Natural Solutions Foundation
Your Voice of Global Health & Food Freedom™
www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org
www.GlobalFoodFreedom.org
Dr. Rima Reports: Every Sunday Morning
10 AM to 1 PM EDT
www.HealthFreedomPortal.org
The Valley of the Moon – DeGroote Orphanage

Natural Solutions Center: Greenhouses
Working with Bermuda philanthropist Michael DeGroote, the Natural Solutions Foundation is developing an Orphanage Project as part of the Valley of the Moon Eco Community in the Chiriqui Highlands of Panama.
This web page is a temporary home for www.DeGrooteOrphanage.org, as we develop the plan and implement it.
The following Statement is a draft proposal for the Orphanage Project.
Dated: 20th April 2011
Executive Summary
OBJECTIVE
To design and build an initially small scale pilot orphanage to house 30 boys & girls aged between 13-17 years old (sleeping in six dormitories with males & females separated by floors or structures) in the idyllic setting of the Chiriqui Highlands of Panama. This particular orphanage will be respectful to the environment and set itself apart from any other in the world by utilizing unique, cutting-edge building techniques, to ensure it has the highest green credentials possible.
Once completed the eco-friendly nature of the project will continue to be central to its operation. The surroundings will provide totally organic and self-sustainable food products. Furthermore, the children will learn through the Natural Solutions Foundation & Valley of the Moon exactly how to farm and grow organically – skills that will put them in good standing for a long and successful career as they enter adulthood.
GOALS
Our goal is to demonstrate through this pilot program a more rewarding and enjoyable way of life for Panamanian children without families. Every child that leaves the orphanage will have been given the tools and have the ability to succeed in this exciting and revolutionary industry. Not only will they be able to feed themselves and their new families, but they will be able to pass on their knowledge to our future generations, to ensure prosperity and healthy eating habits.
Through the focus on our deprived children, what we are proposing will also demonstrate that, when scaled up fully, the goal is to provide Panama with the numerous benefits that are outlined in this initial proposal. Such as: The creation of an organic food chain to supply Panama as a whole, regardless of the social status of the recipient; better health for all Panamanians; boosting the Panamanian GNP; lowering the dependency on the Panamanian healthcare system & increasing tourism traffic to Panama, to name but a few advantages…
NATURAL SOLUTION
The solution, which is detailed in the following pages, has been well thought out, is in operation today, and already a proven technique being practiced in Panama. It is innovative, scaleable and essential to Panama and the rest of our entire planet. These children will spend their formative years learning that clean, eco-friendly, agriculture and animal production, producing a non-toxic and a highly nutritional food supply chain is the only way forward.
Without doubt, the children who are fortunate enough to reside at our orphanage will be the healthiest eaters in Panama.
They will have unrestricted access to all the other health benefits associated with the Natural Solutions Foundation and as a result will be among the healthiest children in the country. Over time this small pilot program will become a world class showcase to heads of state, agricultural planners, farmers and academics from around the world.
SITE FOR THE ORPHANAGE
We have identified a 64 hectare site of outstanding natural beauty near Volcan in the Chiriqui Highlands of Panama. This site was chosen primarily due to the fact that the volcanic soil is unadulterated and will be perfect for the work of the Natural Solutions Foundation. Its peaceful location, abundant in nature, will serve the children of the orphanage exceptionally well, by providing the ultimate playground and facilities necessary to aid their structured development into adulthood. With spectacular ocean and volcano views, rivers, wildlife, flora and fauna – coupled with well paved road access – the chosen site could not be a more natural place for our children to enjoy. There are a number of similar sites available.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE ORPHANAGE
In addition to donating the land where the orphanage will sit, we will be happy to fully fund the architectural design, permitting and finished construction of the orphanage. In a joint venture with an advanced eco-friendly building system (there are several such systems that we are reviewing) this structure will be among the most environmentally friendly green build in Panama. Below we will introduce you to the parameters of one such building system:
Green Construction
One firm we have reviewed is an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists offering a broad range of professional services. Through their work, they make a positive difference in the world.
