In case you were wondering how the job is going
Written yesterday:
I’m sitting in my office today waiting for a two o’clock meeting that I’ve scheduled with the executive committee of the Kakamega Farmer Field School Network and a few other people that I think will prove useful. This is my first attempt at a project that I think will really help the farmers here and I’m a little nervous but optimistic things will work out.
During the last few weeks I’ve been putting together a proposal for grant money through an initiative called “Njaa Marafuku Kenya” (Swahili for “Reducing Hunger in Kenya”). This funding is being provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and ties into a rather ambitious goal of the eradication of extreme hunger and poverty throughout Kenya. There are several components of the grant and one of them correlates almost matches exactly with what the Kakamega FFS network is doing. Furthermore, only two organizations in the Kakamega district have been selected to apply for this grant money and I think that if we can establish a compelling case for what we will do with the funding we are a shoe-in to get it. The amount of money we would receive would start at a half million shillings and top out at 2 million (a little more than $26,000; a lot of cash here)
So after various discussions with the Executive Committee, as well as with Rhoda, a woman from KARI (the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute) and Eunice, a lady from the Ministry of Agriculture, we are thinking about value addition to sweet potatoes through producing and selling composite flour. By mixing sweet potato, soy beans, and then either wheat, sourgum, millet, or maize the farmers would be able to make a highly nutritious flour (vitamin A from the the Sweet Potato, protein from the soy) that would be highly marketable, therefore providing income for farmers who are currently living at a sustenance level, while at the same time providing what could potentially be used as a staple food towards the eradication of hunger.
Seems like a win-win situation if we get the grant money except I’ve felt as if I’m going into this project blindly. I have been here for less that a month when I was asked to take this on (so much for the Peace Corps recommendation of staying hands-off for the first three months), and if we get this funding and purchase grinding mills, packaging, sealers, etc. there will be a lot of coordination and marketing involved for the sell of a finished product. Also, from talking with Rhoda in KARI I’m concerned about the motivation of the farmers to grow the necessary crops and meet the quality standards required. Thankfully Rhoda is an expert on value addition to sweet potatoes and will be attending the meeting, so I’m hopeful that I will get more information from her.
Also, on Monday this week I went to Busia, which is located on the Kenyan/Ugandan border. Equipment for the processing of sweet potatoes has been donated to a farmer’s training college there to be used as a showcase for farmers interested in purchasing mills, chippers, etc. I learned much about the requirements for the processing of quality flour as well as a lot of the input/output costs that would be needed to successfully implement the project. So wish me luck, I’ll continue this posting once I’ve completed the meeting and know what’s next.
Actually, while I’m waiting here are a few more updates: Brenda, the 11 year old orphan girl with AIDS, has been taken to a treatment center and tested, where it became apparent that the virus has seriously affected her and she won’t make it much longer. Brenda, along with Agnetta, the sponsor for the child, made it all the way to the doctor that prescribes the antiviral drugs before they hit the first bottleneck. Agnetta is not a legal guardian and can therefore not give the authorization to put Brenda on medication. Since both of Branda’s parents have died and she has no caretaker other than Agnetta, who has sponsored her, and providing a legal guardian is going to be difficult. Luckily I found a potential loophole. If a letter is signed from the village chief stating that Agnetta is the primary caretaker for the child then there’s a chance she can have the authorization to give the go ahead on medication. I've spoken to the chief and he has agreed to assist. So keep Brenda in your prayers, I’m hoping for the best.
Also, I’ve noticed that I’m spending most of my time zipping through my village on my bicycle (I love my bike so very, very much) instead of actually spending much time there. Between going to work, traveling on weekends, and spending time in Kakamega I’ve not had very many opportunities to meet anyone in my village beyond the mamas in my compound. I’m getting tired of sitting at home by myself every night, so I’m making a goal for myself to actually spend some free time in Shimanyiro getting to know everyone. I’ll let you know how it goes; my biggest concern is that nearly every person I’ve really gotten to know outside of the office has resulted in an eventual request for me to give them large sums of money. Most of the time the people here really are in dire straights, which helps me remember how fortunate I am, and even though it annoys me I really can’t blame them. I guess I shouldn’t let that keep me from making new friends but there’s only so much I can give and it leaves me suspicious that many of the people I meet are really looking at me more as a source of income that a friend. I guess that’s just part of the experience though and I hope that will change over time.
