Two days to go

Greetings

Well were getting down to the wire and of course I am rushing to get everything done.  I am definitely packing lite.  My flight out of Nairobi to Kakamega I am only allowed 40 lbs total between my back pack and suitcase.  I was over last time and the nice guy at the airstrip let me pass.  Of course there were only 4 passengers on the flight and there were 19 seats so I do not think my extra pounds in my suit case were going to make that much difference.  I did notice when the plane landed in the morning before its return to Nairobi it was full.  Not looking to pack much, my beef jerky and slim jims don’t weigh much.

When we started thinking of working these projects one of our objectives was the ability to replicate what we did in one area and do it in another.  We have the 40 something widow’s in Kakamega and if we can get them working a passion fruit orchard we can get more widow’s groups involved.  In Mumias we have a plot ready for a widow’s group of over one hundred women.  Their first plot will be 42 meters by 42 meters.  This plot will be just over a third of an acre and should hold about 350 seedlings.  Again to help over one hundred widow’s we will need more then this plot but it is an excellent start.  Once we have orchards for the widow’s in Kakamega and Mumias we can go elsewhere and help other widow’s in other towns too.  We can also replicate this project and put some orchards to support orphans.  Within the various ministries we are working with there are literally thousands of widow's and orphans that could use some help.

Some of the widow's that I met with in Mumias on my last visit

The widow's sponsor the Galilaya Church in Mumias

      

Thanks to all of you that have given our cause your prayers and support over the years.  Today I rejoice that we are making a difference in the lives of some of us that have the least.

 

Take care and God Bless

Dave 

Three days to go

Greetings

Well I thought I could write the blog every day but it just wasn’t in the cards yesterday.  I had been very tired on Saturday evening when I left the plant so I rested.  I rented a couple of movies watched and went to sleep.  I must be losing it big time.  I kept looking at the movie Inception at the video store but I could not remember if I have ever seen it before.  I could have sworn I had seen it and I am not really the type of person that likes to watch movies more then once.  I rented it, I watched it, and I have seen it before.  Not sure where I saw it because I can't remember watching it.  It must have been on one of my long flights when I was half asleep or it was implanted in my brain somehow.

I usually write my blog in the evening so I can post it in the morning.  While in Kenya I write in the evening so I can tell the days events.  Kenya is eight hours ahead Eastern Standard Time so I get to write, post, and you all get the blog first thing in the morning.

As my kids used to say only “three more sleeps before departure day”.  Today I spent much of the day getting stuff organized for the journey.  I also cooked myself some Jell-O chocolate pudding.  I am not a big fan of instant pudding.  There is nothing like cooked chocolate pudding made with real whole milk on the stove.  I made the larger package but I should have made two boxes.  I still have it in the fridge waiting for some real cream whipped cream.  Don’t worry I still have a few more days before I leave and yes Wendy’s is on the menu.  Maybe twice.

Pastor Robert has a plot of passion fruit at Wamula International which we visited back on my last trip.  We saw his techniques and learned that he experiments with different styles of planting and caring for the plants to increase yield.  Pastor Robert has been financed by US AID to build his nursery and sell seedlings.  On his plot we had noticed that we did not need to put up so many posts and concentrate on two large posts on the ends with smaller sticks or posts along the row.  This will definitely drive down the cost.  I was hoping that we can get the larger posts for 70 Ksh to 80 Ksh a piece.  If this is possible then much of my worries will be taken care of since the three major costs are posts, wire, and seedlings. 

Wamula International Nursery

US AID support

Larger support posts on the end of the rows

Passion fruit seedlings ready for planting

Inside the nursery

While in Kenya last time I had spent some time going to different Home Depots and Lowes looking for deals on wire and possibly reducing the gage to reduce cost.  Trying to get the size of the wire from the owner was difficult. He kept telling me it was six or eight gage and it was galvanized.  I do know it was pretty thick and I told him that I wanted to go thinner.  I also told him I could get by with regular steel wire.  We tried to read the tags but there was no information to tell the gage.  It seemed as if I went to Home Depot or Lowes it did not matter they had the same wire.  I asked the owner if I could see the packing slip.  No such thing.  How about an invoice?  I guess he did not want me to see what he was paying for the wire.  My choices were this thick galvanized six, eight, or ten gage I am not sure (metric) or we jump to regular steel wire that looks to be fourteen or sixteen gage at best.  Nothing in between like a steel ten or twelve gage wire.  Anyway I was able to talk the owner to drop the cost of the wire from 250 Ksh per kilogram to 150 Ksh per kilogram if I bought in bulk.  This should help us out greatly.

