Funding our work

We are not very good at getting people to donate funds to us. Yes, OK, when we have a specific need, like buying shoes for all the kids at the Mercy Gate Home, we managed it by collecting old mobile phones in the UK and selling them in Kenya. It was very successful and surpassed our best expectations.

But, raising funds to build River Cottage Kenya is a different matter. So, assuming that we are not going to get external funding, I have sunk some capital into starting up a business in Kenya, an Internet café to be precise. Vincent, Mercy Gate's director will manage it and draw a weekly or monthly salary. The rest (assuming there is any) will be put in the bank, and I will use it to start the River Cottage project when I next go over, probably in September. The income will also support two of the kids at Mercy Gate, Jojo and Benta, as I have already said that I will pay for their upkeep.

The actual shamba project itself doesn't need a lot of funding. What I really need is a vehicle to cart the materials to the plot, as well as so get between our three main sites, Kisii, Nairobi and Malindi.

We did have a little Toyota which wasn't best suited to our needs, but it was better than nothing. Unfortunately, someone turned it into a bonfire in January and we haven't been able to replace it.

So, the café has got to work, so that I can get our projects off the ground.

I don't know what an old 4x4 would cost, but it is more than I have.

More Mercy Gate Kids

On the last day of my stay in Kisii, I was introduced to a family of five orphans who were temporarily being housed by Pastor Liston.

As we were going to the plot for a party, the four eldest came along too.

The oldest of the five is Dominic, a very serious-looking boy.

He is about 14 and appears to look out for his younger siblings.

Once at the plot, I made him team captain for one of the volleyball teams, which drew him out.


Next in line is Mary.

She seemed to have no problem in mixing with the girls both younger and older.








Osando and Getembe are the next two.

Osando stuck close to Dominic for a lot of the time, until he felt more comfortable and Getembe was honoured - he was the only child that was allowed to touch Jojo's ball!

Last but not least is baby Kemuma, who did not come to the plot as the weather was a little chilly (by Kenyan standards), so she stayed with Pastor Liston.

Oil on Still Waters

I have seen and read about pouring or spraying mineral oil onto standing water to prevent mosquitoes from breeding, or more precisely, suffocating the larvae.

However, treating water holes with mineral oil sounds less than healthy for the cattle and goats that need to drink from these sources.

Has anyone tried using old cooking oil rather than mineral oil? I would think that animals would find it more palatable and less harmful.

River Cottage, Kenya

In the UK, we are plagued by "celebrity chefs", on the TV in particular.

For those of you who do not receive UK TV, the programmes started many years ago with Fanny Craddock, with her husband Johnny, knocking up braised pheasant with truffles and the like.

These days, the programmes are far more diverse, with a couple of chefs advocating healthy food, "back to basics", fair trade, etc. I have no problem with this. In fact, I passively support the ideals, if only they didn't cost so much more than factory-produced plastic food.

One celebrity in particular, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, started living at his weekend cottage, growing his own fruit and veg, and with the addition of animals, soon became self-sufficient.

He expanded and now has a farm in Devon, River Cottage HQ, as well as a city farm in Bristol.

So where is this blog going? Well, I reckon that what I want to do on my (as yet theoretical) model shamba is pretty much what HF-W is doing in England. So I am pinching the name River Cottage and calling my shamba "River Cottage, Kenya". There is a cottage on the plot, there is a river running past it and it is in Kenya, so why not?

Before HF-W became a celebrity chef, he worked in conservation in Africa, although I cannot find out more details. Maybe he will hear about River Cottage, Kenya. Then he can either ignore it, sue me, or help out. I would prefer the last - but any publicity is good publicity - so they say.

Model Shamba

Part of my remit within ACIS is to find new ways to do traditional tasks that will be less harmful to the environment, but no more complicated.

As an example, finding alternative, readily available fuels to cook on. This will reduce the need to cut wood, damaging trees, thereby helping to prevent soil erosion.

We are presently looking at water purification, methane collection, solar cooking and finding crops that will grow in Kenya that repel mosquitoes.

We are not claiming that all the ideas are ours. What we want to do is to introduce them to rural Kenya together with an education programme, explaining how everyone would benefit from using this technology.

