Men's Small Group
Trinity Bible Church
Glorious News from Alego - Aug. 10/09
We just received a telephone call from Silas and he could hardly contain himself! :))) He said the Lord is "wow'ing" him with His Glory, the abundance of crops and also the hope and joy within the community ... The team had just arrived at the garden site and many shouts of joy could be heard in the background. Benjamin (the Engineer helping us with the community garden) said that as they harvest, even more is produced!!! He said "the Lord is re-creating the miracle of the loaves and fishes"!!! WOW! How appropriate!
Silas was on his way into a meeting with the CBO to get all the reports, but provided the following details to his wife Kimberley who updated us this morning:
- Silas informed us that in this area it would be typical for 1 acre to reap a little less than 1 bag (90 kg) which would be considered a big (good) harvest. This would be produced once a year (during the rainy season).
- The current CBO garden, which is 4 acres is as follows:
- Currently have harvested 14 x 90 kg bags plus at least 2 bags are still being dried, AND crops are still drying in a wetter section of the garden ... AND there is more that is not yet finished producing so not harvested yet! As Silas informed us yesterday, the cobs of corn are 20cm long!!
- In addition to the corn crops, the CBO has built a small greenhouse and are growing tomatoes, cabbages, and onions.
- ALSO, they have dug out pits so that when it rains, overflow goes into the pits. They decided to put some mud fish (a delicacy and good source of protein) into these pits to see how well they would survive and apparently they are also re-producing so now the garden includes a fish farm!!!
PRAISE and GLORY TO GOD!!!
Keep in mind that this is all without the irrigation system in place, which will increase the harvest from once a year to three!
To bring you up to speed with the status of the irrigation system, given the cost of the system in Kenya, we have enough funds for the team to purchase and install what's needed to cover 1-3/4 acres while they are there. The main pipes (1 meter into soil) will have approx. 50 year life span and the smaller drip pipe - 4 year life span.
Let's continue to pray for the funds to come in to irrigate the remaining 2-1/4 acres, perhaps in time for the trip in November...
We also spoke to Ryan Dekker who said he is just amazed at the faith of the people there. He and the rest of the team are doing very well, very happy, and all is extremely good! They are taking lots of pictures so we will share those with you as soon as we receive them.
We are so excited, extremely grateful and joyful. We thank each and every one of you for all your prayers, your support, and ask that you continue to pray for the team, the people of Alego, the Garden, and all that God is doing and will continue to do.
