Long-Term Food Security for 4000 Samburus in Kenya

At Sadhana Forest Kenya, a major reason why we thrive is because of our volunteers.  Since October, two large groups helped to make considerable development in our local community.

First, we hosted a traveling high-school group from Korea.  The Moringa stenopetala trees that they planted at three different local schools will significantly improve the availability of nutrition in the schools’ lunches.  The Kenyan and Korean students worked side by side and befriended one another through sharing song and dance.  This lively and personable group of students hosted a Family Day for our community.  The event was an enriching cultural exchange; our local friends presented songs and traditional dances and our international visitors performed theatre, song, and body percussion.

During their stay at the Sadhana Forest Kenya Community Agro-Forestry Learning Centre, the Korean students were immersed in our eco-friendly lifestyle.  In addition to practicing water conservation and learning to use our dry-composting toilet system, they prepared tasty Korean meals using our solar-powered kitchen for cooking and our wood-fired oven for baking.  It was a delight to host such a motivated, hard working, and enthusiastic group of youth and the experience was equally as fulfilling for them and the community.

Soon after our Korean friends departed we had a group of 22 Greek volunteers.  They came specifically to implement a tree planting and water collection project at a local Primary school.  This school is one of the poorest, having no access to water and no food to offer meals for students.

Our Greek volunteers did life-changing work.  On the school grounds, they built an outdoor classroom and implemented a large-scale design of swales, catchment ponds, and food-bearing trees; well fenced from grazing animals and using many of our fast-producing, highly nutritious Moringa seedlings.  Three water tanks were installed to catch rainwater from the school roof as well as from the roof of the newly constructed classroom.  The water will be used by the school for watering the trees as well as for drinking, cooking, and washing, while one tank will be piped outside the school grounds for use by the community.  This was an extremely significant project that was carried out very successfully.  We hope to be able to do similar projects at other local schools.

Aside from these large group visits, we’re moving forward with our day-to-day work quite well with lots of seedlings popping up in the nurseries. In the next few months we plan to revisit each tree that has been planted since the beginning of Sadhana Forest Kenya.

As always, we are ever so grateful for the support of our volunteers and the Global Giving community.  If you are interested in providing us further feedback concerning our project, finding out more about our activities or area of operation, or would like to volunteer with us, please contact us here or email us directly at kenya@sadhanaforest.org.  We also strongly encourage you to provide feedback at the end of this report.

Ashe Oleng! (Thank you very much in Kisamburu)

Since our last report, we have held eleven more tree-planting training sessions. We've had significant involvement at local schools where the youth have perfected our tree planting technique and will continue to plant many more trees in the upcoming months. Our three-month follow up care and training has already been completed for the majority of the trees planted with an impressive 84% survival rate.

This glowing success is attributed to the significant energy dedicated to each step leading up to the trees' check-up date - from germination and community outreach to planting and follow-up communications. Our tree recipients are held accountable for each tree they accept into their care. They are so invested and devoted to their trees due to high quality education and coaching they receive from our passionate trainers and outreach team. Each member of our team has fire in their hearts for Sadhana Forest Kenya and gets fueled up with each opportunity to share that flame with their neighbours. Their faith and motivation come from witnessing the perseverance of Sadhana Forest and the vigor of each volunteer who comes to give their energy to the trees and Samburu people.

As our volunteers connect and strengthen relationships within the community, we are welcomed time and time again to visit our neighbours' homes. From being invited into their manyatta (hut) for a cup of tea after the heavy work of tree planting, to insisting we attend a full three-day wedding ceremony with their family, we are so grateful to be embraced by the Samburu people.

And we are so grateful for our volunteers and the support from the Global Giving community. If you are interested in providing us further feedback concerning our project, finding out more about our activities or area of operation, or would like to volunteer with us, please contact us here or email us directly at kenya@sadhanaforest.org. We also strongly encourage you to provide feedback at the end of this report.

Ashe Oleng! (Thank you very much in Kisamburu)