Today I met up with Pastor Ososo again here in Kakamega.He was in town to bury his sister who died a few weeks ago.Pastor Ososo came by the guest house this morning before the funeral and then again afterwards.We discussed the possibility of putting passion fruit on his 3 acre farm in Busia and the ground nut/simsim project at Matasia UMC church in Nairobi.He has expressed a desire to take part in putting up some land to plant a passion fruit orchard.
Pastor Ososo has told me that the ground nut and simsim project is moving along nicely.They have rented a store on the main road to Ngong right at the Hotel Camp David where I stay while I am in Nairobi.I can’t wait to see it.They have the funds to purchase the new jiko and registration.Today we went and bought the bag sealer for sealing the bags.It will be able to seal three bags at one time.Hopefully no one will burn their fingers.He was amazed to find the sealer in the Nakumatt for 2100 Ksh versus over 5000 Ksh back in a local shop in Nairobi.Usually the Nakumatt is much more expensive.The Nakumatt is the Wal-Mart of Kenya but the poor cannot afford to shop there.He will meet again with the Matasia UMC church this coming Saturday to explain the loan process to them and then will distribute the rest of the funds to get them to the next step.
The other day while I was in the Nakumatt I was going through the Indian aisle and I noticed some dates on the shelf.It was like a full pound for a buck fifty.I love dates and I was yearning for something sweet.Today I was admiring how good these dates tasted and I picked up the container to see where they came from and I noticed they came from Iran.Such a shame I do not remember the California dates tasting as good as these and the price can’t be beat.
Also today I worked on the numbers again for the passion fruit.I do not know what I did to my excel spreadsheets but they are all corrupted with data from all the other sheets.It is such a mess and I gave up on it today.Tomorrow I will clean up all the data and continue to work on the cost analysis of each size orchard.
Today was day 40 here in Kenya and that number always seems to amaze me.It truly is a Godly number.Today we found the seedlings we needed and possibly have found the NGO with the micro-finance mechanism in their constitution to start funding some of these projects.I was worried about transportation of the fruit to market and that seems to be solved too.I was also wondering how to train everyone in growing passion fruit and that seems to be solved as well.Today was a great day.
This morning Hezron picked me up and we went off to the orchard site.The workers were all there and we were ready to finish the preparation of the plot.While we were working on getting everyone going on their tasks Hezron received a call from KARI for the nursery in BungomaCounty that has the certified passion fruit seeds.Hezron gave them a call and told them that we were on our way.We left the site in good hands and once we returned late in the evening the site had been completed.It was too dark to take any pictures so it will have to wait until we plant on Monday.
We were on our way to the nursery and we passed an area that Hezron just had to tell me about and of course I am more then willing to here a great story.Today’s topic was just too juicy to pass up.I did not realize that voodoo and witch doctors still existed in Kenya.This area is called Kharanda and Hezron told me that he had done quite a bit of evangelizing in this area to help bring this community to Christ.He says that some people still practice the craft in secret.He told me that they use some really powerful African herbs to perform their dastardly deeds.Hezron told me that some witch doctors would be hired by farmers to stop thieves from stealing maize and even their wives.In the past a thief would go into the field grab an ear of corn and presto the thief is paralyzed on the spot until the owner comes and releases the would be thief of their position.Do not try to have sex with his wife either because the same thing will happen.I am told that the wife is unaware that the husband has prepared her for any possible violation until the perpetrator is left helpless on the spot until he is released from the spell.Hezron told me of one farmer that was convicted of killing 14 people by just leaving them in the field until they died.I guess witch doctors could also make quite a bit of money by saving peoples lives even after they had caused the condition in the first place.Don’t try to sue for malpractice or you just might find yourself begging to be saved again.As we were passing the corn fields and I am truly sorry but I really would have loved to see someone grabbing an ear of corn and frozen on the spot.