Written today (Saturday):
So the meeting when well. Rhoda gave a compelling case for flour production and if we can get this grant money it will be a really great project. (By the way, the network has been trying to get Rhoda to come speak with them for over a year, so they were impressed that I managed to do it. She's on leave until after the grant application is due but I called her so many times that she finally gave up and let me visit her at her home. She's a very blunt outspoken African women who could potentially rub people the wrong way but I think it's hilarious and really like her. We finished determining what equipment will be needed to process the flour and I'm going to Kisumu on Monday to get some additional pricing and hopefully finalize what's needed to submit the grant proposal. The plan right now is to have three sublocations in the Kakamega district where the potatoes will be chipped and dried and the soy beans will be boiled and dried. From there they will be transported to a central location where we plan to have a griding mill that will process the flour, and people will package and store it. Some of the funding from the grant will also go to Rhoda to get the flour certified through the Kenya Bureau of Standards, meaning we will include nutrition information and have a bar code that can be used at supermarkets. Before that we are going to work on creating various blends of soy, millet, sorghum, sweet potato, and maize and we will have over 100 farmers throughout the region sample and determine which is the best. Once that is done we plan to schedule training sessions for 120 farmers in three locations regarding quality and processing techniques.
So all in all I'm really psyched that I'll be heading this up and hope everything works out. The biggest problem I see is that there are 10 people in charge of the network, and of those 10 only about three seem willing to actively participate and make suggestions/contributions. The others just show up, sit there silently and nod there heads when appropriate, and then demand money from the network funds for their attendance when it's time to go home. Since the success of this project, if it happens, depends on everyone giving 100% I hope we will have sufficient motivation from everyone to do things correctly. We'll see how it goes.
Now I'm in the nearby town of Eldoret for the weekend catching up with a few PCV's and checking out a new town. I just got here and am using a free Internet connection at Moi University but nothing to exciting has happened yet. If we do anything blog worthy I'll let everyone know.
I’m sitting in my office today waiting for a two o’clock meeting that I’ve scheduled with the executive committee of the Kakamega Farmer Field School Network and a few other people that I think will prove useful. This is my first attempt at a project that I think will really help the farmers here and I’m a little nervous but optimistic things will work out.
During the last few weeks I’ve been putting together a proposal for grant money through an initiative called “Njaa Marafuku Kenya” (Swahili for “Reducing Hunger in Kenya”). This funding is being provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and ties into a rather ambitious goal of the eradication of extreme hunger and poverty throughout Kenya. There are several components of the grant and one of them correlates almost matches exactly with what the Kakamega FFS network is doing. Furthermore, only two organizations in the Kakamega district have been selected to apply for this grant money and I think that if we can establish a compelling case for what we will do with the funding we are a shoe-in to get it. The amount of money we would receive would start at a half million shillings and top out at 2 million (a little more than $26,000; a lot of cash here)
So after various discussions with the Executive Committee, as well as with Rhoda, a woman from KARI (the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute) and Eunice, a lady from the Ministry of Agriculture, we are thinking about value addition to sweet potatoes through producing and selling composite flour. By mixing sweet potato, soy beans, and then either wheat, sourgum, millet, or maize the farmers would be able to make a highly nutritious flour (vitamin A from the the Sweet Potato, protein from the soy) that would be highly marketable, therefore providing income for farmers who are currently living at a sustenance level, while at the same time providing what could potentially be used as a staple food towards the eradication of hunger.
Seems like a win-win situation if we get the grant money except I’ve felt as if I’m going into this project blindly. I have been here for less that a month when I was asked to take this on (so much for the Peace Corps recommendation of staying hands-off for the first three months), and if we get this funding and purchase grinding mills, packaging, sealers, etc. there will be a lot of coordination and marketing involved for the sell of a finished product. Also, from talking with Rhoda in KARI I’m concerned about the motivation of the farmers to grow the necessary crops and meet the quality standards required. Thankfully Rhoda is an expert on value addition to sweet potatoes and will be attending the meeting, so I’m hopeful that I will get more information from her.
