August 7, 2012

Greetings

Today Hezron e-mailed me with an update on the orchards in Mumias and Melissa Okaba's plot.  He has also sent some pictures from them as well.  A few months ago I was worried that the drought in Western Kenya this last winter took a really heavy toll on the orchards.  Granted we did lose quite a few seedlings and early reports were more then half died.  Out of the seven orchards that Hezron just reported on it looks like we lost between thirty and thirty five percent of the vines.  Some of the seven lost more and some have lost less.  I am not positive of the actual number of seedlings planted at each location.  I allocated each plot the number of seedlings based on the size of the orchard but when it came time to plant the dimensions had changed a bit.

Galilaya church started as a smaller plot and it was increased after the land owner gave some more land to use.  Their allocation was 190 seedlings.  The widow's in Mumias had a larger plot but only half was planted so the land owner could continue to plant maize.  If the passion fruit did well it was planned to expand to the other half.  The widow's in Mumias were allocated 246 seedlings.  The Jerusalem church in Mumias had two small plots and their allocation between the two was 134 seedlings.  The Khabukoshe church on the road to Bungoma is also two plots with an allocation of 156 seedlings.  Melissa Okaba's plot was allocated 250 seedlings.  Hezron tells me that there is many fruit and they are starting to ripen for market.  It is now time to get them to market.  My prayer is that the income generated from each orchard will sustain the maintenance and needs of the orchard.  In addition this should start to provide an income for the stakeholders.  As the income generates and money becomes available the stakeholders are to start repaying the cost of these orchards.  These returned funds then can be used to help finance more projects within the community.

 Galilaya Church Plot

Mumias Widow's Plot

 

One of the Jerusalem Church Plots

Another of the Jerusalem Plots

One of the Khabukoshe Church Plots

Another of the Khabukoshe Church Plots

Melissa Okaba's Plot 

It's been nine months since the plantings last fall and a few years since my first trip to Kenya.  It has seemed like an eternity since I paid my first visits to this area of Kenya and spoke of coming back to do what I could to help.  In my humble opinion this has taken way too long and I probably should of been fired long ago.  Maybe just maybe we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel.  There is more to come as Hezron is on the way to report on the other orchards.  Hopefully now I can start to make my return plans to Kenya next month. 

Take care and God bless

Dave

July 15, 2012

Hi all

Well we have another mixed review from the orchards in Kenya.  First we have the bad news coming in from Mt. Elgon.  Bishop Hezron has told me that the losses on the mountain are pretty steep.  It appears that three quarters of the crop was lost due to a variety of reasons.  They were hit with the lack of rain as did much of Western Kenya after the planting last October.  Not only did the rain do some damage but some freezing temperatures took some out too.  Mt. Elgon is a very large shield volcano 14,000  feet above sea level sitting just north of the equator.  I am not sure of the exact elevation of the orchard but I assumed it was somewhere near 8,000 feet above sea level.  I know when I am up there my heart is pounding something fierce trying to get oxygen through my body.  Maybe having a severe iron deficiency in my blood has something to do with it.  Anyway I was under the impression that the only parts of the mountain that experienced freezing temperatures we above 10,000 feet.  The mountain does get snow at the highest elevations but when it does snow it is gone by mid morning.  However Hezron has told me that the surviving vines are doing well.  Maybe once the vines get hardy they can withstand some cold temperatures and a period of no rain.  I know it is hard to believe that it gets cold in Africa especially on the equator but believe me it gets pretty chilly sometimes.

For the better we have a report and some pictures coming in from Pastor Robert in Bulimbo.  We allocated 1000 seedlings for the three orchards in Bulimbo.  As you know we had lost Stephan's orchard due to his and his wife's untimely death.  Also planted in Bulimbo was a plot for Pauline.  I am not sure exactly how the vines were finally allocated among the three orchards but Roberts was by far the largest of the three.  I am under the impression that Robert had added some more vines on his own to grow his orchard to 800 vines.  Robert has been growing passion fruit for many years and is quite capable of keeping his orchard healthy.  According to Robert he did not lose that many seedlings due to the drought.  By the looks of the five pictures he sent me it is pretty impressive.  Robert tells me that he should start harvesting sometime in August.  It's been about a year since the first vines were planted in Kakamega and now I can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.  However it looks like these pictures were taken at night.

