A True Master Gardner

When we were doing home visits on Wednesday, May 13th we stopped to visit the caretaker of a fourteen year old boy named George and his three siblings who have lost both of their parents. The grandmother greeted us outside their one room mud hut with thatched roofing and warmly welcomed us inside. As we were walking to the door we saw a small seed bed off to the side.

In talking with the grandmother we learned that George has stated his own tree nursery from seeds he has found on the ground during his long walks to and from school. He carefully brings the seeds home, plants and waters them until they reach a point when he can sell them to neighbors and visitors to his community. George came home for lunch while we were still visting with his grandmother and proudly showed us his seed bed. (He was so proud of his seed bed, that he not only agreed to pose for the picture you see above but he gave us permission to post it on the internet.)

George expressed an interest in being able to do more with his talents and the idle land that the family owns. Part of his success is also due to the fact that there is access to water close by. He is a very bright young man and he thought that if he could start an additional seed bed, such as a vegetable garden, his family could use some of vegetables it produced for food and use any excess to generate income.

After we left their home found ourselves discussing ways in which we might be able to reward his entrepreneur skills. We thought if we could find a way to secure some vegetable seeds he would be able to start the additional seed bed and his talents in growing plants might be used as way to help sustain his family.

At this point the OVC program funding comes entirely from donations and we would need to look for a donor to support this project. But sometimes life works in mysterious ways. That evening when got home I had an e-mail from Nancy who came to Kenya with me on my first trip. The ministry team at her sister’s church was looking for a hunger related project in Africa to donate their ‘dime offering’ and she thought perhaps our OVC program would have something that would fit the bill. I quickly sent off a reply proposing our idea of a vegetable seedling project that developed from seeing George’s efforts.

With the anticipation of a donation, our idea began to grow. A couple of days later, we met with twelve guardians in a rural community about 15 miles from Eldoret. Earlier in the year, they had received maize seeds and fertilizer from AMPATH to plant on OVC land. The crops will be harvested in November. The community health workers are working with each family to determine how many bags of maize they will keep for food for the upcoming year, how much they will need to replant, and how the profit from the remainder can be used to best sustain the family.

Believing that the Ministry team would find our vegetable seedling project a perfect fit for the gift of their dime offering, we proposed our idea to the guardians that if they were interested, perhaps they could form a couple small groups to start vegetable seed beds. The beds could be started at one of their plots that they would all work together to maintain until the seedlings which would then be split and transplanted into gardens at each of their homes. Like young George, the produce could then be used for food for the family and income generation. The group immediately expressed their excitement at the possibility and started discussions among themselves as to who would work together and where to start the seed beds.

After the meeting we planned to visit the homes of three of the families who lived close together. By the time we had reached the first home the three guardians had already decided which family would be the best to host the seed bed for the group. The deciding factor came down to the fact that the host location has a few cows which means easy access to “organic fertilizer.”

Within a couple of days the Community Health Worker came into town and we went to purchase our first tins of vegetable seeds - cabbage, sukuma (kale) and “money maker” tomatoes. As well as fungicide and insecticide that will help ensure the crops success. It is amazing to how what is considered small change in America will literally change the lives of many here in Kenya.
Our heartfelt thanks, and that of our OVC families goes out to The Ministry’s team for the generous gift of their dime offering.


Note: If you would like to contribute to the Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s program that I have been working with visit 'the how to donate' link on the IU-Kenya Partnership website at http://medicine.iupui.edu/kenya/orphans.html and be sure to check that you want to contribution to go to the OVC program!