Founded in 1946 with an initial focus on structural engineering. this company first came to the world’s attention with the structural design of the Sydney Opera House followed by its work on the Centre Pompidou in Paris. It has since grown into a truly multidisciplinary organization. Most recently its work for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing has reaffirmed its reputation for delivering innovative and sustainable designs that reinvent the built environment. It brings together broad minded individuals from a wide range of disciplines and encourages them to look beyond the constraints of their own specialism.
This unconventional approach to design comes in part from its ownership structure. The firm is owned in trust on behalf of its staff. The result is an independence of spirit that is reflected in the firms work and in its dedicated pursuit of technical excellence.
Construction Technique
The System is a hybrid between SIPS and LGS frame, taking the good points for both and combining them into a cost effective high performing method of construction. Although full wall construction is possible with the System, it is felt that initially the ‘flat pack’ approach is a more economical solution. Disadvantages of SIPS and LGS Frames are not inherited into the System, but many of the advantages are. The beauty of the system is in its simplicity, both in manufacture and construction. This is reflected by the fact that mainly semi-skilled labor can be used to do both.
The structurally insulated panel has many advantages over traditional brick and block, yet it can compliment it equally. Each building type is pre-designed in conjunction with the company therefore producing a blueprint to manufacture from. The key to the system is making sure that the integral steel (or timber) frame aligns from floor to floor, where there are windows or doors then the load from the building must transfer around it to the connected panel below. The panels are constructed in a cast style with the floor structure sitting on the lower panels but maintaining a connection vertically through the wall so as to transfer the load into the foundation. Using this technique it is possible to build up to 8 story’s high, therefore the orphanage can be extended greatly at anytime in the future.
Green Credentials
It is becoming more and more essential for products in the building industry to have impressive green credentials. The System panel is no exception and will excel in this area. The panel can be made to suit different u-value requirements by simply increasing the thickness of the panel, therefore negating the need for extra insulation delivered to site. In combination with the associated technologies Code for Sustainable Homes, levels 4, 5 & 6 can easily be achieved.
Manufacturing
Magnesium Oxide Board
• Manufactured from inorganic substances and natural silicates
• Naturally cured using no energy through cold fusion
• Low impact on the environment
• Fire resistant
• Mildew resistant
• Impact resistant
• ‘Official’ building material of 2008 Olympic buildings in Beijing Polyurethane Foam
• From natural oils
• Zero ozone depletion
• Polymer derived from renewable vegetable oil
• Blowing agent has a global warming potential of less than 1
• Very low thermal conductivity
• Fire retardant Steel Elements
• Galvanized cold form minimum of 65% recycled steel
• Recyclable Construction
• Less deliveries to site
• 1 lorry = 8 lorries of block & insulation
• Possibility of local factories to reduce transportation
• No requirement of ‘wet trades’ for panel construction
• No site waste – delivered to fit
• Bolted, not welded, joints make deconstruction & recycling possible
• Higher levels of health and safety
MUCH MORE THAN JUST ANOTHER ORPHANAGE
It is a sad fact that statistically, the world over, young adults leaving orphanages rarely match their peers in academic achievement or vocational training that leads to a successful and happy career. We aim to change all that! In addition to normal off-site state schooling, our children will leave the orphanage with certified skills. They will be instantly employable, as sought-after leaders, within the ever-expanding organic farming and produce growing sectors.
Having spent five years of their lives learning and practicing advanced techniques, these children will have a number of options open to them. Not to mention having the knowledge to look after the health of their future families through a thorough understanding of a healthy, toxin-free diet. This will be achieved through direct collaboration on-site with the Natural Solutions Foundation who will oversee the entire process.
THE NATURAL SOLUTIONS FOUNDATION
The NSF is the largest Health & Food Freedom organization in the world.
The Natural Solutions Foundation (NSF), an international NGO (Non Governmental Organization which is tax-exempt in the US), was founded in 2004 by Maj. Gen Bert Stubblebine (US Army, Ret) and his wife, Rima E Laibow, MD, focuses on the critically important personal resource of health freedom and its essential twin components:
1. Access to clean, unadulterated food, and
2. Natural health options.
The Foundation realizes that without access to clean, unadulterated food, clean soil and water, low cost, locally produced and controlled energy and natural health options, one possesses neither health nor health freedom. To that end, after a global search for the ideal location, we have located the Valley of the Moon Eco Demonstration Project in Panama for the promulgation and dissemination of reproducible, safe, natural and affordable techniques/technologies to achieve the level of health and freedom possible if those innovations are, in fact, generalized and widely available.