Pastor Robert and one of the passion fruit vines

 

Pastor Robert and another vine

This one is not as high up

Looking good

I also see a flower on the vine

Between Mt. Elgon and Bulimbo almost a third of the vines were planted.  Such a disparity between many of these orchards.  Some do very well and some have not done so well.  My hope is that the majority of them are doing well enough to produce an income.  At some point here in the near future a decision needs to be made on what to do about going forward with this project.  Again it is very difficult to troubleshoot this issue from 8,000 miles away.  I am now more then anxious to get back to Kenya to see these orchards first hand.  Every day we get closer to seeing some income generated that will touch those that could really use it. 

Take care and God bless.

Dave

  

July 3, 2012

Greetings

What a difference a few months, lots of prayers (thx), and a good amount of rain can do to change our situation in Western Kenya.  Starting almost a year ago we planted the first of twenty seven passion fruit orchards on a 1/5 acre plot that Pastor John Imala had donated to the Kakamega Blessed the Blessed Widows group.  We went into this with very high hopes for a future income for the forty something widows of the group.  If you have been following along with my blogs for the last year you know that this plot of seventy something vines has had its ups and downs.  Right now I do not know what to think and how to really tell the story.  Let me see if I can give a quick history in a sentence or two.  We planted some vines, some lived, some died, the widows planted some kale, we replanted the dead, the widows disappeared, the rains did not come as expected, we still could not find the widows, the orchard went to weeds, some of the widows came back, the widows cleaned up the orchard, the widows planted some maize, the rains came again, the orchard is now a mixture of maize and passion fruit vines.  Pastor John Imala had planted maize with his orchard too.  Conventional wisdom told us not to plant maize with the passion fruit.  However while the passion was struggling the maize grew well and now there will be a harvest of maize later this month.  The income will in turn help the Blessed the Blessed Widows group and the eighty or so Blessed the Blessed Early Childhood Development Center children.  Not sure what is going to happen after the maize is harvested.  I hope to be kept in the loop and I will report as I get the info.

Kakamega widows orchard last July

Kakamega widows orchard today

In order for the first plot to be viable and to get enough fruit to take to market it was decided that we needed more then seventy vines.  We decided to plant another six thousand vines over another twenty six orchards scattered across Western Kenya.  We planted on Mt. Elgon (2), Bulimbo (3), Busia (3), Bungoma (4), Mumias (6), and a few areas around Kakamega/Shibuli (9).  Nine months ago I returned to Kenya for a month to help get this done.  Again if you have been reading my blogs you will know that the rains did not come as planned last November and December.  I have been getting scattered reports for the last six months telling me that some of the vines had died and some had lived.  In my last blog I sadly reported that one of our plot stakeholders Stephan and his wife died in an accident.  No one was left to attend the plot and it is a complete loss.

Now by Gods grace and your prayers I can report some great news.  The rains finally returned a few months ago in Western Kenya and some of the surviving passion fruit vines have started to produce fruit.  I got a report yesterday that Mumias, Bungoma, and Kakamega are starting to harvest the first fruits and Pastor Robert has been requested to start helping get the fruits to market.  We lost the one plot in Bulimbo.  Pastor Robert in Bulimbo was the last to plant his seedlings however his vines are at that wire and branching out.  Pastor Robert has told me that he was able to maintain most of his seedlings and only lost a few to the drought.  Pastor Ososo had reported from Busia that he had lost some vines but the survivors are doing well now.  The other two plots in Busia I am not sure about.  I have not heard the status of the two orchards on Mt. Elgon yet. 

