that person represents all of the villagers, as if they were a homogenous unit.
“In fact, there are many differences among us,” he said. “There are circles within circles within circles.”
That group articulated five major groups or markets to consider: children, youth, women, men, and grandparents. For the moringa campaign to succeed, there would have to be five different messages, one to target each group, created with a common theme. For it to have impact, messages to each market would have to go out simultaneously, not one at a time.
Another group explained to us the changing dynamics of their society. For thousands of years, information had come top down, from the elders to the children. Now, because the grandparents and parents were uneducated and had no way of knowing what was going on in the world, they relied on their children to pass the information up to them.
Armed with such advice, we designed the booklets and posters for students, explaining the nutritional benefits in terms of vitamins, minerals, and protein and how they affect our bodies. An artist familiar with their culture designed a comic book, explaining these facts in an interesting way for the children.
We went to the schools and played games, sang songs and danced to draw them in. For example, if there was a fact that used the number 6 ½, I jumped once, and the children shouted, “One!” I performed the same routine, through the number six.
“How do I jump for the half?” I asked.
“Jump on one leg!” someone suggested.
I acted dumb and asked the unsuspecting principal to show me how to jump on one leg, evoking laughter from the audience. Sometimes, when I went into a village, children shouted, “Mathur has arrived! Mathur has arrived!”
I asked the kids in those schools to share with two other people whatever information or knowledge they got that day, if they believed the information was important. I used the drill, raising two fingers high. “How many people are you going to share this information with?” They shouted, “Two!”
“When will you do that?” I asked as I pointed down to the earth. “Now!” they responded.
In many of these meetings, I told the children they should share the information about moringa with their parents. I playfully planted an idea among them.
“Tell your mom if she does not cook moringa leaves for you, you will not eat.” Children understood the mischievous intent behind it and gladly joined in. We heard from many mothers.
Similarly, the youth came up with the idea that they would join hands by taking inventory of moringa trees in their villages. Upon completion, they would plant the necessary number of moringa trees and take care of them, usually 20 to 50 trees. After that, they would receive a typewriter for their youth club. They became very active participants. We provided paint and brushes to these young people. They painted a slogan about moringa leaves on roadside brick fences, a popular advertising medium in rural India. The slogan was: “Moringa leaves fight 300 diseases.”
This was a simple, but powerful, message that had emerged when I was meeting with a group of about 30 women. I told them the Indian Ayurvedic system of medicine tells us that moringa leaves fight 300 diseases. Upon hearing this, one woman got quite angry.
“If these leaves have such potential, why isn’t our government broadcasting this message to each and every household?” she asked. Most of the other women joined her. At that moment, I knew what our slogan would be. I felt I had my hand on their pulse.
The villagers seemed to have plenty of hidden talent to write, create, and produce effective plays about the benefits of moringa leaves. Each play used original songs with great rhythm and drama. These plays started after dinner and continued till late at night. All the men, women, and children sat on the ground spellbound.
School children recruited their parents to join them in parades through the villages. The kids held banners and chanted, “Moringa leaves fight 300 diseases!”
Cooking classes were held for the women by home-cooking experts. The women loved the idea of learning a newer way of cooking in the companionship of other women. It was a new idea for these women, who had learned traditional cooking from their parents.
Because of moringa’s unusually high nutritional value, our moringa slogan, intended for mothers and grandmothers, was “Mother’s Best Friend.”
To the men, the message emphasized that with better nutrition provided by moringa leaves, the family would be healthier and save on paying money for the doctor. In addition, moringa leaves could be sold in the market to earn money, and the leaves made excellent fodder for their cattle, increasing milk production.
A year after completing our marketing tests, we retained an independent group to investigate if our message had taken root and if the people were applying that information in their lives. A team of a dozen people conducted surveys for two weeks. After thorough research, they found that 84 percent of the people knew the message and could repeat the slogan. But most importantly, the people reported they were incorporating moringa leaves two or three times a week in their meals.
With very little money spent and following the instincts and advice of the local people, the campaign to bring moringa out of the dark in those 20 villages proved to be highly successful. We also learned that the message had already started to seep into other nearby villages. For example, a school teacher at another village shared the knowledge in her village, a few miles away. The method was working.
Now our task was to share with a larger audience the information about moringa’s potential to prevent blindness.
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