Also, on Monday this week I went to Busia, which is located on the Kenyan/Ugandan border. Equipment for the processing of sweet potatoes has been donated to a farmer’s training college there to be used as a showcase for farmers interested in purchasing mills, chippers, etc. I learned much about the requirements for the processing of quality flour as well as a lot of the input/output costs that would be needed to successfully implement the project. So wish me luck, I’ll continue this posting once I’ve completed the meeting and know what’s next.
Actually, while I’m waiting here are a few more updates: Brenda, the 11 year old orphan girl with AIDS, has been taken to a treatment center and tested, where it became apparent that the virus has seriously affected her and she won’t make it much longer. Brenda, along with Agnetta, the sponsor for the child, made it all the way to the doctor that prescribes the antiviral drugs before they hit the first bottleneck. Agnetta is not a legal guardian and can therefore not give the authorization to put Brenda on medication. Since both of Branda’s parents have died and she has no caretaker other than Agnetta, who has sponsored her, and providing a legal guardian is going to be difficult. Luckily I found a potential loophole. If a letter is signed from the village chief stating that Agnetta is the primary caretaker for the child then there’s a chance she can have the authorization to give the go ahead on medication. I've spoken to the chief and he has agreed to assist. So keep Brenda in your prayers, I’m hoping for the best.
Also, I’ve noticed that I’m spending most of my time zipping through my village on my bicycle (I love my bike so very, very much) instead of actually spending much time there. Between going to work, traveling on weekends, and spending time in Kakamega I’ve not had very many opportunities to meet anyone in my village beyond the mamas in my compound. I’m getting tired of sitting at home by myself every night, so I’m making a goal for myself to actually spend some free time in Shimanyiro getting to know everyone. I’ll let you know how it goes; my biggest concern is that nearly every person I’ve really gotten to know outside of the office has resulted in an eventual request for me to give them large sums of money. Most of the time the people here really are in dire straights, which helps me remember how fortunate I am, and even though it annoys me I really can’t blame them. I guess I shouldn’t let that keep me from making new friends but there’s only so much I can give and it leaves me suspicious that many of the people I meet are really looking at me more as a source of income that a friend. I guess that’s just part of the experience though and I hope that will change over time.
Written today (Saturday):
So the meeting when well. Rhoda gave a compelling case for flour production and if we can get this grant money it will be a really great project. (By the way, the network has been trying to get Rhoda to come speak with them for over a year, so they were impressed that I managed to do it. She's on leave until after the grant application is due but I called her so many times that she finally gave up and let me visit her at her home. She's a very blunt outspoken African women who could potentially rub people the wrong way but I think it's hilarious and really like her. We finished determining what equipment will be needed to process the flour and I'm going to Kisumu on Monday to get some additional pricing and hopefully finalize what's needed to submit the grant proposal. The plan right now is to have three sublocations in the Kakamega district where the potatoes will be chipped and dried and the soy beans will be boiled and dried. From there they will be transported to a central location where we plan to have a griding mill that will process the flour, and people will package and store it. Some of the funding from the grant will also go to Rhoda to get the flour certified through the Kenya Bureau of Standards, meaning we will include nutrition information and have a bar code that can be used at supermarkets. Before that we are going to work on creating various blends of soy, millet, sorghum, sweet potato, and maize and we will have over 100 farmers throughout the region sample and determine which is the best. Once that is done we plan to schedule training sessions for 120 farmers in three locations regarding quality and processing techniques.
So all in all I'm really psyched that I'll be heading this up and hope everything works out. The biggest problem I see is that there are 10 people in charge of the network, and of those 10 only about three seem willing to actively participate and make suggestions/contributions. The others just show up, sit there silently and nod there heads when appropriate, and then demand money from the network funds for their attendance when it's time to go home. Since the success of this project, if it happens, depends on everyone giving 100% I hope we will have sufficient motivation from everyone to do things correctly. We'll see how it goes.
Now I'm in the nearby town of Eldoret for the weekend catching up with a few PCV's and checking out a new town. I just got here and am using a free Internet connection at Moi University but nothing to exciting has happened yet. If we do anything blog worthy I'll let everyone know.
posted by KenyaJoe at 1:40 AM
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