Since its inception, the Natural Solutions Foundation has pursued a vigorous program on many fronts leading to the development of the Valley of the Moon Eco Demonstration Project. It was created as part of the Foundation’s International Decade of Nutrition to bring together leading edge and ancient technologies/techniques to create a sustainable model for health care, food production and other essential teaching communities designed for the widest possible replication and local adaptation combined with legal, international, trade and regulatory strategies to maximize the impact of these technologies/techniques. The NSF currently have agricultural, educational and health projects in the United States, Panama and Africa.
Foundation Mission Statement
Discover, Develop, Document, Demonstrate and Disseminate natural solutions to the issues which threaten our health, food and freedom, achieving and maintaining a healthy self, community and world.
Our Goals
It is not hard to agree that clean agriculture and animal production supplying non-toxic, high nutritive-value foods at low cost and in large amounts, while reclaiming both the soil and the water, controlling pests and plagues naturally, utilizing less water, cleaning the aquifers, protecting diversity, supporting community and capacitation, increasing health, decreasing health care costs and human suffering and providing sustainable energy without environmental degradation are laudable goals, especially when supporting personal and community involvement and substantially decreasing or eliminating dependence on fossil fuel while providing abundant, safe, low cost energy at the same time.
What is challenging is to make it a reality…
The Natural Solutions Foundation is deeply fortunate to have specialists and integrative cross-specialty experts as part of its technical expertise resource base. They are a powerful group of internationally recognized and highly credentialed professionals who have the leading edge techniques and technologies to bring just such changes to Panama.
Members of our expert group have the capacity and control the means to accomplish these goals and disseminate the safe, inexpensive techniques to do so. Our team of experts is uniquely committed to the good that these techniques can do through large scale application and, indeed, the Trustees of the Foundation chose the Chiriquí Province of Panama after a global search for the most promising site on the planet for the Valley of the Moon (VotM) project.
Innovative Technologies
Among our innovative technologies are the ability to:
1. Produce safe, effective and affordable universal antibiotic compounds which leave beneficial organisms intact while killing all known pathogens.
2. Produce safe, environmentally sustainable changes in irrigation water which result in substantial increases in crop yield and quality.
3. Produce hydrogen negative ions which are powerful anti-oxidants and detoxification agents that hold the key to DNA repair in plants and animals, switching on the gene responsible for the production of telomerase. They are culture safe, effective organisms which detoxify soil and other substrates while turning the toxic materials into usable nutrients for beneficial and balanced micro-organisms in that substrate.
4. Produce and deploy materials which safely increase plant and human immune functioning at low cost and high effectiveness.
5. Produce, devices and technology which allow local, sustainable, clean energy production without any environmental degradation.
6. Produce and deploy safe, economical and environmentally sound construction systems.
7. Reduce/eliminate pain, disability and degenerative conditions through the use of suitable frequency techniques.
VALLEY OF THE MOON (VotM)
VotM is currently headquartered in Volcan, at the Natural Solutions Center, where it runs an agricultural teaching program that it wishes to extend to the children of the orphanage, publishes a free bilingual community newspaper for Chiriqui (www.ChiriquiTimes.com) operates the Valley of the Moon BeyondOrganic™ Restaurant and Cafe (the only truly organic restaurant in Panama) www.MyValleyoftheMoon.org, owns and operates a toxin-free coffee finca in Santa Clara near Rio Serrano producing totally toxin-free Valley of the Moon coffee (www.ValleyoftheMoonCoffee.org), runs seminar and teaching programs on site and through its webinar capacity, broadcasts an internet radio program weekly which attracts a large global audience of about a million people and provides drug-free medical care under the license of a Panamanian physician utilizing the knowledge and capacity of the personnel of VotM.
Mission Statement
The creation of a food supply in, and for, Panama produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers or agrochemicals.
