Salem: Sunday

Sorry about the gap between the last blog as we have been out all day the last 2 on projects and field trip tours to farms. Doug, Deric and Tim were able to go onto their first farm tours on Thursday after the successful seminars had ended. We were taken to two farms by David, the Kipkaren Center director, and traversed some extremely rough road with breath taking natural beauty. The first stop was at the farm of Samson who farms 31 acres of Maize and pastures for his family. With the extreme increase in fertilizers we felt in the US market, so has the cost of fertilizers in Kenya, and a number of growers here had decided to use less and some no fertilizer at all, thus their maize crops range from good to poor. The fear here is that as the crop is being harvested currently and it being short, there may be some big issues of running out of food this coming March. Meanwhile, as we toured Samson’s farm, we were able to pull a soil sample from 2 of his fields and our hope is to bring them back to the USA to be analyzed for actual nutrients in their soil to help them increase productivity. Samson was greatly appreciative of our help and talk of starting a new coop and we were blessed with a wonderful Kenyan lunch in his home made of thatch roofing and mud walls. The other farms we visited and spoke to were given some added hope as the desire to form this cooperative and gaining new “farming practices” motivated all the growers we met with. We were also able to get some samples of their feeds to bring home and have analyzed for actual nutritional content as the bags they buy have “no” information. Please pray that the Lord will help us be able to bring these samples into our customs and be able to come into the USA. The agriculture staff was greatly encouraged by all we experienced and saw and have definitely sensed that God has opened a door to help the Kenyans succeed in producing and storing more food for their people. We’ve all sensed that these people want to work and are willing to try some new things as they have been kept in the dark about new technologies over the last number of years. Friday, Tim had an opportunity to teach the ag students in their classroom for 3 hours and did some practical applications in the experiment garden as well as soil sampling techniques in the afternoon. He was amazed at their ability to take notes and he appreciated their questions and class participation.

Thursday evening after a busy day being involved in a variety of things we were divided into 2 groups and had dinner in local homes. We had good meals and interesting conversation. We continue to learn more of the Kenyan culture along with individual stories of a way of life that can be difficult to comprehend. God has done amazing things in so many lives and situations and it is humbling to hear. Unfortunately Vickie spent the day very ill but she is OK now and everyone else is well.

The First Aid/CPR training finished well this morning. Jenn did a great job teaching and modifying as needed as we did not have the usual equipment such as mannequins to practice on. We practiced most of the skills on the cement floor and used rolled up blankets and benches to practice the compression skills of CPR! The students were very involved, asked good questions and had fun while at it. Those who completed all the classes were given certificates of completion. Linda did a teaching session Thursday afternoon and will finish up on Monday. Friday was a holiday here and six of us went with many of the staff and students to another ELI location in Illula for a day of competition between the two centers. The morning included both men and women’s volleyball games and in the afternoon we enjoyed the men’s football (soccer) match. It was quite a good game and Fred was invited to play on the Kipkaren team and did well. He even got in a couple great head shots! Afterwards we stopped in the bustling town of Eldoret for dinner and some brief shopping in one of the markets. The roads can be a bit harrowing but we had an excellent driver and all went well.