Rows of crops on the Common Ground "Feed the Village" farm

The view out the window of the minibus from Eldoret to Kitale, Kenya was surprisingly familiar. Though I was on a continent well known for its deserts, the rows and rows of corn made the Kenyan countryside look just like the rolling hills of Iowa or South Dakota! I now know that Kitale is the “breadbasket of Kenya.”

During our visit with Joshua Machinga of Commmon Ground just outside Kitale, Boyd and I were impressed with the abundant produce on his farm and kitchen gardens. Machinga uses bio-intensive agriculture techniques, which he learned at Manor House Kenya, to produce more food without chemical inputs. All the produce here goes to feed the 400 students at Pathfinder Academy, where Machinga is the director.

Spirit in Action Poultry Project

Next to the Pathfinder kitchen garden stands the impressive SIA Poultry Project – a sturdy building close enough to the kale and maize beds to provide the chickens with some greens and the garden with some chicken manure. Now that’s a great exchange!

SIA Poultry Project house made with sturdy materials and built to last many years. Maize in training garden grows in front. Chicken droppings are used for compost in the garden.

Students are assigned a rotating schedule to check for eggs. The chicken coop is right next to the school and cafeteria area.

As we entered the poultry house, five Pathfinder students proudly showed us around the two rooms, one for the layers (chickens for eggs) and another for the broilers (chicken for meat). Machinga has conducted several trainings with students on how to manage the chicks and student volunteers take turns caring for the chickens, feeding them, helping the vet with vaccinations, collecting eggs, and even slaughtering them when the time comes. He told us that the younger children like to care for the young chicks and keep them warm during their first nights.

Project Success

Some of the eggs are used in school meals, some are sold to local families, and most of the meat is sold to a local restaurant! After the initial Spirit in Action Community Grant, the Common Ground SIA Poultry Project is now self-sustaining, with profits from the chickens being put into buying more chicks to expand the operation.

What else? A scholarship fund has been created with some of the poultry project profits! The student with the best 2010 exam scores got a scholarship for this year’s school fees as he graduated from Pathfinder and went on to secondary school. “His favorite subject is history,” Machinga told us, which brought a nod of approval from Boyd.

Fresh eggs for sale! A Common Ground employee takes eggs to market on the back of his bike.

What’s making me happy this week: SIA supports education through the economic empowerment of our amazing community partners!

Tanya and student volunteers at SIA poultry project house.

Related Posts:

• A Report by Joshua Machinga, Common Ground Program – Poultry Project
• Poultry Project Update – October 2010

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“The opposite of poverty is not wealth. It is justice.” – Leonardo Boff

One of Spirit in Action’s callings is to create more opportunities for social justice – working towards a world based on equality, solidarity, and human dignity. One project that we have supported is the Manyamula Village Savings and Loans Group (MAVISALO), a community-based organization in Mzimba, Malawi, which helps bring security and credit to this rural community of subsistence farmers.

Since the group started this loan fund, using individual contributions and profits from a poultry project, MAVISALO has made steady progress towards encouraging saving and increasing access to loans for its members.

“The private financial lending institutions and the commercial banks of Malawi were not providing the opportunity to village members to save their money. These institutions provide loans at high interests rates and ask for collaterals, which village members can’t afford.” As the quote at the top implies, MAVISALO is driven to do more than just create wealth among members – they are also creating a system that honors and trusts the village members by allowing even traditionally disadvantaged people to access financial services.

“Today, an institution is born mobilized by the village people themselves and it provides a sound atmosphere that promotes saving culture.” Local leaders have shown interest in supporting the group and using it as a model for others. “This is a great idea indeed to have our own economic institution that helps my people save,” says Group Village Headman, Yesaya Shumba.

Canaan Gondwe, leader of the group of 52 members (20 women and 32 men), has seen a great impact on the community, “Members of MAVISALO are able to smile at the impact the loan project on its members. The impact is not only confined to members but also outsiders as they are served by entrepreneurs who are members. There are youths, widows, HIV people all incorporated in one community institution living together to uplift and empower themselves.”

Great job MAVISALO. Keep up the great work!