We made it to Wamulu International and met with Rev. Robert Wafulu the CEO of the organization.This nursery is the first nursery in Kenya to have certified Kephis passion fruit seedlings.They are partially funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Kenya Horticulture Competitive Project (KHCP).Robert gave us the grand tour of his facilities and showed us his small test plot.Not only is Wamulu a nursery but it is also an NGO that just so happens to have micro-finance objectives in their constitution.They presently do not have an operating micro-finance operation but are more then willing to partner with someone to start one.Robert says there are lots of farmers that want to convert from maize but do not have the cash to pay for the start up costs to put in the orchard.Many people have asked him if they could borrow the money to start an orchard.Robert and Wamulu just don’t have any money to lend.Robert has been experimenting on different techniques to help reduce the costs of the initial investment.By looking at his plot both Hezron and I noticed that he did not have hardly as many support posts as we did on our plot.We asked him about it and we told him that we prepared our plot according to KARI guidelines in Kakamega.Not only are they using far less timber but their seedlings are 3 meters apart in a row vs. our 2 meters.He says that planting every two meters reduces the yield after 3 years because the roots are shallow and they start to compete with the next plant.Robert says that planting every three meters will maximize the yield up to years.So now I have to reformulate all my numbers again.It seems that we do not have to spend as much as we did on support posts and even the gage of the support wire.His grafted seedlings are 35 Ksh each and I would think that could be negotiated once we start giving thousand seedling orders.
Robert confirmed that each plant should yield one kilo per week and he is willing to come pick up our fruit at our orchard or drop site and pay 80 Ksh for every kilo on the spot.He is currently taking 15 tons per week to market from his cooperative farmers either in Eldoret or taking them to Uganda for processing and export.Robert tells me that the weekly demand is 100,000 tons and there is still plenty of capacity to be filled.I was thinking that this plot for the widows would only produce about 8,000 Ksh to 10,000 Ksh maximum and it now looks like almost 14,000 Ksh a week.The widow’s orchard is going to be planted for less then $500.00 and after the fruit starts coming in it should yield about $175.00 a week. This is a pay back of a few weeks. I still do not understand why there isn't thousands of orchards along the country side instead of maize and sugar cane.Robert has connections with experts that will come in and train our farmers on passion fruit and I have already tentatively scheduled a training session for July 11th thru the 15th.The need is here, the labor is here, the land is here, the supplies are here, the training is here and the market is here.Everything is in place except the seed capital to start these orchards.We purchased the 174 certified purple passion fruit seedlings and headed back to Kakamega.
Our tax dollars at work
Passion fruit seedlings for sale
Outside of Passion Fruit greenhouse
Group photo inside greenhouse with seedlings
Three by two spacing and less posts
Heavy support posts at the end of the rows
So next time you are thinking of charitable giving please consider what we are looking to do here in East Africa.All dollars that are put into a project such as this will be returned to the NGO and redistributed again and again.We are also looking at using investors money for a certain period of time to fund these projects then returned to the lender if desired.Any and all profits will be used to either support the operations of the micro-finance (NGO) or returned to the communities from which they come.You know if you are going to put your money into a hole it might as well be one that produces fruit.
Today was a real up day for me and tomorrow I will be here at the guest house with Pastor Ososo in the morning.Please pray for him and his family he is in Kakamega to bury his sister who died a couple of weeks ago.I will also be reworking all the numbers that I once thought were gospel to reflect our learning today.
Not much to write about today so it will be short. Today I stayed at the guest house and worked on finding an NGO, MFI, or CBO to partner with.Not having much luck at all.I send out emails and either no response or it comes back undeliverable.I make phone calls and I get no answer.It’s all pretty frustrating but I will keep trying.I am putting my faith in God that this door will soon open.We have some leads but I am running out of time.
Mathew has the rest of the support and fence posts done.Hezron is driving to Mumias tonight in his pick up truck and deliver them to the orchard site.We are still looking to find the right passion fruit either in Eldoret, Kitale, or Bungoma.Hopefully we will have an answer from the lady at KARI tomorrow if we can find registered seedlings.Otherwise the orchard will not be planted until the middle of next month. I am due to leave Kenya on the 18th of July. I really would like to have this planted and done before I leave.I told Hezron this morning that we have to have the proper seedlings and will not accept anything different.
Tomorrow we will be going back to the orchard site to finish putting in the support posts, fence posts, plant markers, guide wire for the vines, and barb wire along the fence line.Some of the widows will be there and my prayer is that they take ownership of this plot.It will need to be weeded and watered if there is no rain.The chemicals need to be added and proper pruning of the vines are very important to maximize the yield.I am sure that the widows will make this a fruitful venture.