Again if you are compelled to donate to this or any of the other projects we are working on please send us a check to:  On your check and on the envelope write Attn: Dave Wood Kenya Trip.

Olathe Wesleyan Church

15320 S. Ridgeview Road

Olathe, KS 66062

Attn: Dave Wood Kenya Trip

Take care and God Bless

Dave 

Five days to go

Greetings

Yesterday I had the pleasure of driving on Interstate 80 south of Chicago.  There is one sixty cent toll booth going west and there is one sixty cent toll booth going east.  About a mile or so before the toll booths there are huge signs that tells you that there is a toll booth ahead.  As you approach the toll booth you can see it plain as day.  I would assume that those that are driving can see or at least I hope they can.  There are easy pass lanes and there are the traditional toll booth collectors smoking exhaust all day.  Within plenty of time to the booth there is a sign that tells you that it is sixty cents.  Of course I always look for the shortest line of vehicles including trucks.  This time I was following a dark green Grand Prix and I knew I was in trouble when she started to slow down way before the toll booth.  There were no cars in front of her.  I was wedged between two trucks so I was unable to change lanes.  She continued to inch forward slowly and finally stops at the booth and just sits there.  The window is still up and well over a minute (of course it felt like five) goes by before the window goes down and she gives the guy some change.  It is a good thing I am not allowed to pass any laws because I would make one that would only give you a maximum of 15 to 20 seconds to pay your toll or you get hauled off to jail and sit in the cell for an hour.  No I really would not do that but why can’t people have there toll money ready when they get to the booth?

As you all know we had planted 169 passion fruit seedlings for the widow’s in Kakamega earlier this summer.  My understanding is that they are doing very well.  My prayer is that this small orchard will be the start of some real income for these 40 plus women.  Between them all they have virtually nothing.  Being a widow in Kenya is pretty much just that very few if any get remarried because of cultural beliefs.  Many of these widow’s are not very old and still have small children.  Many times they have their property taken by relatives and sent packing.  Pastor John Imala has been so gracious to allow the widow’s to plant the seedlings on his land for them to earn an income.  I pray that this plot will bring in about 13,000 Ksh a week for them.  This is not a lot for 40 women but it much more then they have now. 

Councilor Bianna has given a third of an acre of her and her husbands land for the widow’s to use.  I am not sure if it has been plowed and is actually ready yet but before I leave in October it should be done.  On this plot I have calculated that we can put up to another 300 seedlings for them.  Between the two plots the women should be getting closer to 40,000 shillings a week.  Splitting this among 40 women still only gives them about 1000 shillings a week but in Kenya this is above the average weekly wage.  Hopefully over time they will have other opportunities to take their earnings to acquire more plots or expand into different ventures to make money for themselves.

This is the other third acre plot for the widow's

If you would like to donate and help out with this project or want to help with any of the ministries that I have been talking about you can send a check to:

Olathe Wesleyan Church

15320 S. Ridgeview Road

Olathe, KS 66062

Attn: Dave Wood Kenya Trip

Take care and God Bless

Dave 

Six days to go

Greetings

It’s getting closer and yes I am starting to get more excited to go back and visit my friends in Kenya.  I really feel that God has great plans for his people.  I also believe that the dark side is putting his touch to the plans as well.  Again I might be over reacting but for some reason I am on the roller coaster ride even before I get back to Kenya.  I cannot get a good read on how I really feel.  My mind races with details and I sometimes feel completely helpless.  I spent over 30 years working with tasks and projects but for some strange reason I feel completely out of my league.  How hard can it be to plant a few seedlings?  Please keep me and my friends in your prayers for the next month or so.  I really pray that I am over reacting.