Bishop Hezron reported the other day and sent me some pictures of his wife Melissa’s orchard in Shibuli and a great success story on Pastor Ambula’s orchard in Kakamega.  Melissa’s orchard is doing well.  Many of the surviving vines are at the wire, branching out and starting to produce fruit.  Pastor Ambula’s plot ended up being a combination of Pastor Morris’s plot and his.  Pastor Morris was unable to get his plot ready before the planting and the seedlings were then allocated to Pastor Ambula whom just so happens to be Pastor Morris’s uncle.  I am told that Pastor Ambula has done some fine work with his orchard.  He recently took some of his fruit to an agricultural show in Kakamega and won an award for his fruit.  He has also been picked as a show orchard for other farmers in and around Kakamega to visit.  Between Pastor Morris and Pastor Ambula’s churches their allotment was around six hundred seedlings.  I am not sure how many had died but according to the pictures his orchard looks great.  The pictures are great to see but I am even more anxious to get over there to see the results first hand.  As of right now my plans are to return to Kenya sometime mid September into October.

Melissa Okaba's orchard in Shibuli

Looks great more vines taking shape

Pastor Ambula's daughter and the orchard

Passion fruit

I see purple passion fruit almost the color of harvest

To me this is great news and a long time coming.  I want to give all the glory to God.  For without him none of this would have happened.  Some people believe in coincidences however I am not one of them.  Four years ago this summer I met Bishop Hezron and Pastor Ososo.  The sequence of events I have seen and lived through since that time are at least to me mind numbing.  Most of the time I feel so out of my comfort zone it ain’t funny.  I do not feel adequate to the task and failure is always on my mind.  The deeper I get into this the more terrifying it becomes.  Sometimes I wonder if this is all really happening and all the questions that come with it.  I have a hard time answering them in my mind.  The biggest question of all is “Y” “Y” “Y” why is this happening?  However when I get news like this it really confirms that there is a God, His grace is upon us, and there is hope out there for those less fortunate then ourselves.  I am honored to be serving as His hands here on earth.

Thank you all for your prayers, and comments they are greatly appreciated.

Dave 

      

June 23, 2012

Greetings

A week ago I received some sad news from Kenya.  One of the three farmers of the passion fruit orchards in Bulimbo has died.  Not only has he died but his wife too.  No one was left to attend to the orchard and it too is completely gone.  Stephan and his wife died in a traffic accident.  I am not sure if they were in a car, or were in a Matatu or just walking down the road.  I am still amazed on how many people are not killed every day on the roads especially at night.  I have told Bishop Hezron on many occasions driving at night that I can’t see anyone until we are right on them.  He tells me not to worry he can see them.  It doesn’t help when there are no lights except the cars headlights to illuminate the road, everyone is dark, and everyone seems to wear dark clothes.  To top it all off the people are literally inches from the car as we pass by.  Scary!!

I remember going to the plot with Pastor Robert and Bishop Hezron meeting with Stephan whom was attending to his beans.  After the beans were to be harvested Stephan was going to replace beans for passion fruit.  I remember we were in a hurry and could not stay very long because a major storm was rolling in.  Traveling on these isolated bush roads during a heavy rainstorm is not a very wise thing to do.  Even without rain it is an arduous journey back to a major road. 

This is the field of beans that was to be Stephans passion fruit orchard

I can’t even come close to knowing how many people I have met in both Kenya and Uganda during my visits.  I have really poor name recognition skills and many times I mix the name to the face (I even get members of my own family mixed up).  However if I remember Stephan properly then what I remember is that he did not look very old.  In his mid thirties if I remember correctly.  Death comes to us all.  Here in the states we can count our blessings that we live in a country where we can expect to enjoy a life span reaching into our eighty’s or beyond.  Sadly this is not the case for many of the people on this planet.   

Especially in Africa where there are many countries with life expectancies in the forties or fifties.  Fifty one percent of the population in Kenya is under fifteen years old compared to our seventeen percent under seventeen years old.  Granted we too have people that die to soon for a variety of reasons but for the vast majority of us we will live a full and healthy life well into our old age.  In East Africa and other parts of the world making it to age five is the first hurdle.  Malaria alone has killed millions of children under the age of five.  For most families that live in the bush losing a child before the age of five is not that uncommon.  Other diseases and lack of access to health care contribute to the low life expectancy at any age in East Africa and other parts of the world. 

