Kenya Media Watch

The author of the above blog, who is based in the Kisii area, posted a blog relating to the work we are doing in Kenya, as well as posting a comment on our blog (see below).

I don't have aproblem with that, but when I wanted to post a comment on his blog, I found I couldn't. So I am posting my comment here.

Time to Start Questioning Some Forms of Charity

I would agree about the problem of fatalism, and it is not restricted to Kisii. For this reason, we will be targeting children in schools, teaching them about malaria control.

Further, we are starting in Kisii because that is where most of us live. However, once the systems have been built, tweaked and proven, we will be expanding our operation. Other communities in Nyanza, Bungoma, Machakos and Coast as well as Cameroon, Malawi and Sierra Leone have shown an interest in what we are doing.

And yes, £500 is not a lot of money. But then, we don't have major overheads, no directors to pay, we use public transport. Personally, I pay my own air fares and living costs when I am in Kenya. And as we state everywhere, our systems are designed to be made from scrap and discarded materials, which are free or very cheap.

Can you spare a few pennies?

We are trying hard to improve the lives of many orphans and some of the poorest families (usually a grandparent looking after their orphaned grandchildren) in Kisii, Kenya.

We are ready to start several projects:

• Growing our own food
• Clean, safe drinking water
• Alternative, clean cooking fuel
• Home-grown fertiliser
• Malaria control
  

These are not just ideas. These are real, worked out and costed projects.

But we need funds.

If every person who follows u on Twitter donated £6, we would be able to get started.

We only need about £500 to get started, so how about it? There is a PayPal donation button in the column on the right.

Make a difference to the life of a child in Kenya. Donate a few pounds today!

I am overwhelmed

Since pushing to raise the profile of our organisation KCIS, I am overwhelmed by the amount of support I have received from people - people I know, people I don't know, people on Social Network sites, all sorts. We received pledges, not enormous amounts, but all together , they would get us started.

I became very positive, something I find difficult in February, in the UK, in a grey and chilly climate. But positive I am.

But, we have not received a bean. I checked our PayPal account. Not a single pledge has been received ~ what am I doing wrong?

But at least I won the Lotto last night, not the big prize, but £25. That will go straight into the pot. Maybe this is a start?

C'mon people and tweeple. Let's give some people in Kenya clean, pure drinking water, clean cooking fuel, "home-grown" fertiliser ...

Kenyan Community Initiative Support
Helping People to Help Themselves

Scrapheap Challenge

Our project, Scrapheap Challenge has been put together to cover all the ideas and prototypes that have been designed to make low-technology equipment largely from scrap or discarded materials.

So far, we have:

• Water filter and purifier
• Methane collector (with fertiliser by-product as a bonus)
  
• Rainwater collection
• Cheap bio-diesel
• Hydrogen cell

All these systems will be built and tested at out River Cottage Kenya plot in Kisii - as soon as we have funds to carry out this work.

When we have proved that they work, with tweeking as needed, their concepts will be passed on to other NGOs and communities throughout Kenya and further on, depending upon how successful we are in promoting them (and us!).

You can help by spreading the word and/or making a donation using the PayPal button on the right.

Please, please help us.

River Cottage, Kenya

The River Cottage project at KCIS has a plot in Kisii, on which we are going to grow food for the Twiga Children's Home. Presently, we have bananas, pineapples and avocados, and we will be looking at alternatives to the usual crops grown in the area. We will be trying out keyhole gardening and other high yield ideas.

I am also hoping that we can form a pool, fed by the river, to raise Tilapia fish, which are fast-breeding and very good to eat.

Any surplus food will be sold to put some money into the KCIS fund.

The older children at Twiga are raring to get started although clearing the plot and preparing the land for crop growing is going to be quite a task.

We will be using fertiliser produced by our methane generator (see Scrapheap Challenge)