Maize crop at the Ruuju Primary School

Despite the rest of Kenya being very dry, the members of the Ruuju Womens Group harvested a crop of maize and beans in the last short rains.

The Ruuju Primary School has 8 acres of land attached to the school on which they grow maize and beans for the school lunch program to supplement the maize and beans provided by the parents. They too harvested a crop of maize and beans. The maize harvest is shown in the photograph. They said they had harvested enough beans to last until 2010.

Their vegetable garden is also doing well.

Drip irrigation

by Teresa Mellish

As we drove through Kenya and visited farms, we realized how dry Kenya is. The daily Kenyan newspapers tell us that some parts of Kenya are on relief food rations because it was so dry that there was no crop harvested in the last rains.

I visited two farms owned by the Muchui Group members- and they, too, had a crop failure in the short rains. Although these women have drip irrigation in their kitchen gardens, one woman was not using it because she could not afford to purchase water from the water line which is connected to her home. A tank of 4600 litres of water costs $4 and would last her for a month, including for drip irrigation for her kitchen garden. She would not sell any of the maize she had harvested from the long rains so that she could buy water to grow vegetables in her kitchen garden.

The second home we visited was Elizabeth Kirema's home and she was using water to irrgate her kitchen garden. She had onions ready to havest and many tomato plants. However the field below her garden was so dry looking- and when we visited her in January she had a great crop of maize growing in it.

When we met with the Muchui Womens Group Project Management Committee we reviewed how many women could not afford to buy water for their kitchen gardens and discovered that 36 of the 63 women could not afford it. It was agreed that their tanks would be filled every week for the next 10 weeks- until mid October when the long rains should start- and they would be supplied with kale, tomato and onion seedlings.

Bio gas cooks food for farm families

by Teresa Mellish

Last week Shaad Olingo and I visited four of the farm families who now have bio gas to cook meals for their families. They get this bio gas from pouring two buckets of cow manure into a black plastic tube each day- which causes the formation of methanae which is piped into the house and burns when ignited. In this photo Christine Ngundu is cooking on the burner using methane gas. She said she cooks breakfast faster and does not have to inhale smoke from the wood fire she used to use for cooking. This was funded by the Stratford Rotary Club and the Canadian International Development Agency

Hillsborough Rotary Club builds dining hall at Ruuju School

The Hillsborough Rotary Club supported the construction of a dining hall for the 500 primary students who attend the Ruuju Primary School. This means that the students will have a place to eat their lunch out of the sun and the rain (during rainy season).Please add that the building will be used by the Ruuju Womens Group for training and their meetings. Also it will be used for community events.

Blood pressure clinic

The nurses carried out a blood pressure clinic for the members of both the Muchui Womens Group and the Ruuju Womens Group. They gave each woman her blood pressure readings on an index card. Then they explained the meaning of blood pressure readings and told them how to interpret them. They also offered suggestions on how to lower their readings- such as reducing their intake of salt. The women were very grateful and gave each of the girls a Kenyan cloth to wear

Marley, Rianne and Cherly share photos with children at soccer game

Playing soccer

Ashley Caulier is on the UPEI soccer team and she joined the high school boys for a game at the Kiirua Boys Secondary School. While Ashley was playing soccer, Marley, Rianne and Cheryl shows the photos they had just taken to some children