A local Frankincense harvester shows the team of dōTERRA leaders one of the precious trees which supply their livelihood
In 2011, researcher, ecologist, and stability expert Anjanette DeCarlo traveled to Somaliland to study the Frankincense trade, hoping to make a positive difference on the communities of the region. She interviewed land owners, tribal leaders, growers and harvesters of the Cal Madow region to discover the issues and learn more about the sustainability of Frankincense and the needs of the people there. You can watch a portion of her documentary here. In summary, if the trees had continued to be over-harvested year round, they would persistently die at alarming and unsustainable rates. Because the harvesters and growers were getting paid so little by middlemen brokers - who then turned around and sold the resin for a 2500% markup - they felt the demand to over-harvest the trees by making too many cuts on the trunks too often. As a result of her findings in 2011, Dr. DeCarlo outlined possible solutions to this growing problem:
An outreach and educational campaign to teach the harvesters and growers about sustainability of the Frankincense trees.
Buyers need to pay the harvesters a fair trade price for the raw material.
Establish a cooperative of growers and harvesters.
Empower youth and women.
Designate the growing areas as "protected" by the government in order to regulate illegal harvesting.
Encourage other sustainable business in the area.
Among our initiatives of change, dōTERRA has:
Organized chiefs and landowners into cooperatives to educate, unite, and offer equality of fair wages.
Removed and bypassed the middlemen brokers to work directly with Somalilanders in order to pay them a fair and sustainable wage. (We currently pay at least 600% more than what the workers were previously making.)
Built warehouses and large collection sites that function as co-ops to organize a network of people working together to improve the supply chain and provide fairness for everyone involved.
Ensured fair wages and safe working conditions for women who work to sort and clean the resin tears.
Funded the construction of two new schools for hundreds of students (boys AND girls) from harvester clans.
Collaborated with the government on regulations to protect the trees and guarantee that they are sustainable for generations to come.
Built a medical clinic/hospital to provide primary and secondary health services to the Somali people for the first time ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2R58k83-bw&t=1s
If you'd like to help, consider one or both of these options:
Donate to the Healing Hands Foundation. You can do that here or by adding it to your monthly LRP order.
Pray for Somaliland.
Pray for families affected by the drought and impoverished conditions.
Pray for the new government and new regulations to protect the Frankincense trees.
Pray for the unity of clan chiefs and landowners and that God will help them to work together in cooperatives for the benefit of everyone involved.
Pray for the children attending the new schools we've built, including girls who are attending school for the first time in their land's history.
Pray for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be proclaimed in this region.
