Long-Term Food Security for 4000 Samburus in Kenya

For the past few months here at Sadhana Forest Kenya, we've been working on a transformative project at a local nursery school.  This school, serving over 100 children aged 4-6 in a severely impoverished area, faces significant challenges, including limited resources and low rates of higher education, especially for girls. However, the school's access to a large, fenced plot and a community solar-powered borehole with good access to water, provided a unique opportunity for a substantial planting initiative.  The timing of this January project coincided with back-to-back visits from two large volunteer groups.  With the help of these wonderful Greek volunteers, we fenced off a protected garden area, constructed catchment ponds for water management, and installed shade cloths for a raised-bed seedling nursery, and planted the more sensitive tree species.  We planted a variety of crops, including kale, Swiss chard, beans, papaya, banana, avocado, and Moringa stenopetala.  We also planted kei apple (Dovyalis caffra) densely along the fenceline, where it will grow into a “live fence” and bear delicious fruits.

The goal is to provide the school with a sustainable food source to supplement meals provided by the school, which are often insufficient in quantity and nutritionally lacking.  These meals typically consist of rice, beans, and maize and, although for many students the school lunch is their only meal of the day, there is often not enough food to feed all the children.  Moringa leaves, in particular, will add essential nutrients the children crucially need in order to grow and thrive, like Protein, Minerals (Iron, Calcium, Zinc, Magnesium, and Potassium), Vitamins (A, C, B6, and B12), and Antioxidants (Flavonoids and Polyphenols).  Since these volunteer groups left at the end of January, we’ve continued adding trees and checking in with the school.  The children's enthusiastic participation in watering and caring for the garden has been truly inspiring, and the project is showing very promising results.

Thank you to all of our donors, volunteers, and GlobalGiving.  If you would like to provide feedback, learn more about our projects, or volunteer with us, please email kenya@sadhanaforest.org.  You can also leave a note at the end of this report.

Ashe Oleng! ("Thank you very much!" in Kisamburu)

We are currently preparing for two large volunteer groups that are expected to visit us here at Sadhana Forest Kenya at the end of December. We are mapping out the grounds of a school we have yet to plant at. We are designing an integrated space of water conservation and food forest that the groups will help implement.  The Moringa trees that we planted are growing strong and beautiful!  The branches and leaves of these lovely green trees are now easily spotted from a distance at many homes throughout Samburu County.  Not only is moringa drought-resistant, but the leaves are extremely nutritious to eat. Also, being very quick to grow and ready to harvest inspires people to grow other tree species.  Most other food-bearing species are relatively slow to mature and bear fruit.  So, Moringa's quick return on effort provides reassurance about what's possible for the slower-growing ones.

A lot happens "behind the scenes" of our work of planting trees, designing permaculture gardens, and training schools and communities.  For example, we absolutely must keep all members of our on-site community fed and healthy. So, there are often volunteers in the kitchen who prep, cook, serve, or clean up after a delicious plant-based meal three times daily.  If a baboon chooses our compost for snack time, an elephant passes through our fence, or a woodpecker makes a hole in a water tank, those repairs cannot wait.  Did you know that we have two types of compost to maintain?  Food compost and humanure. When the composts are ready, we use that material to feed the earth and grow more trees and food!  Tools must stay in good repair with a sharpening here and a new handle there.  We run our own mini-grid, wind and solar, to power the water pump (for public collection and our internal use), the public phone charging station, our laptops, lights, and kitchen appliances.  To keep this electrical system operating smoothly, someone must monitor the input and output loads, clean the solar panels, and troubleshoot any system issues.  This is just a sample of our innumerable tasks at Sadhana Forest Kenya.  Individual tasks may seem inconsequential, but each one is vital to successfully reaching long-term food security for the Samburu people.  So, we will continue to put as much care into each small task as we do into each tree we plant.

And we could not do any of this without the crucial support of our donors, volunteers, and GlobalGiving - so thank you all!  If you would like to provide feedback, learn more about our projects, or volunteer with us, please email us at kenya@sadhanaforest.org.  You can also leave a note at the end of this report.

Ashe Oleng! ("Thank you very much!" in Kisamburu)