I will speak some more to passion fruit tomorrow.  Today I would like to mention the two other projects that we funded while in Kenya.  Mathew the owner of Victory Furniture Designers in Mumias and the Project Manager for Freedom Ministries in Kenya went electrical in one of his shops.  His business started thirteen years ago and he pretty much worked out of the same shop building his business.  He had up to eight or so workers over the years manually making furniture as business demands dictated.  He recently opened his second shop just outside of Mumias and it had electricity hooked up and he wanted to purchase some electrical shop equipment.  We had loaned him the money to buy a lathe.  Since having the lathe he now will reduce the cost of sending out his work to another shop and it has required him to hire someone to work the lathe.  He also will be making furniture parts for others that do not have a lathe which in turn increases his business.  He is looking to purchase his next pieces of equipment to have the ability to make all the different parts he needs.  In turn it looks like he will need to hire some more employees to meet his demand.  Mathew has decided to pay off his loan early in anticipation on getting other loans to buy more equipment.  At some point he is looking to buy a truck for needed supplies and delivery options.  We wish him good fortune in his work as he serves our Lord.

Charles the Associate Bishop with Freedom Ministries who also lives in Mumias had been renting a motor bike for the last three years at 300 Ksh a day.  He had to pay the rent every day.  Which meant he had to have enough put back in case his sales for the day did not meet the days rent.  In Kenya there really is no such thing as vacation among the poor.  If you want to eat you work all the time.  Charles does have his one day off on Sunday and was not required to pay that day.  Saturday yes he paid.  We were able to help him purchase a motor bike and his payments were then to be paid monthly but if you take it to the daily rate it was in the neighborhood of 50 Ksh a day.  The last I heard is that he too is looking to pay off his loan so it is his.  With the extra money he is sending his kids to school and he feels so much better about his and his family’s position in life.  You never know he might someday buy another motor bike(s) and rent them out like was done to him.  Hopefully his terms of rental will not be so harsh.

Once I am in Kenya I will be in touch with these two gentlemen to review where they are and the improvements they have seen.  As I travel back and forth working these projects we do not want to lose sight of those that we have already touched.  I really hope that those of you that are reading this can see how God is touching these people.  Again if you feel compelled to send some money or even some more money you can write a much appreciated check to:   

Olathe Wesleyan Church

15320 S. Ridgeview Road

Olathe, KS 66062

Attn: Dave Wood Kenya Trip

Take care and God Bless

Dave 

Seven days to go

Greetings

Three days in a row.  I am definitely on a roll now.  Seven days until my departure.  Hard to believe that it has already been nine weeks since I have been back in the states.  Upon my departure next week it will be ten weeks since I came back to the states.  I can honestly say that the ten weeks I spent in Kenya seemed like a much longer time then the ten weeks here in the states.  Today I had a spicy chicken sandwich in anticipation of the Wendy’s withdrawals I will suffer once I am out of the country.  Since I will be staying at the guest house that has laundry service I have decided I can sacrifice clothing in my one small suitcase for some treats.  Last time I went to Costco and bought some stuff but it was gone in a couple of weeks.  This time I have to plan for at least 24 days of the 28 days I will be gone.  I already have some slim jims and plan on some jerky.  If anyone has any ideas pass them along.  I do not eat stuff that is too healthy and consider pop tarts a decent breakfast food.

Pastor Ososo wrote me the other day and told me that he had been to Funyula to start on his plot in Busia as well as getting the caretaker of Pastor Odongo’s plot organized.  Pastor Odongo is presently studying in his second year of three years at the African University in Zimbabwe along with Pastor Ososo’s son Reuben.  On my first visit I had met Pastor Odongo and he was serving as the Pastor of the Highrise UMC in the Kibera slum.  Reuben was serving as the Head Master of the Dr. BT Cooper Academy in the Kayole slum.  Pastor Ososo is the District Superintendent of the Nairobi United Methodist Church.  All three of these gentlemen have a real passion to serve those in the hardest hit areas of Nairobi the slums.  Pastor Ososo has taken me to visit with some of his pastors and people in every major slum in Nairobi.  None of the pastors or the DS are paid and one of our major objectives is to help provide an income so they can continue to minister to those in the slums that have little if anything.  For those of you that have visited one of the Nairobi slums can understand that there is not much of an economy and surely not many good paying jobs.