To this end, at our last meeting in Nairobi, it was decided that the best way to raise funds for this work would be to create a model shamba, on the lines of a show home on a new housing estate. When everything is up and running, we will invite the Kenyan press and TV to take a look.

But for this, we need land.

It occurred to me that we have a plot in Kisii, the plot that has been set aside to build the orphanage, but as this will take more funds than we are likely to raise in the near future, we might as well put the land to good use. And the kids could get involved. I am sure that the older ones would find it fascinating - I hope.

Some of Our Kids

Let me introduce a few of the 36 kids who are on the Mercy Gate register.

I will start with the two who I help to support. They are living with Abigael and Vincent, the directors of Mercy Gate.

Josephat (4 years)

Jojo was abandoned at birth by his schoolgirl mother and was left in the care of his grandmother. She was unable to cope with the rather sickly baby and he arrived at Mercy Gate at the age of about 6 months. He is very small for his age, probably due to an intestinal parasite, for which he has now been treated.

He is a lively, active little boy, very confident and with a big smile.

He is attending baby class in a local school, where he is doing well.

He has an enormous appetite and I hope that now he has been treated, he will put on a growth spurt.

Benta (5 years)

Benta is a happy little girl. She is quiet (most of the time) and studious.

She likes to do crafts, and she is a dab hand at housework! I was shocked at first, but then realised that she does what every little girls does, copying her "mother", the difference being that here (UK/USA), a little girl will have a toy vacuum cleaner.

Benta doesn't have one and Abigael doesn't have a real one!

So Benta sweeps the floor, just like Mamma. She also likes to look after Abigael's baby daughter. And she helps with the clothes washing and cooking, just like Mamma.

A perfectly normal little girl, except that she is in the care of the orphanage.

Edwin & Dennis

These boys are brothers, Edwin (left) being the older.

Their mother died and their father eventually re-married. He moved away from the area and the boys now live with their adult sister, who is a single mother.

They are a couple of good kids, but Dennis in particular is mischievous, especially when he is in the company of Henry.

Both boys are doing well enough at school.

Dennis has a problem with chiggers, a small flesh-eating insect, which has infected his feet, the treatment for which is expensive.

The food crisis in Kenya is taking every penny from our funds, just to feed the kids. Medical treatment has become a luxury.

Henry

This 11 year old is as cheeky as they come. He has mischief written all over his face! But he is also active, good-natured and popular.

He is often seen in the company of a younger lad, Davis and also Dennis (above), and when the three of them are together, watch out! Nothing naughty or malicious, but, pranks and jokes are never far away.

This kid can turn any melodrama into a comedy.

Henry was born in 1997. His father died after suffering chest pains. He has a mother and two brothers, Nelson and Eric, who are both older.

Davis

This kid is a walking smile. I have never seen him without one on his face.

Davis has an older sister, Vanessa, also on our register. Their father died in a road accident in 1999 the same year that Davis was born. His mother is unable to look after Davis and Vanessa as she has no income.

Davis works well at school and is developing well.

Vanessa

Vanessa (on the right) is the older sister of Davis. She is about 12 years old. She is also very, very shy.

When the kids get together, she is often seen with her friend Divina. And that is when I have seen her come out of her shell. The two of them like skipping, and they were skipping together in almost perfect synchronisation.

How about that for a new sport? synchronised skipping!

NGOs - What are they for?

In September 2007, I went to the Children's Home in Kisii to meet the people responsible for distributing insecticide treated mosquito nets (ITNs) to children. The home had not received any nets and we wanted to know why.

The meeting with the NGO, Merlin, was very successful and we were promised that the nets would be delivered as soon as possible.

When I returned to Kisii in March 2008, the ITNs still has no been delivered.

What are these people doing?

During the political crisis after the elections in December 2007, Kisii received 3,000 refugees. I was receiving daily reports from Vincent in Kisii and I was told that no aid was being sent to the town.

I contacted all the major charities and aid agencies, but no one even had the courtesy to reply, apart from Oxfam, who sent an email telling me that my email as being forwarded to the appropriate office.

The refugees have now gone, but while they were there, not one crumb of food aid was delivered to them. They relied upon the good will of the people of Kisii.

I know that ACIS is a small agency, but we do have people on the ground, people who can see what is going on. I passed this information on to the people who were supposed to be carrying out the aid programme, but it fell on deaf ears.

Who do these people think they are?