Blessings,
Anne
September 1, 2008
Dear Friends,
We are safely back in Kenya after our short visit to the US. It was a whirlwind trip where we had the opportunity to visit with friends and family. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to spend with everyone or get to see everyone that we wanted to see. Horace was able to accomplish quite a lot for work and meet with several new churches and individuals to share with them our work and vision for the future of Planting Faith.
The jet lag affected us more than previous trips. We would blame it on age, but even Horace, Jr. & Mary Shea were affected this time. We all seem to be back on schedule this week though. School has begun, and the children are into a full routine of activities. Horace, Jr. will be playing Junior Varsity Soccer and Mary Shea will be involved in basketball and swimming. We keep a family calendar on the computer which went from empty to full in about 60 seconds. So much for the slower pace of Africa!
After being gone for six weeks, naturally we are a bit behind in our work, but we are catching up quickly. Horace has visited with several of the projects. In Mang’u the farmers are beginning to harvest passion fruit. We have a marketing meeting scheduled for later this week, as things seem to be progressing nicely there, and in Ngare Ndare, the farmers will be harvesting their Mobydick flowers soon. Horace will travel there tomorrow to observe their progress. In Kabete, the bird of paradise flowers are growing well. This crop was planted in late March, so they have about six months to go to reach harvest.
The Murang’a group has had an issue with fusarium – a deadly fungus for passion fruit. About 25% of the entire crop is affected. Last week we brought an agronomist out to their farms for a lesson on diseases. The solution to their problems will require intense management, including increased fertilization, pruning and soil drenching. Some of their diseased plants will be salvaged; while others will have to either be replanted or re-grafted from the original root stock. Horace has visited them several times, and things appear to be improving.
In Juja, we are in the beginning stages of starting an organic vegetable farm and market for the farmers of the Thika area. We are currently researching which crops we can grow to market locally for delivery service to Nairobi. Our plan is to develop the market and contract with local farmers to grow the produce. Ultimately, the farmers will be the owners; we will just get the wheels in motion.
Eventually we plan to move this work to a research and demonstration station that Planting Faith hopes to purchase in the near future. It is an exciting development for Planting Faith as we have long hoped to provide a demonstration station to the community. The idea is that on one side of the farm, we will conduct meaningful research which is relevant to the local farmers’ situation. After we have completed researching a particular crop or livestock, we will then move it to the demonstration side of the farm, so we can show it off to the farmers. We hope that it can be a model farm for any subsistence farmer in the region.
Please pray for all the farmers with whom we work that they will succeed in their endeavors, and pray that we can make our demonstration farm a reality as well. It is only by the grace of God that any of us shall succeed.
Yours in Christ,
Horace, Anne, Horace, Jr. and Mary Shea
Dear Friends,
We are safely back in Kenya after our short visit to the US. It was a whirlwind trip where we had the opportunity to visit with friends and family. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to spend with everyone or get to see everyone that we wanted to see. Horace was able to accomplish quite a lot for work and meet with several new churches and individuals to share with them our work and vision for the future of Planting Faith.
The jet lag affected us more than previous trips. We would blame it on age, but even Horace, Jr. & Mary Shea were affected this time. We all seem to be back on schedule this week though. School has begun, and the children are into a full routine of activities. Horace, Jr. will be playing Junior Varsity Soccer and Mary Shea will be involved in basketball and swimming. We keep a family calendar on the computer which went from empty to full in about 60 seconds. So much for the slower pace of Africa!
After being gone for six weeks, naturally we are a bit behind in our work, but we are catching up quickly. Horace has visited with several of the projects. In Mang’u the farmers are beginning to harvest passion fruit. We have a marketing meeting scheduled for later this week, as things seem to be progressing nicely there, and in Ngare Ndare, the farmers will be harvesting their Mobydick flowers soon. Horace will travel there tomorrow to observe their progress. In Kabete, the bird of paradise flowers are growing well. This crop was planted in late March, so they have about six months to go to reach harvest.
The Murang’a group has had an issue with fusarium – a deadly fungus for passion fruit. About 25% of the entire crop is affected. Last week we brought an agronomist out to their farms for a lesson on diseases. The solution to their problems will require intense management, including increased fertilization, pruning and soil drenching. Some of their diseased plants will be salvaged; while others will have to either be replanted or re-grafted from the original root stock. Horace has visited them several times, and things appear to be improving.
In Juja, we are in the beginning stages of starting an organic vegetable farm and market for the farmers of the Thika area. We are currently researching which crops we can grow to market locally for delivery service to Nairobi. Our plan is to develop the market and contract with local farmers to grow the produce. Ultimately, the farmers will be the owners; we will just get the wheels in motion.
Eventually we plan to move this work to a research and demonstration station that Planting Faith hopes to purchase in the near future. It is an exciting development for Planting Faith as we have long hoped to provide a demonstration station to the community. The idea is that on one side of the farm, we will conduct meaningful research which is relevant to the local farmers’ situation. After we have completed researching a particular crop or livestock, we will then move it to the demonstration side of the farm, so we can show it off to the farmers. We hope that it can be a model farm for any subsistence farmer in the region.
Please pray for all the farmers with whom we work that they will succeed in their endeavors, and pray that we can make our demonstration farm a reality as well. It is only by the grace of God that any of us shall succeed.
Yours in Christ,
Horace, Anne, Horace, Jr. and Mary Shea