Such a food supply must be:
1. ABUNDANT ENOUGH TO BE AFFORDABLE TO EVERY CONSUMER IN PANAMA.
2. PRODUCED BY METHODS WHICH ARE EFFICIENT, SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE so that high crop yield, combined with lower input and production costs, compensates for lower per unit prices resulting from high production, thus sustaining and maintaining the producers of clean food and their consumers.
3. OF SUCH HIGH QUALITY THAT IT CAN BE SOLD ON THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET AT A SIGNIFICANT PREMIUM.
4. A DIRECT CONTRIBUTOR TO:
4.a The viability of the Panamanian agricultural sector, despite the pressure of cheap food imports.
4.b The improved health of the people of Panama.
4.c A massive reduction of disease incidence, prevalence and cost for the treatment of “the preventable, non communicable
diseases of under nutrition”, the major killers and cost consumers of modern society, as identified by The Joint Report of th
World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization, as listed below:
i. Cancer
ii. Cardiovascular Disease
iii. Stroke
iv. Diabetes
v. Obesity
5. AN EDUCATIONAL, HEALTH AND PRODUCTION FULCRUM allowing people to learn and practice either small scale Intensive Urban Agriculture (IAU) or large scale enhanced-production techniques and healthy food choices. VotM will incorporate a BeyondOrganic™ Farm and residential Farm School for farmers and orphans between the age of 13-17 in order to help train a new generation of people who understand and can both use, and teach, the new techniques to their peers, communities and others. Both boys and girls, housed separately, will be accommodated within the BeyondOrganic™ Zero Emissions Farm and Farm School segment of VotM’s program.
6. MEANINGFUL SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION through school-based food production programs including orphanages, special care facilities and community schools offering practical, hands-on educational opportunities for home-based clean food production. This will include the development of “Sustainability Expert” career pathways for graduates of special programs within such institutions as orphanages and focus schools.
7. FOSSIL FUEL-FREE ENERGY INDEPENDENCE for families, communities and larger social units without any environmental devastation or degradation through the use of related technologies.
8. A FOOD PRODUCTION GLOBAL LEADER for other countries to learn from and emulate, making Panama, its food producers and its health care providers, world leaders in the transformation from a society dying from its food and health care (and staggering under unsupportable health care costs) to a society experiencing and propagating widespread health and economic stability and well-being. Food production “Classrooms” in various environments and at various altitudes representing diverse growing eco-niches will add to the global applicability so that farmers and food producers from around the world can come to Panama to learn the sustainable techniques and technologies they need to reclaim the production of clean, healthy food in their own countries.
9. A NATURAL HEALTH CARE GLOBAL LEADER in techniques which allow effective, low cost natural health options to be within everyone’s reach.
10. AN INTERNATIONAL LEADER IN PROTECTING THE FOOD SUPPLY AND AVOIDING NEGATIVE FINANCIAL IMPACT and consequences available only to countries which increase their food quality and utilize the ability offered under the agreements of the World Trade Organization to sell superior food into every other country while restricting the import of inferior foods, all without incurring trade sanctions or other penalties from the World Trade Organization by following the Natural Solution Foundation’s “Codex Two Step Process”, a legal procedure developed by a prestigious Washington law firm and our Foundation Counsel.
11. A DEMONSTRATION OF PERSONAL AND COMMUNITY ENHANCEMENT offered by the creation of Beyond Organic, BioDynamic, Zero Emissions™ (“BOBDZE”™) programs, ecologically sound communities, orphanages and schools for farmers and non-farmers to share high impact, low technology, natural solutions to permit economically and environmentally sustainable, chemical free farming.
12. A DEMONSTRATION OF THE FEASIBILITY of small and large scale soil and water reclamation through advanced, safe and easily used techniques/technologies.
