1. Maize Machines – Bought and Delivered!

This is progress! Last spring’s SIA Silent Auction helped raise the funds for the Manyamula Savings and Loans Cooperative to purchase a maize mill in Malawi. I heard from Canaan over the weekend and the mill has been purchased – and as a bit of a silver lining – the devalued local currency meant that the SIA grant was enough to purchase two mills, instead of one!

MAVISALO members with the 2 new diesel engines!

“I am glad to inform you that the 2 sets of maize mills with diesel engines are procured and they are with us in office. There is a Milling Mill and a 2 Roller Milling Sheller. This week by Friday a technician will come to fix the mills in a rented house belonging to Red Cross, which is located at the center of our community market.”

2. Congratulations to the Trophy Winners!

In other exciting news from Malawi, the winners from the MAVISALO Soccer Trophy (mentioned in the Fall 2012 newsletter) have been announced!

Orchard Youth Soccer Team won the soccer tournament and received the $30 1st prize. The VISALO Youth Soccer Team, sponsored by the Manyamula Savings and Loans Cooperative, came in 2nd place, winning $20. Congratulations!

3. The Teimuge’s Samro School

Peter Ayum graduated from Samro School and is now a freshman in High School (Form 1)

Following on last week’s post with some words of wisdom from Samuel Teimuge, this week I received an annual update on his and Rhoda Teimuge’s K-8 Samro School in Eldoret.

“Samro School is fourteen years old and has sent 80 students to high school. The report reaching us is that almost all of them are disciplined, honest, hard working, and they reference God in their lives.”

If you want to see their latest project or contribute to their school, visit Advancing Leaders International.

4. Supporting Women’s Organizations

There’s a great new crowd-funding platform, Catapult, which helps connect donors with women/girl-focused grassroots organizations around the world. I wrote a review of the website here, and I encourage you to check it out and see all the wonderful local organizations out there helping women and girls in their communities!

5. Encouraging Quote!

And when all the election coverage gets to be too much, keep this advice from Rumi in mind:

“Move to the edge and over. Fly with the wings
he gives, and if you get tired, lie down,
but keep opening inside your soul.”

One of the many highlights of my trip to Africa last summer was visiting Samuel Teimuge in Kenya. Samuel, who worked with Del even before Spirit in Action was founded in 1996, is local role model in Eldoret, Kenya. He and his family are integral to many development projects, including Empowering Lives International, Samro School, and the Ukweli Training Centre.

Last year, Samuel shared some words of wisdom with our SIA Small Business Fund Coordinators. Here are some of his insights on leadership, encouragement, and community development:

• We have learned a lot especially from Del Anderson and the self-help group in CFOI and this really encouraged us to start small. We learned that when you do things with your eyes towards other people that is when you succeed.
• 

  Tanya and Rhoda Teimuge in front of her house. Rhoda was a small business trainer before she started Samro School.

  I want to use the scriptures Proverbs 14:23 since it is one that is really outstanding even as I teach people about development. “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” And that really is true for all of us. You know many times people talk, talk, talk, talk, but the Spirit in Action business plan starts from where you are, so instead of talking you do something that will really help, not only to your family, but also to others.

• There is one scripture that has been leading us in our home. 2 Thessalonians 3:7-11 “For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves as a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat.’”
  

  Samuel shows Boyd about their maize stalks grinder machine, which helps produce feed for their cow.

• When our first-born finished high school, we employed him during the day we did not want him to be idle so we paid him 1,500KS (~$17) a month so he was in the dairy cleaning and feeding the cows. And do you know why we do this? So that they don’t get messed up; so that they don’t go to town to watch movies. That is what we have done here: our children are helping us, even as part of our ministry.
• So, as a development person, you will face a lot of challenges. God gives to us, so that we may help other people. If God has given you a skill, then that is what you need to share. We need to be generous. We need to act truthfully and faithfully.
• I was in America and our host was a good friend. I asked, ‘Do you know how to grow economically in Africa. Teach us, so that our economy in Africa can grow.’ He had only two words: “Be honest.” Honesty is the key. And be truthful. And that was the whole lesson.
• So I want to give a challenge to you – that you become a role model, even as you are a coordinator. We have to know, as coordinators, how to motivate, how to encourage.
• So friends, God has given us a ministry. A ministry that is so wonderful. And behind all these people [coordinators] there are so many people who have benefited from these programs, and they are saying ‘thank you Spirit in Action, for doing that.’ Yes, thank you, Del, who I believe one day we shall see again.

SIA SBF Coordinators watch a presentation about tree seedlings and reforestation.

Spring is in the air all over the USA this week! To celebrate the rain and the warmer temperatures, I am reposting this discussion of agro-forestry from last April on Spirit in Action’s blog.

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Our international partners working in Kenya have long recognized the value of agroecology. This type of farming system, also called bio-intensive agriculture, uses techniques that help to replenish the nutrients in the soil and uses minimal amounts of chemical fertilizers and other inputs to grow vegetables and fruits. Agroecology methods bring greater crop yields while using much less space, water and energy, than conventional, high input methods.

In Africa there is great hope for the widespread embrace of agroecology technologies, especially because it benefits “small farmers who must be able to farm in ways that are less expensive and more productive.”

“But, [agro-ecology] benefits all of us,” says a NY Times op-ed, quoting a UN Human Rights Council Report, “because it decelerates global warming and ecological destruction.”