Yesterday I found out that my source for passion fruit will not be able to supply any seedlings for at least another month.All his seedlings are needed to plant his orchard and it takes a while for the grafting to take hold.So this morning I had Hezron take me back to the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute to talk with the nice lady that helped us last time.Between her and a local owner of a nursery that John Omala knows I believe we will be able to come up with the 174 grafted yellow to purple seedlings that we need.While at the Institute Hezron was admiring the bananas that were sitting on the floor.As we were leaving Hezron decided that he had to have the bundle of bananas.You know bananas are really cheap here.Here is a picture of his take and it cost less then 3 bucks.
3 bucks what a deal
After we left KARI we headed to the orchard site where the widows had finished with digging the last of the support post holes.I gave the last of the payment money to the Chairlady so she could pay the widows that did the work.While we were there we decided to measure the plot that John wants to convert to passion fruit and it measured 22 meters by 92 meters.So this plot only looks to be about one half acre.I will plot it out to see how many plants we can get out of it.
Half the support posts done and all the holes
After we left the orchard site we headed into town and made a stop at Opportunity micro-loans to talk with the loan officer about their loan processes.After this we went to visit with a guy that could possibly help us get some passion fruit seedlings this weekend and possibly help us with using his CBO (community based organization) to provide getting the funds needed here in Kenya.Then it was back to the guest house where I met up with another few guys to talk about partnering with their NGO’s to help with finding a way to get money here to loan out.
Tomorrow I will meet with Peter, Alex, and Joe again.I will also work some other ways to find a way to get funds here to fund projects.I would also like to go back to John Omala’s place tomorrow because he is having a prayer meeting with quite a few local pastors associated with CFO to discuss his trip to the states.However I am running out of time and all I can do is pray that God will open the doors needed to full fill this mission.It’s like so many times everything is going great then whack smack into a wall.I have to keep reminding myself that it’s not my time but his.Brian if you are reading this you asked what to pray about.Well buddy I could use it now.
Today it was back out the orchard site to lay out the plot for support posts and fencing.Once we arrived the ground was still pretty wet from the rain last night.This is the rainy season and it literally rains every day.It’s like clock work in fact it is raining right now.The ground looked like the women had done a great job in smoothing it out and it was now time to cut up some sticks and lay out the support posts.Once we started to measure the spaces between rows at 1.9 meters it became apparent that we were going to be able to get another row in.We originally calculated that we could get 10 rows of 16 plants in.Once we decreased the space between the fence lines from the two outer rows a little we were able to space in another row.Because of a walk way around some tree roots at one corner of the plot we had to trim off one plant from each of the first two rows.There will be 9 rows of 16 plants and 2 rows of 15 plants.The total orchard site will contain 174 passion fruit plants with 66 posts supporting them.
Mathew and one of his workers came up from Mumias to cut the raw timber that we had purchased for 2000 Ksh.They were able to get 31 posts out of the raw timber.The support posts would normally cost 100 Ksh each and by cutting them ourselves the cost was about 65 Ksh each.We will have to purchase the rest of them at 100 Ksh since we have no more raw timber.The remaining posts should be on the site by Friday.Some of the widows stayed after their meeting to dig the support holes.Each support pole is 10 feet long and at least 2 feet must be in the ground.The widows decided to allow 2 young men that needed some money to do the fence work.These two guys dug the 21 fence post holes and cleaned up some of the existing fence line and barb wire.Once the fence posts are here then they will finish the job and nail up the barb wire.The negotiated price for the two days of work was 800 Ksh.I am going to throw in an extra 200 Ksh as a tip.
Just as the afternoon storm was coming in we put in the last of the first 31 support posts into the ground.Tomorrow the women will finish digging the remaining 35 holes.Hezron and I will finish laying out the plant locations and start to run the heavy gage wire between the support posts. Here are some pictures of our progress.