VotM Agricultural Program
The Valley of the Moon Agricultural Program includes:
1. Providing food producers in Panama and elsewhere with the techniques and simple, affordable and easily deployed technologies for reclaiming the production of clean, unadulterated food in large enough quantities to feed themselves, their communities and beyond. These activities will be taught at agricultural “classrooms” at different altitudes and climactic conditions in order to allow farmers from all over the world to have practical, hands on experience in these methods. We see a time in the near future when Panama’s entire food output is clean, uncontaminated and abundant enough to feed its people while being sold on the international market at the high premiums such superior food commands, in order to –
a. Increase the health of the Panamanian population;
b. Increase the sustainability of the Panamanian economy;
c. Preserve the capacity of the PANAMANIAN FARM SECTOR to maintain itself securely and prosperously against the increasing pressure of globalization through cheap, environmentally dangerous GMO products;
d. Decrease the cost of Panamanian health care, providing a relative increase in the GNP of the country;
e. Increase the actual GNP of Panama through strong international sales of premium, unadulterated food;
f. Provide Panama with the means FOR EXCEEDING THE STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES OF THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION through compliance with the provisions of the relevant agreements without creating a technical barrier to Trade in the World Trade Organization (“The Codex Two-Step);
g. Decrease the prevalence and incidence of CANCER, CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE, STROKE, DIABETES AND OBESITY, the “non communicable, preventable diseases of under nutrition”;
h. Teach children and adults how to produce healthy, sustainable food indoors and out in tiny spaces without chemicals, at minimal cost, little effort but with great personal and nutritional benefits.
VotM Environmental & Natural Medicine Program
The Valley of the Moon Environmental & Natural Medicine program will maintain and disseminate effective, inexpensive and gentle natural (e.g., non-pharmaceutical) medicine in order to:
1. Increase the availability of HIGH QUALITY, LOW COST MEDICAL TREATMENT and care for Panamanians at all economic levels;
2. Create a significant medical tourism option since natural medicine will be harder and harder to obtain under the current global assault on it as an economic competitor to unsustainable, but profitable, drug-based illness management systems;
3. DECREASE THE PERCENTAGE OF PANAMA’S GNP SPENT ON HEALTHCARE while increasing treatment outcome success.
VotM Outreach Program
The Valley of the Moon Outreach Program will create a community of interest in natural health & food through:
1. Residential programs for orphans, 15 boys and 15 girls, ages 13-17 with separate housing, to teach the principles and practice of sustainable agriculture, environmental stewardship and natural health. This will lead to both personal choices and occupational capacity, as well as the ability of a household or institution to feed itself and market its products;
2. The development of a Panamanian “Friendly Food Certified”™ food supply. “Friendly Food Certified™” is a certification system created by the Natural Solutions Foundation which is awarded to foods which are friendly to the workers, friendly to the environment and friendly to the consumer. The first Friendly Food Certified product is the Chemical Free, MO-Free and Toxin-Free coffee produced by the VotM on its own teaching Finca in Santa Clara, Chiriquí, called Valley of the Moon Coffee.
NSF & VotM Summary Information
The Natural Solutions Foundation is focused on comprehensive health and food solutions, including the primary importance of access to clean, unadulterated food within the context of functional social systems. We are a not for profit 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization in the United States, a Private Interest Foundation in Panama, and are active in several countries including West Africa. Internationally respected lawyer, Ralph Fucetola JD is the Foundation’s third Trustee.
Since its founding, the Natural Solutions Foundation has pursued a vigorous program on many fronts, including natural solutions to significant social problems centering around access and human rights focusing on health, food, information and technology dissemination and the resultant increased personal and community wellness.
The International Decade of Nutrition is an expression and deepening of an alliance among Health Conscious Nations expressed through international cooperation at Codex Alimentarius (the World Food Code) and the creation of demonstration BeyondOrganic, BioDynamic, Zero Emissions – BO-BD-ZE™, ecologically sound communities orphanages and schools.
These facilities allow farmers to share high impact, low technology natural solutions which permit economically and environmentally sustainable, chemical-free farming. This is what the Foundation is already establishing in Volcan, Panama at
the Natural Solutions Center.
NSF has formed a strategic alliance with the Songhai Foundation, in Porto Nuveau, Benin, West Africa. Songhai Center is Fr.
Godfrey Nzamajo’s UN recognized, outstanding example of high output, low tech, zero toxic input farming. Some of our
environmentally sustainable, yield increasing technologies are currently being tested there through a collaborative effort. The Natural Solutions Foundation of Panama has established the Valley of the Moon™ Eco Community in the bountiful, beautiful, temperate Highlands of Chiriquí Province, Panama.