Highrise UMC in Kibera slum Nairobi

Pastor Odongo with Reuben to his right

Upwards of a million people in one square mile (Kibera)

Dr. BT Cooper Academy in Kayole slum

Courtyard of the BT Cooper Academy

One of the classrooms at the BT Cooper Academy

When I visited Highrise at the edge of Kibera the first time back in 2009 I was amazed to learn that the church had to be assembled and disassembled every Sunday.  Think about that the next time you are sitting in your cushioned pew looking at the stained glass windows listening to the choir singing traditional hymns.  There are a few of these style churches in Nairobi but the vast majority of the churches I have visited are either made of sticks, plastic sheeting, corrugated sheeting, cow dung, or just a group of trees with some chairs to sit on.  With the two plots in Busia we will be able to help Pastor Ososo with his duties in Nairobi, some funds to help with Reuben at the university, and Pastor Odongo to help support him and his family while he attends school in Zimbabwe.  Once both Pastor Odongo and Reuben are finished with their studies they will be right back into the slums of Nairobi ministering to the needy. 

Here is a little video of a visit to a small church on Mt. Elgon that our traveling group visited back in December of 2009.  This is the home church of Pastor Joseph and this is where we want to plant 500 passion fruit seedlings to help support a clinic to serve the IDP’/Squatters that have taken up residence.  Most of these people live at an elevation of seven to nine thousand feet and must come down to the base of the mountain closer to the six thousand foot mark to visit the first aid station.  Not only is it a couple thousand foot decent and return it is up to 20 kilometers away.  I remember it very well being somewhere up there with a pounding heart trying to pump oxygen to my brain.  I was able to speak for an hour or so but afterwards all I remember was feeling really bad.  Hopefully this next trip if we go up the mountain my body is better adjusted to the altitude.  Thanks Aaron for the video.

Small church on Mt. Elgon singing us a traditional song

As we start to plant these orchards I want to make sure that I can tell the stories behind them all.  As I said before one of our major goals is to reach those that have not been reached or those no one else wants to reach.  Mt. Elgon is an area not many missionaries go to.  My understanding is that our little five person group were the first white people (Mzungu’s) to visit this small village.  Yes most of them have seen white people before but never in their village up the side of the mountain.  It is usually the small children that freak out the first time they see a Mzungu.  I can’t count how many times I have had a child scream for dear life upon the sight of me.  I guess I just set myself up with that comment.  Go ahead I deserve it.  Usually they run to an older child or adult and try to hide.  When they run to another child that child will try to get them to touch me or rub my arm.  Some times it works many times not.  You would believe that this is impossible in this day and age.  As I have said before some people never stray but a few miles from their homes in their entire lives.  Think about that the next time you get on the interstate for a family vacation. 

Just a few months before our arrival on Elgon horrible atrocities had been committed amongst the different tribes.  Eventually the Kenyan Military had to come in, restored the peace and continue to this day with a presence to maintain order.  On the day of our visit our hosts were so gracious that they took their only goat and slaughtered it to feed our group.  I pray that we will be successful with this orchard to help fund this clinic so people mostly children will not die for lack of some basic medical attention.  If a child in the bush can make it past five their chances of making it to adulthood are much greater.  That pesky little mosquito that bites us here in the states well that pesky little Kenyan mosquito in the bush can be a painful death to a small child.  Having some basic medical attention increases that persons chances for survival many times over.

