June 9, 2012

I received an email from Pastor Ososo this morning and he sent me an update on his passion fruit orchard in Busia.  We had originally planted 230 seedlings at his Shamba last October.  The annual rains did not come as planned in November and December.  January, February, and March saw very little rain as well.  April the rains started again and it continues to rain on a regular basis.  If you have been reading along with my blogs you know that I have been on an emotional roller coaster for the last 6 months.  It has been really difficult to be 8000 miles away and not able to help with the situation.

I pray we are on our way to some sort of recovery.  Pastor Ososo tells me that he has 160 vines still growing.  By my calculations we have lost about 30 percent of the original seedlings.  It's a sad loss but if there is a silver lining we still have 70 percent of the orchard growing and we can always plant more to replace the gaps.  He has sent a few pictures to show you.  Some of them are starting to produced some fruit.  Of what is left of the passion fruit vines they look very healthy to me.  The posts, vine supports, and wire are all up.  The ground looks a little dry but it appears to be free of weeds.  Continue to pray with me that this orchard along with the others make it to maturity and help provide an income that these people really need.

Pastor Ososo and one of the passion fruit vines

Another vine



And another with some fruit

And another

We had planted two other plots in the Busia area.  I believe Pastor Odongo's orchard took a pretty heavy loss.  I am not sure how the Councilors plot has done.  If I get any word I will pass it along.  I should be getting some more updates soon on the other 20 something orchards. 

One of the other projects we contributed to last summer with Pastor Ososo's home church Matasia United Methodist Church was the sim sim and ground nut project.  They have been selling the two products in the shop they set up along with eggs and cereals.  They have also added ornamental items made out of animal bones, horns, and other environmental leftovers.  If you remember the proceeds of this project is to help support the dozen or so orphans this church supports.  Pastor Ososo will get me some pictures and more of an update later.  As of last summer they had hired two women to operate the store.  Hopefully as the summer progresses more items can be added to the mix of items sold at the store.  I know that this church has the desire to add baked products and honey to the mix.  The Matasia UMC has been working this project for years supporting the orphans in its care.  The long term goal is to purchase a plot of land and build a permanent home for the orphans.  The last I heard they were about a quarter of the way to their goal.  Helping this church help themselves will hopefully get them to their goal much quicker.

Take care and God bless you all

Dave