Community Organic Garden in Alego, Kenya
Update from Pastor Shawn:
Exciting things are happening with our mission project (You Feed Them) in Alego, Kenya. I still can't believe that that we as a church are actually doing this, we are helping starving people feed themselves. Here is a quick up date. On March 23rd, the soil was tilled with fertilizer, and seed was planted in our first 4 acre plot in Alego. What was planted was alternating rows of corn & soy bean.
(see August 2009 Mission Trip pictures below)
Following is a photo we received from the Alego CBO (Community Based Organization) in May 2009. As you can see, the garden is producing abundant and quality produce. It was expected that the crop would be harveseted in June so we will post any updates and photos as soon we receive news of how that went. The availability of grains is quite limited and going up in price every day in that area, therefore we are praying that the harvest goes well and produces lots of food for the village.
Thank you Lord!!
The following photo is definitely a blessing to this mission and an answer to our prayers. Since our mission includes creating self-sustainable duplicateable agricultural systems, we were quite encouraged and joyful when this photo was received. What this demonstrates is a separate garden from the Community 4-acre plot, belonging to a Pastor in the neighboring vilage of Ukalama. During the team's visit last Fall, education was provided to the people attending a Church service in the village, including the need for planting good quality seed and using the organic fertilizer from the sugar cane factory. It is obvious that this information was put to good use and as a result, the following garden is flourishing. The owner of the garden used the technology on one of his acres and is quoted as saying "this one acre plot is laughing at the rest of my garden". You can see the difference in the photo, between that one acre and the remainder of his garden in the background.
It is our continued prayer that the garden techniques and knowledge quickly spreads throughout the community, and beyond. Your prayers and support are also very much appreciated.
Another Duplicated Garden in the Siaya District, Kenya
This photo was taken in June 2009. Boniface (shown in the photo) tells us that this is another duplicated garden. He passed the information he learned from the YFT Team to the garden owner. As you can see, it is doing amazingly well.
AUGUST 2009 UPDATE:
Please click on the following links to view each photo (will open in a new window):
- Corn in Garden - first arrived in August
- Corn in Garden - just 2 weeks later
- Onions - Day arrived
- Onions - 2 weeks later
- Onions - 2 weeks later - zoomed
- Experimental section of the Garden with tomatoes
- Janet Sospeter at experimental section of Garden
- Mud Fish Farm
- Village resident, Moses holding a huge cob of corn from the Garden
- Corn ready to harvest
- Corn drying after the harvest
- 8 bags of corn in ONE harvest
- Village resident, Moses - Cabbages in Garden
- Silas - during visit in August - with Cabbages
STAGES OF GARDEN: - Preparing the 4 acre garden for seed
- Garden raked and ready to be planted
- YFT Garden pipes being laid
- Seed planted and irrigation pipes laid
Donation information can be found on the following YouFeedThem General Information page.
To learn more about Missions work and how your gifts and talents may help others, the Sermon given by Ken Dekker on June 7th, 2009, entitled "The Mission Field - Where you are", including the audio and presentation shown, can be found by clicking here.