Sticks positioned and ready to dig some holes
The two young men digging fence posts
Digging the support post holes
Hezron and Chairlady putting in support post
Starting to take shape
John Omala had returned from his visit to the United States and told us of his adventure.It turned out that he only missed the last two days of the CFO Conference he was attending.He told us that once he left Kenya he wasn’t feeling that great and within a couple of days he went to his host to tell him he was dying.They took him to the hospital there in Dayton, Tennessee and they hadn’t had a case of malaria in over 100 years so they rushed him by ambulance to Chattanooga where they were able to get him the treatment he needed.He kept commenting that he did not see any poor people and everyone had such nice homes with lots of things.Coming from such a poor environment and seeing the United States for the first time must be a real shock to the senses.
John has another plot of maize that will be available in September that he wants to convert over to passion fruit.So tomorrow John, Hezron and I will measure up the other plot to see how many plants we can get on it.John thinks that the plot is about three quarters of an acre.I anticipate that this as well as some of the other plots available in the area we will get to a point where we can transport the product without eating up all the profit.
One of the first lessons I learned here in Kenya was that time does not really mean a whole lot.I cannot tell you how many times I have been asked to stay for just another ten or fifteen minutes and once they know they got me it’s off to kill a chicken and prepare a meal.What ten minutes really means is an hour and a half or longer.The hospitality of the Kenyan people is truly amazing.They have such a high regard and appreciation of any and all visitors that come.
Today I learned that when a white man and especially a man comes to cook for about a dozenpeople the word gets out and before you know it the number changes from a little more then a dozen including children to over forty.Talk about sweating bullets I was told about ten adults and up to five or six small children.I counted twenty adults including myself, two older children, and twenty two smaller children.Two of the original ten couldn’t make it Morris had a school treasury audit and Ben’s wife was sick.
Before Hezron picked me up I went to the Nakumatt up the road to purchase what items I thought I would need for a dozen or so people except for the meat.Making spaghetti from scratch and I do not have a clue to what cooking appliances or utensils I will have.I also decided that I would make coleslaw for the salad since there really isn’t a selection of lettuce to choose from and only one type of tomato.I thought I would also try to make some sort of garlic bread but all that was available was sliced bread so I bought a big loaf.Wasn’t sure how I was going to cook it and it proved later that I wouldn’t be able to.The bread just ended up being buttered and it was great no one knew that it was supposed to be garlic bread and toasted.Once Hezron picked me up I rechecked the inventory and decided that I should buy another bag of spaghetti noodles.You see I only had three bags of noodles so I thought I had about 3 pounds.I wanted to get another one just in case it did not look like enough to feed everyone.This proved to be my saving grace and the fact that I don’t have a clue to how many grams are in a pound.We picked up the extra noodles and meat headed to Mumias picked up Melissa in Shibuli and off we went.
My coleslaw recipe was a large head of green cabbage, a small head of red cabbage, vinegar, mayo, sugar, sweet onion, celery salt, pepper, raisins, and chopped almonds.I had brought the Natural California Sun-Maid raisins and almonds from the states I though it would be a great addition to the coleslaw.The spaghetti sauce was minced beef, red onions, sweet onions, green peppers, mushrooms, tomato puree, diced stewed peeled tomatoes, tomato paste, crushed garlic, garlic salt, salt, sugar, beef bullion, Italian spices, and lots of love.
Once we got to Mathews home in Mumias it became apparent that there was starting to be more people then I had planned for.I had plenty of help getting everything prepared.First we prepared the coleslaw with all the ingredients except the mayo which went in just before we ate.While Mathew was preparing the jiko and kerosene stove we cut up the onions and green peppers for the spaghetti sauce.Once everything was ready we started to brown the meat with the onions, green peppers, and garlic.Once the meat was browned we started to add the various cans of tomato products and I looked into the pot.I instantly decided that there was no way this was going to be enough to feed the crowd that was assembled.Now what the nearest Wawa (for my east coast friends) or 7-11 happens to be 8,000 miles away.I am in the middle of the bush in Kenya with the nearest store over an hour away.There was nothing I could do except add water to the sauce and thin it out a little.