Again if you feel compelled to send some money or even some more money you can write a much appreciated check to:   

Olathe Wesleyan Church

15320 S. Ridgeview Road

Olathe, KS 66062

Attn: Dave Wood Kenya Trip

Take care and God Bless

Dave 

Eight days to go

Greetings

I can’t believe it I am actually writing to my blog for two days in a row.  Let’s see if I can keep at it.  Today we reached a new milestone.  We have now been viewed at every corner of the world.  It took 54 countries before the number 55 in Bolivia.  So now South America has viewed the blog.  Out of the 55 countries 20 have been in Europe, 13 in Asia, 10 in Africa, 6 in the Middle East, 3 in North America, 1 in South America, Australia, and New Zealand.  Now we need one of those lush Pacific island nations like Fiji to take a look.  Anyone know anybody in Fiji?  Pass along the blog.

Since my return to the states in July I have been in communication with my friends in Kenya and I really really need to learn Swahili.  I saw this commercial on TV where this guy walks up to this other guy says something into his phone and it translates it into the other language so the guy he is talking to can understand what he is saying.  When is someone going to invent a device that can be implanted into my brain so I can communicate properly with anyone anywhere in the world?  Don’t laugh it is just around the corner.

As I said yesterday we will be planting about 24 orchards of passion fruit in and around Kakamega.  While I was in Kenya helping plant the first orchard I came up with a list of costs to plant orchards of various sizes.  We learned that we did not need to have as many support posts as I had done with the widow’s plot.  I have also learned that if we have long rectangular plots the cost of posts go down even further since we really only need two large posts per row.  I was also able to reduce the future cost of the support wire and barbed wire if we were to purchase larger quantities.  I believe there might be other savings in the quantities of scale that can help us out.  I had come up with a figure of about one thousand dollars an acre.  This includes seedlings, posts, wire, plowing, fertilizer, and chemicals.  Maintenance and labor would be covered by the stake holders. 

I am going to do my best to get these 24 plots on a total of 5 or 6 acres planted for the budget of one thousand dollars per acre.  We are going to purchase as if we are planting 5 or 6 acres and see where that goes.  To plant the sixth of an acre that the widows had was about four hundred dollars without fencing.  I did not include the research and traveling around doing everything in the price.  I also did not include the training in the number since training will be more of a case by case basis.  I pray that we are successful in reducing the cost of a smaller plot to something that is more affordable and we can reach many more people then only planting larger plots.  Please keep us in your prayers because I have my doubts and my faith is not where it should be. 

I still have not figured out how we are going to provide training.  We do not have enough money in the budget at this point to provide the training to everyone.  I am hoping that the lesson I learned with the spaghetti in Mumias will repeat itself.  It was day 36 Mumias on June 13, 2011 and I was told that there would be about a dozen maybe 15 people at Mathew’s house for spaghetti dinner.  I purchased what I thought was enough for 15 people.  By the time dinner was ready there were 40 people that had showed up for the show.  Everyone had their fill and no one went home hungry.  This is how the Apostles felt when people were showing up and they only had a few loaves of bread and some fish.  Check out day 36 back in June it was a good story.  I am probably over reacting to all these little issues and should have more faith in God to provide what is needed as he sees it.  What is the Kenyan saying “No worries”?

Again keep me and my friends in Kenya in your prayers as we get ready to what I believe will be a near miracle to get all these orchards planted in the next couple of weeks.  Again if you feel compelled to donate to help with my expenses or to help with transportation costs on the ground, or training costs please feel free to give us as much money as you like.  Sometimes people feel bad when they can’t give a lot of money to a cause.  Let me tell you that even 10 bucks goes a long way.  My five star hotel only costs 10 bucks a night.  A good meal for a couple bucks.  What really costs is the gasoline at almost 6 bucks a gallon.  I know that quite a few of you that are reading this understand that it does not take a ton of money to make a difference in the lives of these people that are less fortunate then ourselves. 

You might also consider when you are budgeting your charitable giving to take a look at some of the organizations such as World Vision or Compassion International when deciding to help out.  Sponsoring a child doesn’t cost as much as you might think and the difference in their lives are enormous.

You can write a much appreciated check to:   

Olathe Wesleyan Church
15320 S. Ridgeview Road
Olathe, KS 66062

Attn: Dave Wood Kenya Trip

Take care and God Bless

Dave 

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