This whole Africa thing is getting almost too much to digest sometimes.  How does one stay numb to the constant setbacks and knowing the conditions my friends have to contend with every day of their lives?  A few years back I told God that I would serve him however he saw fit.  It was difficult to let go of my life and follow but I did.  Soon afterwards I watched as my own life crumbled right before my eyes.  It was if God was saying “You want to work for me then maybe you need some humility in your life”.  “You have been blessed beyond your wildest dreams but for many of my children it has not”.  “This is your new life, enjoy”.  Even in my despair I am blessed far beyond those I desire to serve and I consider it a great honor to serve those far less fortunate then myself.  My prayer is that I can continue to strengthen my faith, endure my own personal struggles to help what little I can to bring hope and prosperity to those that have little to none. 

My prayers go out to Mr. Stephan, his wife, and family.  Thank you and God bless.

Dave    

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

June 5, 2012

Hi all!!

Just want to take a moment to wish the team from Olathe Wesleyan that is heading over to Maralal, Kenya as I type this.  They will continue showings of the Jesus film to the Samburan people that had been translated into their native Samburu language.  They will also meet with some of the children that have been sponsored through Compassion International.  I also believe they will be doing some construction work at the Lare-Oibor church and school site that was started last year. 

Take care and God bless

Dave

May 29, 2012

Greetings

It has been a really long time since my last post.  Had a busy last 6 weeks or so.  Made a trip to Minnesota, twice to Delaware, and I just got back from a long hot Memorial Day weekend in Arkansas.  I hope all had a great holiday and are ready for a great summer.  For those that have been reading my blog know that I have a real taste for Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich.  Well I feel compelled to tell you where to get the best fried chicken on the planet.  God is such a wonderful God that he gave us such a perfect bird to eat.  I mean how many different ways to cook and eat chicken.  I even like chicken heart soup.  There almost like meaty mushrooms.  Don't care for the gizzard or liver but some people love them to death.  Now I have had some really nasty chicken but done right it is an awesome tasting bird.  The place is the Chick-A-Dilly in Homer Louisiana.  The skin is fried crispy perfect.  The inside is cooked until it is super hot and super juicy.  I am not sure what the spice is but it is just right.  Not sure what they cook it in but my guess is that it is not healthy.  Best of all it is priced just right.  I ordered a 2pc white with cajun rice and a 3 pc white with fries for a total of nine bucks.  So the next time you are driving by Homer on your way to nowhere stop by for a real treat.

Since my last post it has come to my attention that the passion fruit is starting to regain on some of the plots and hopefully soon I will have some pictures.  I am waiting for some updates from the areas on the status of the orchards.  Once I get a good feel of what is going on I can hopefully plan my trip to Kenya later this summer. 

There was a group from Westview Community Church that went to Maralal Kenya to show the Jesus film to the Samburu people.  Here is a link to their blog http://lomoonsupati.blogspot.com/ please check it out I promise you will find it heart warming.  They are now done with their mission and returning to the states.  The next group to go to Maralal is Olathe Wesleyan Church later next week.  They will be doing some construction work and continuing with the Jesus film.  The group from Westview also had the chance to meet up with some of the children in the Compassion program.  Such a great way to actually see the children you help sponsor in their own environment.

Earlier this month I had an opportunity to spend a few hours with Pastor Ososo in Ft. Wayne Indiana to go over our upcoming plans.  He has told me that the project we help fund last summer is doing very well.  They are about ready to expand the shop and my prayer is that they will continue to expand.  This project was the sim sims and ground nut project.  They have since expanded to eggs, cereals, and are looking to start baking some local treats like mandazi and cookies.  I also believe this local church project would like to start bee keeping and make some honey.

As I get some more reports I will send them your way.

Take care and God bless.

Dave