While I was fretting over the sauce the water was starting to boil in the 15 gallon pot on the jiko.I asked for a big pot and I got one.Hezron commenced to put in three bags of spaghetti noodles into the really huge pot of boiling water.I told Hezron to go ahead and put the forth in also.He told me that it would be too much.All I could see was up to forty people and I know how much ugali they would be making if they were feeding this crowd.Granted half of them were kids but it still did not look like enough.Well Hezron knew something I did not.What I thought was 4 pounds actually was more then 6 pounds.
Cooking Kenya style
Is this pot large enough
Never seen a Mzungu cook before
After everything was done and the table was set the older men outside were starting to be fed.For some reason they were not allowed to come into the house.I guess I should have asked why.Aaron, Josh, Jennifer, Nanette if you are reading this you would have been proud of me.There were 20 or so kids outside and I was worried that they might be left out.They were so excited to see the Mzungu cook and all I could think about was running out before they were fed (kids are fed last here in Kenya).I asked Melissa if we could feed the children and she gave me a smaller pot that was next to her.I filled it with noodles added some sauce mixed it up and asked Melissa if she thought it would be enough.Everyone got to eat and I was left to assume that everyone had their fill.We did run out of sauce but had some noodles and coleslaw left over. After it all I was so relieved that everyone enjoyed their meal and did not go home hungry.
Getting their first taste of Spaghetti
Associate Bishop loves his spaghetti
While I was eating I noticed that some people were putting noodles on their plate then putting coleslaw over the noodles and then putting the sauce over it all.Oh how I take eating spaghetti for granted.This was the first time almost all of them had ever eaten spaghetti.It turns out that my good friend Hezron who has had spaghetti many times likes to mix his food up. The others saw what he was doing and naturally thought this was the proper way to eat spaghetti.Hezron said it added other flavors to the taste of the spaghetti and it turns out that it tasted pretty good that way.
Hezron demonstrating skettislaw
Today I really enjoyed making a pot of spaghetti for my friends here in Kenya and I told them that I really appreciated them for letting me do this. After dinner we chatted a while and then took some more pictures. Mathew took me around his property showed me his cows, chicken coop, and then he showed me his charcoal making venture. He takes his left over wood from the furniture store and turns it into charcoal. Some he uses but most of it he sells. The charcoal will sit in the smoldering pile for three days until it is ready. Tomorrow we will be going to the orchard site to lay out the post holes for digging.Mathew will be up to cut the raw timber for the support posts.Hopefully we can also finalize the amount of acres available for planting more fruit in and around Kakamega.
Today marks 5 weeks here in Kenya.Where has the time gone?I am almost half way done with this trip.This week will be spent here in Western Kenya.The next week I am hoping to go into Uganda for a few days and also spend some more time back in the Busia area to discuss fish farms and passion fruit.The next two weeks after that I am scheduled to be in Maralal.The last week I do not know where I will be.
I spent much of today working on the computer making documents for the related projects we are currently working on.Right now we have three projects that we have started funding.They are the ground nuts and simsims in Matasia, shop equipment for Victory Furniture Designers in Mumias, and the passion fruit orchard here in Kakamega.I hope to have the orchard planted by the end of the week.
I also put together the costs for various size passion fruit orchards without fencing costs.
One sixth of an acre is about $240.00
One quarter of an acre is about $345.00
One half an acre is about $680.00
Three quarters of an acre is about $996.00
One acre is about $1265.00
Two acres is about $2529.00
Three acres is about $3794.00
On the way back from Eldoret the other day it was determined that in order to get the fruit to market in Eldoret we will need to have at least an acre producing here in Kakamega to help pay for transportation costs.An acre should produce somewhere between 40,000 and 45,000 Ksh a week.The plot we have planted will at best produce somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 Ksh a week.Fuel costs to and from Eldoret in a small pickup will cost at least 3,000 Ksh.For the short period that this small orchard will be producing before the other orchards are ready to harvest it was decided that a motorbike could probably transport the fruit of this small orchard to Eldoret for around 1000 Ksh.Here in Kakamega there are plenty of acres available to plant after the maize is harvested in August.I assume that there are many acres available for planting in the Busia area.We also know of at least 10 acres in the Kitale area that will be available in August as well.On Tuesday we should have the total number of acres that could be available here in Kakamega for planting in August.
Tomorrow is off to Mumias to make dinner for Hezron’s staff and families.I hope they have big enough pots for me to cook in.
