Sept 21, 2011
Greetings friends and family,
Yesterday afternoon we ended our "official" safari by being dropped off at the Mennonite Guest House where we will stay until we depart on 27th for the USA. It is a comfortable facility and close to where our United Church of Christ/Disciples of Christ missionary lives. Last night we had dinner at her condominium. We met 5 other young volunteers who are currently being trained in language, Swahili, and other social issues. They will then be working with some of the churches in Kenya and Tanzania. We will learn more about their efforts during our visit with Phyllis Byrd, the missionary.
Prior to this time, we spent a couple days in a beautiful farming area west of Mt Kenya. It is the homeland of our guide, Isaac K., We spent two days at his home and farm. It was very rustic. Rural electrification hasn't come to these parts of Africa. Kerosene lamps, outhouses, mechanical pumps, shower bags lifted above head, etc. Isaac is progressive compared to many of his neighbors. Through the help of Doane College professors and students, he now has a solar panel with a couple 12 V batteries to help charge cell phones and power a small TV. They also installed an interesting manure digester. It is a couple concrete vaults which takes the mixture of manure and captures the methane gas. They use that to light a couple lanterns and a three burner cook stove. Theirs is a large enough digester that it will eventually be used to light a few more lanterns on the compound. I think Isaac said his was a "four cow" digester, i.e. the manure from four cows can be mixed and deposited into the system every other day. It takes about a month for the process to complete. The effluent is then "cool" enough to use as fertilizer in his large vegetable garden.
One day, Marcia and I attended a school for disabled children. It was a boarding school for some. Marcia spent the day there helping the teacher and with Isaac's wife, Joyce. I went on to a community forestry meeting where we discussed possible ways to encourage farmers to do more "agroforestry" so fewer people use the common forest for gathering fuel wood. Remember, most Africans still cook with charcoal and fuel wood. The forests have been over abused and now they are attempting to get farmers to grow and produce more wood on their properties. I talked about various recognition programs used in the US such as Tree Farmers, Stewardship Lands, etc. Recognizing farmers that meet certain standards might be a way to promote more tree planting and proper pruning for fuel wood.
Needless to say, staying at Isaac's Place was interesting however it was a bit rustic. We are glad to be back to some comforts again. We are going to suggest that he have some magazines or books for people to read because there wasn't much we could do after the planned activities. We did take a hike along the rural roads to look at other farms and greet neighbors. Oh, one other thing that Isaac and his dad and uncles do is melt down plastic bags, mix in some soil, and place molten material into a square mold. When dried, they use these as tiles for flooring and walkways. Plastic bags are a big mess in villages. There don't seem to be common dumps anywhere so trash just builds up along streets. This might be a means to at least reuse some plastics.
One other thing. My camera lens, Canon 18-200 mm, finally fell apart. I managed to take one photo of a tree nursery near Isaac's village and it finally stopped functioning. Inside lenses move around freely when shook. Luckily I got the big game photos.
I better end and send this message. Breakfast is being served and the computer is acting funny.
That is all for now from Africa and Nairobi.
Phil and Marcia
Greetings friends and family,
Yesterday afternoon we ended our "official" safari by being dropped off at the Mennonite Guest House where we will stay until we depart on 27th for the USA. It is a comfortable facility and close to where our United Church of Christ/Disciples of Christ missionary lives. Last night we had dinner at her condominium. We met 5 other young volunteers who are currently being trained in language, Swahili, and other social issues. They will then be working with some of the churches in Kenya and Tanzania. We will learn more about their efforts during our visit with Phyllis Byrd, the missionary.
Prior to this time, we spent a couple days in a beautiful farming area west of Mt Kenya. It is the homeland of our guide, Isaac K., We spent two days at his home and farm. It was very rustic. Rural electrification hasn't come to these parts of Africa. Kerosene lamps, outhouses, mechanical pumps, shower bags lifted above head, etc. Isaac is progressive compared to many of his neighbors. Through the help of Doane College professors and students, he now has a solar panel with a couple 12 V batteries to help charge cell phones and power a small TV. They also installed an interesting manure digester. It is a couple concrete vaults which takes the mixture of manure and captures the methane gas. They use that to light a couple lanterns and a three burner cook stove. Theirs is a large enough digester that it will eventually be used to light a few more lanterns on the compound. I think Isaac said his was a "four cow" digester, i.e. the manure from four cows can be mixed and deposited into the system every other day. It takes about a month for the process to complete. The effluent is then "cool" enough to use as fertilizer in his large vegetable garden.
One day, Marcia and I attended a school for disabled children. It was a boarding school for some. Marcia spent the day there helping the teacher and with Isaac's wife, Joyce. I went on to a community forestry meeting where we discussed possible ways to encourage farmers to do more "agroforestry" so fewer people use the common forest for gathering fuel wood. Remember, most Africans still cook with charcoal and fuel wood. The forests have been over abused and now they are attempting to get farmers to grow and produce more wood on their properties. I talked about various recognition programs used in the US such as Tree Farmers, Stewardship Lands, etc. Recognizing farmers that meet certain standards might be a way to promote more tree planting and proper pruning for fuel wood.
Needless to say, staying at Isaac's Place was interesting however it was a bit rustic. We are glad to be back to some comforts again. We are going to suggest that he have some magazines or books for people to read because there wasn't much we could do after the planned activities. We did take a hike along the rural roads to look at other farms and greet neighbors. Oh, one other thing that Isaac and his dad and uncles do is melt down plastic bags, mix in some soil, and place molten material into a square mold. When dried, they use these as tiles for flooring and walkways. Plastic bags are a big mess in villages. There don't seem to be common dumps anywhere so trash just builds up along streets. This might be a means to at least reuse some plastics.
One other thing. My camera lens, Canon 18-200 mm, finally fell apart. I managed to take one photo of a tree nursery near Isaac's village and it finally stopped functioning. Inside lenses move around freely when shook. Luckily I got the big game photos.
I better end and send this message. Breakfast is being served and the computer is acting funny.
That is all for now from Africa and Nairobi.
Phil and Marcia
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