RELATED POSTS:

• MAVISALO’s Chicken House
• Children’s Book about Micro-Finance
• “Imagine your life without financial services…”

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A Report by Joshua Machinga, Common Ground Program – Poultry Project

In Kenya, some of the world’s most breathtaking sights intersect. Mount Kenya looms over Kenya’s plains with its snowy caps glistening under a veil of cloud near the equator. Along the stretching Mara National Reserve, lions, cheetahs, rhinos, hippos, elephants, zebras, gazelles and wildebeests kick up plumes of dust in the world’s largest migration. In Mombasa Archipelago, the labyrinth-like streets are lined with colorful flowers dotting the streets and the air is heavy with the scent of a variety of coastal trees.

Yet, in the midst of such astonishing beauty, life in Kenya is often filled with staggering hardship. Although many families, especially in Rift Valley, rely on subsistence farming, food yields are unpredictable due to poor soil. Often, in northern and western Kenya, local crops like maize, beans, cassava and sweat potatoes only produce a seven-month supply of food each year. Also, few families can afford cattle or goats, and many households manage only a few chickens – due to limited poultry husbandry skills.

Reading from one of the leaflets from Del in 1991, I realized that I was the one to bring the change I wanted to see around me. I worked on small projects in my community with funding from Del. As a routine, he enclosed a $20 bill in every letter he wrote to me until his death in 2008. For the first time Common Ground Program (CGP), a local Kenyan community based organization secured a grant from Spirit in Action in 2010 to develop a poultry project in hopes of building a better tomorrow.

This poultry project is serving as a “model poultry co-op” in the community where local farmers meet, discuss, and learn about successful poultry production…

To read the rest of this amazing success story and get other updates, download the latest newsletter!

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As spring begins to spring in [some parts of] the U.S., I share a fitting story of baby chicks and the hope they can bring to a community. This week I received a package of amazing photos from the Manyamula Savings and Loans Group (MAVISALO) in Malawi. As you may remember, MAVISALO received a small SIA Community Grant to raise chickens and then use the combined profits from selling eggs and meat to provide small loans to group members. They now have their own micro-loan association!

Since this community-based organization started in November 2010 with 350 chicks, they have built a sturdy shelter and worked together to care for the chickens. I was so moved when I saw the progress of their work and I want to take this space to let the pictures speak for themselves. This is Spirit in action!

(Click on the photos here and again on the next page for a larger version.)

Members work on building the new poultry house.

Half way done with construction!

Day-old chicks in the poultry house.

Members of MAVISALO attending to their chicks.

MAVISALO Chairperson Canaan Gondwe (center) with other members during construction.

Secretary Matthews Mahowe is ready to fill troughs with water for 4-week old chickens.

Treasurer Silvester Mkhoma counting the bags of chicken feed. Feed was one of the most expensive parts of their operation.

Isn’t it amazing to see what can happen when people work together for a common goal? Now the group has made enough profit to begin to give loans to group members.

I read a story this week about how climate change is affecting small farmers in India and I was appreciative of what MAVISALO can do for their community. When there is not enough rain or a small crop yield, MAVISALO helps people who need temporary capital for medical emergencies or food.

One group at a time, Spirit in Action is supporting organizations that empower their members and make their lives more steady.

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At the June Spirit in Action meeting, the Board of Directors approved a grant for $1,066 for Common Ground Program to start a poultry farm. Common Ground Program, led by Joshua Machinga, aims to reduce poverty and bring stability to their village in western Kenya. They have sustainable garden projects and an elementary school with over 350 students.

The Poultry Project that SIA has supported, with your contributions, will create a sustainable source of income for the group through the sale of chicken egg and meat. The school children are learning about how to care for chickens, giving them practical, transferable skills. The children also benefit from the addition of protein to their diets.

I am so impressed with how much the group has been able to accomplish in a relatively short time and the amount of community support they have for all their projects.

Since receiving the funds in July, the group has already built a poultry house next to their garden, which means that the birds can eat some of the greens and the chicken manure from the house can be used to fertilize the garden. A brooder room to was also built to provide warmth for day-old chicks. The group ordered chicks from Nairobi and the price was lower than they estimated so they were able to order 250 chicks instead of 200 for the same cost.

Inside the newly built poultry house.

The meat and eggs will be sold at the local market and the income from the project will be used for expanding the program’s activities and for school fees for orphans.

Joshua Machinga describes the commroderie he already sees in the group, “It serves as a social group wherepeople meet and share their experiences and problems therefore reduce their psychological burden. A problem shared is a problem half solved.”

It is encouraging to work with a group that is doing so much good in their community. Common Ground is well-led and effective at empowering their members and it is a pleasure to support their efforts!

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