Nine days until my return to Kenya

Greetings

I hope everyone had a happy and fun Labor Day!!  I kept meaning to get on this blog but I just can’t seem to get it done.  It has been what three weeks since I have last blogged.  I did not miss a day while I was in Kenya but here in the states the time just flies by and I write nothing.

I guess the cure to my delinquent blogging problem is to get back in the mood and return to Kenya for the next phase of our venture.  I have booked my return trip to Kenya for September 14 and returning to the states on October 10.  This time I will fly out of Chicago instead of Philly but still fly KLM thru Amsterdam and then to Nairobi.  I would suggest never try and book a flight so close to the departure date.  I only wanted to stay for three weeks.  I could get to Kenya just fine but getting back home was proving to be very difficult.  With the dates I wanted my trip home in October would have been almost 68 hours with all the layovers.  I am a little on the insane side but who in their right mind would book a set of flights that took 68 hours.  Not me!!

As all of you know that have been following along with my daily blog (ok I missed a few days) we had started a few projects earlier this summer.  We had the ground nut project, the lathe, the motor bike, and the passion fruit orchard for the widows.  We also spent some time in Maralal building desks, also wiring the Lare-Oibor school and church.  I also spent some time in Busia with Councilor Ben and the fish ponds.

This trip will be almost all about passion fruit.  In order to make the widow’s orchard viable 169 seedlings would not have been enough fruit to have someone come pick it up on a regular basis.  My understanding is that in order to fill a US AID truck we need to have about 5 acres of fruit or somewhere around 5000 vines.  Each vine is to yield if properly maintained up to 1 kilogram of fruit a week.  If my math is proper this equals about 10,000 pounds a week.  At 80 Ksh a kilogram and the exchange rate now at 90 Ksh to a dollar the 6000 seedlings should produce a decent amount of money.

Our window of opportunity to plant is around the first week of October well in advance of the rainy season later in November.  Upon leaving back in July some of my friends in Kenya were hoping to plant 10 to 20 maybe 40 acres of passion fruit this October.  The more I thought about it the more concerned I got.  It took how long to plant 169 seedlings and now we are going to jump to tens of thousands of seedlings.  Nope.  I have been telling my friends that we need to take baby steps and 169 seedlings to 20,000/40,000 is not what I would call a baby step.  In fact 169 to 6000 is not a baby step but we have to give it a try.  With the Grace of God we will prevail.  Viability of the project depends on enough fruit that makes it to market.

The last I heard the widow’s orchard is doing just fine.  Work has already started on the grafting of the 6000 seedlings since they are to be grafted six weeks before planting.  The total number of plots will be in the neighborhood of 20 to 24 orchards in and around Kakamega.  My good friend Bishop Hezron has already planted since his maize was harvested early.  Many of the other sites have started to plow and getting the soil ready for planting in a few weeks.  Many if not all of these plots are to be used as community plots or for funding the various ministries, schools, the clinic on Mt. Elgon, widow’s, orphan’s, and other support.  The amount of people that these 24 plots could eventually help support and care for is staggering.  It is well in the hundreds and it could easily be over a thousand.

As of right now we have 2000 seedlings earmarked on 7 plots in Kakamega including one 1/3 acre plot for the Kakamega widow’s group which brings the total for the women to about 500 vines.  Pastor John Imala will be using his ½ acre to help support his school of over a hundred kids.  We have 2000 seedlings earmarked on 8 plots in and around Bungoma.  We have 1000 seedlings on 4 plots in Mumias including 250 seedlings for a widow’s group of over 100 women.  At a future date we will need to plant more acreage for these women.  This plot will hardly make a dent into helping 100 women and their children earn a living.  We also have 500 seedlings that we want to plant in Busia on 2 plots and 500 seedlings on two plots on Mt. Elgon.  The Mt. Elgon orchards are to be used to help fund the clinic that is needed on the mountain to serve the IDP’s/squatters and villagers that have to walk 20 kilometers to the nearest first aid station near Kitale.

While I am in Kenya I also plan to go back to Busia to meet with Councilor Ben and some of the fish farmers to see what can be done to organize them.  Hopefully my good friend Pastor Ososo will be able to travel to Busia to meet with us too.  It would be great to bring the 1000 plus fish ponds into one co-operative entity.  One thousand fish ponds with a thousand fish average out of every pond equal a million fish in a 9 month cycle.  If everyone is able to get the going rate of 150 Ksh per fish the sales of these fish are well over a million dollars.  This will go a very long way in getting whatever they need to be successful.  If there are any fish farmers out there your help in organizing these people would be greatly appreciated.  The first step of this project is getting organized and should not cost any money in the short term.  Later once they are organized then some sort of refrigerated storage facility and/or processing facility could help them better manage the market.  Right now once the fish are pulled from the pond the clock starts ticking and by the end of the day the potential buyer has the fish farmer by the gills so to speak.

If anyone is compelled to help us in our quest to help those less fortunate then ourselves we would be most appreciative of your support.  At this time we are not offering any investment opportunities into the micro-finance venture but are accepting donations to help with the funding of this particular project.  You can mail a check to:

Olathe Wesleyan Church
15320 S. Ridgeview Road
Olathe, KS 66062
Attn: Dave Wood Kenya Trip

Take care and God Bless

Dave