Dear Geof. and fellow Rotarians,
Thank you for your email. Stephen and Erina update is due very soon, so I will keep you posted. I am hopeful that the training of the oxen is now completed, and they have started to generate an income from their services. Knowing that there is now a service in the village to plough the fields ( rather than the women with a hoe) has inspired and motivated us to do more in the village - we are very actively promoting Moringa ( the miracle tree) not only to combat malnutrition but also as a Green Manure. Too much of the soil in the village is depleted and there are very few villagers with livestock (manure) so we are experimenting with Moringa as a Green Manure (good research on this so should work)
We are also going to start working with village groups (SACCOs - Savings and Credit Co-operatives) to see if we can support local businesses. We have a few ideas of what we would be interested in - but we await to hear from them with their ideas -
Some of ours are -
Maize Sheller
sacks to store maize so that they can sell when there is a shortage
IRS Spraying - Indoor Residual Spraying to combat mosquitoes...possibly funding a villager to become a qualified sprayer
Brick making
motorbike or bicycle ambulance
pedal powered irrigation
I am out in January for 3 weeks, so will be able to give you a good update after my visit.
As far as assistance is concerned I know that Bishop Willigers are really suffering from the classroom block having a dirt floor ( the block that you did the windows and doors) When the wind blows because there is no glass in the windows the dust flies everywhere. I don't know exactly how much it will cost to screed the floor, but I can easily find out if you are interested (likely to be pretty close to