The intent of the Foundation is to marshal the intellectual and financial resources necessary to establish BeyondOrganic, BioDynamic, Zero Emission demonstration and teaching farm facilities in the Panama Highlands. We have two properties in Panama and a third in process (working in close cooperation with MITA, the Panamanian government organics program), while in Benin we have a cooperative relationship with Fr. Godfrey’s UN Center of Excellence Songhai Community.
The overall Objective is to establish a national, regional and global training system to reclaim the production of clean, unadulterated food and natural health strategies.
OUR PROPOSITION
Our proposition is to build the orphanage to the government’s exact specification. We will project manage and fund the entire build project, including land, and deliver the brand new orphanage for the government to operate and manage. In return, we would like the First Lady to be an Honorable member of the not-for-profit charitable entity and commit to being involved in the growth of the project through a press event when we break ground and another to cut the ribbon on the completed orphanage. We strongly believe that this small pilot program will grow exponentially and hope that the First Lady, upon realizing the positive impact on our children, will continue to play a part in its development, way beyond the lifetime of the current government. Exact details regarding the First Lady’s involvement will be suggested as we finalize arrangements.
SUMMARY
Through the collaboration of the individuals and entities mentioned in this document, the following are our summary points:
• We will provide an ideal residential environment for initially 30 boys and girls aged between 13 & 17 without families.
• This pilot program is designed to be scalable upon success with no ceiling.
• In addition to the children’s standard off-site education, we will provide them with classroom & practical facilities to learn the benefits of modern, sustainable, organic farming. They will be taught inexpensive and easily deployed techniques in plant farming to produce:
a) High crop yields;
b) High nutrient density;
c) Long storage life;
d) Decreased water usage &
e) Decreased production cost.
Likewise, in animal farming they will learn to:
a) Increase animal production;
b) Grow healthier, drug-free animals;
c) Decrease negative environmental impact &
d) Decrease production costs.
• Our advanced, safe, leading-edge techniques/technologies are effective and lead to greatly increased output and greatly decreased input. As opposed to industrialized food production using agricultural chemicals which are dangerous and lead to high rates of cancer, autism, infertility and other serious disease – as sadly demonstrated in the Cerro Punta region of Panama, which has enormously high rates of these due to the farming practices followed there.
• We will reverse Panama’s dependence on high level toxic chemicals which are destructive to soil, human & animal health and fertility. Reclamation of land using safe, sustainable technologies is fast, easy and inexpensive, allowing farmers to restore the fertility of the land destroyed by chemicals and unwise husbandry practices.
• It is our aim to bring about the changes and developments necessary to usher in an era of clean food, natural health, green, local energy and genuine sustainability.
• Through high quality food intake, clean water and an uncontaminated environment, these children will grow up with healthy immune systems and understand the importance of making healthy decisions for the rest of their lives.
• This program will ultimately reduce Panama’s healthcare costs, which have risen as the quality of its citizen’s diet has declined, resulting in huge human and economic cost – which are both preventable and reversible.
• We will provide clean, efficient, locally produced food and energy which are essential for economic and environmental survival.
• We shall endeavor to reverse the dangerous and damaging effects of agrochemicals that are well characterized and evident in the seriously compromised health and reproductive status of farmers, their families and consumers here in Panama.
• These non communicable, preventable diseases of under nutrition defined by World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have risen to epidemic proportions and consume the greatest share of the health care budget: cancer, cardiovascular, stroke, diabetes and obesity.
CONCLUSION
In addition to operating one of the most unique orphanage’s in the world, the above measures will eventually increase Panama’s GNP significantly. Medical tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors within the global travel industry today. Then there is the enormous premium export market for quality organic produce the world over.
RELEVANT WEBSITES
www.NaturalSolutionsFoundation.org
www.FoodFreedomeJournal.org
www.MyValleyoftheMoon.org
www.GlobalHealthFreedom.org
www.GlobalFoodFreedom.org
www.InternationalDecadeofNutrition.org
www.DrRima.net
Thank you for the opportunity to present our proposal to you, we look forward to our next meeting…
Maj. Gen. Albert N. Stubblebine III
Natural Solutions Foundation