The UN Report shows that “small-scale farmers can double food production within 10 years in critical regions by using ecological methods” including compost, double digging, and relying on beneficial plants, animals, and insects for pest management. Indeed, Olivier De Schutter, author of the UN report, said that “Malawi is now implementing agro-ecology, benefiting more than 1.3 million of the poorest people, with maize yields increasing from 1 ton/hectare to 2-3 tons/hectare.”

Samuel Teimuge talks to a group about agroforestry to combat deforestation in Kenya.

Samuel Teimuge, who worked with SIA to start his Ukweli Training Center many years ago, teaches bio-intensive methods and has seen how they can increase production while having a minimal affect on the environment. He also leads workshops to help reforestation efforts in the Rift Valley. Trees are important for slowing erosion on the steep slopes.

Mark Bittman from the NY Times urges us to consider agriculture from a global perspective, understanding food as a human right and sustainable agriculture as a high-priority for the world.

In addition to supporting bio-intensive agriculture training in Kenya, it is just as important to support small-scale farmers here in the US, like these young farmers in Oregon.

Do you use bio-intensive methods in your own garden or farm? Share your stories in the comments section!

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Related posts:

• How does your garden grow? (About the farms we saw in Malawi)
• Planting trees for a “greener Kenya” (About the reforestation work of SIA SBF Coordinator, Dennis Kiprop)

A woman tends to vegetables in a bio-intensive garden in northern Kenya, which is run by CIFORD to grow food for people with HIV/AIDS.

Our international partners working in Kenya have long recognized the value of agro-ecology. This type of farming system, also called bio-intensive agriculture, uses techniques that help to replenish the nutrients in the soil and uses minimal amounts of chemical fertilizers and other inputs to grow vegetables and fruits. Agro-ecology methods bring greater crop yields while using much less space, water and energy, than conventional, high input methods.

In Africa there is great hope for the widespread embrace of agro-ecology technologies, especially because it benefits “small farmers who must be able to farm in ways that are less expensive and more productive.”

“But, [agro-ecology] benefits all of us,” says a NY Times op-ed, quoting a UN Human Rights Council Report, “because it decelerates global warming and ecological destruction.”

The UN Report shows that “small-scale farmers can double food production within 10 years in critical regions by using ecological methods” including compost, double digging, and relying on beneficial plants, animals, and insects for pest management. Indeed, Olivier De Schutter, author of the UN report, said that “Malawi is now implementing agro-ecology, benefiting more than 1.3 million of the poorest people, with maize yields increasing from 1 ton/hectare to 2-3 tons/hectare.”

A group learns about agroforestry to combat deforestation in Kenya.

Samuel Teimuge, who worked with SIA to start his Ukweli Training Center many years ago, teaches bio-intensive methods and has seen how they can increase production while having a minimal affect on the environment. He also leads workshops to help reforestation efforts in the Rift Valley. Trees are important for slowing erosion on the steep slopes.

Mark Bittman from the NY Times urges us to consider agriculture from a global perspective, understanding food as a human right and sustainable agriculture as a high-priority for the world.

In addition to supporting bio-intensive agriculture training in Kenya, it is just as important to support small-scale farmers here in the US, like these young farmers in Oregon.

Do you use bio-intensive methods in your own garden or farm? Share your stories in the comments section!

“Environmental protection has become a priority in this country and there is a lot of technical input the government is employing.” This statement could easily have come from any U.S.-based environmentalist. But, it comes from one based in Kenya.

Dennis Kiprop, a Spirit in Action partner in Eldoret, Kenya wrote recently to share with me about environmental movements in his country and explain how people are employing bio-intensive agriculture to replenish the nutrients in the soil. Dennis, SIA-supported small business leaders, and many others are planting trees to create a “greener Kenya”.

Kenya emits significantly less CO₂ than the United States and still Kenyans are seeing the effects of global climate change. Currently, only 3% of Kenya’s original forests remain, a result of trees being cut down for timber and firewood. To help reforest their environment, four new tree nursery businesses were started with $150 Spirit in Action Small Business Fund (SIA SFB) grants in early 2010.

The SIA business groups grew indigenous seedlings for two reasons. First, they are businesses, so they harvest the trees in a sustainable manner and sell the wood to neighbors. The businesses have so far been very successful and all have reported high demand for their product.

Secondly, they are working with other groups from three surrounding villages and Samuel Teimuge, a long-time SIA partner, to raise and plant the seedlings to protect their local water source. This part of their work receives additional support from Trees for the Future, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that has been supporting reforestation efforts for over 30 years. Since 2008, Trees for the Future has distributed just under half a million seeds to partnering organizations in Kenya, including Samuel Teimuge’s Ukweli Training and Development Center.

After a meeting with the groups to discuss their goals, Dennis reported, “They will protect six streams whose waters drain to Lake Victoria by planting around the catchments to maintain the reservoirs. They also want to eradicate predicted dryness. I like the way they are giving their time and energy more in long-term investments.”

As with all Spirit in Action projects, these groups are also thinking about how they can pass on the gift they have received. Dennis is enthusiastic as he tells me, “I think reforestation is one of the largest dreams for Kenya and we are all participating in Sharing the Gift and “paying it forward” to the three villages and their surroundings that benefits the entire region for a long time.”

“Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy.” –Psalm 96:12

Dennis Kiprop tends to the tree seedlings.