New Jerusalem Food Farm

Pastor Tembo (see if you can figure out which one's him!) and I spent a long day buying the hoes, watering cans, pangas, and bikes together, but when we arrived back at the orphanage/farm, the ladies were waiting for us, and happy to get their stuff. In a few weeks I'll be visiting New Jerusalem Food Farm again to check on their progress. They have two hectares of land and they plan to cultivate tomatoes, corn, potatoes, greens, onions, and other stuff too.

First, here are the hoes. The wood handles are easy to make and at the moment of the photo they only had four. Hence, they're holding the rest of them. We bought a tougher metal that lasts at least five years, as opposed to the cheaper kind that lasts one or two seasons.
Watering cans. The land is next to a river and since there aren't any really good irrigation systems in place, during the dry season a lot of the smaller plants take water by hand. So it goes.
Um, right. The Zikomo Project: Promoting peace and understanding one weapon of death at a time. (Actually, the panga knives are a multiple-use tool for farming, cooking, chopping . . . and possibly decapitation.) At the time of the picture I think someone had just insulted someone else's goat.
The bikes are so that Pastor Tembo and company can get around easily and cheaply. They live a good half hour walk from the market and main road, and after that's a minibus ride into town, which costs money. With bikes they can save time and money.
Thanks go to: Chris and Maria in Austin, MN for one bike; Mike and Sherri in Delaware for the other one. Sarah Grace in Chicago and Grete in Chicago for the watering cans. Ned and Rosemary in Twin Falls, ID for the hoes. Gretchen and James in Liberty, Missouri for the pangas.

And, this is me, acting like an idiot. What else are you going to do when you have ten machete-like instruments at hand?

Alfred's Certificate

Alfred is a really solid guy. He works at the District Assembly with the election council, but more pertinently he does sessions on HIV/AIDS awareness all over the place, mostly of his own volition. He's worked mainly with Linda, but in my dealings with him he's been gracious, well-spoken, and keen. The Zikomo Project kicked in $100 of the $250 he needs to get a management certificate. He's currently attending the classes. He's also a point man in the sugar cane project, insofar as he's working to help the Lunzu Women's Group to get their business off the ground. He will probably be an asset as a resource not only while I'm here, but for a long time to come.

Thanks to Nick and Jess from Chicago.

Hampered

I once again find myself saddled with visa issues. This has slowed things down considerably. I am, unfortunately, discovering that a white person without much money (ie: Me) doesn't fit comfortably into any categories here, and unfortunately the corruption in the system has been visited upon my situation. It'll work itself out eventually, but for now all things are on hold. Please do stay tuned.

The Cane Press

That's Linda. No, on the left--that's ME, you weirdo. Linda's the Crisis Corps Volunteer who commissioned the first cane press to be made. The second one belongs to the ZP, and everyone I talk to about it says "Oh, man, that's a good idea." Wish it was my idea. Oh well. I did invent peanut butter, after all.

This little beauty will be used, probably by a group of women from the village, to make fresh sugar cane juice to be sold on the street--with a percentage of the profits also going to the Kuunika Foundsation Orphanage. I think I'll require them to draw up a business plan, and eventually pay the cost of the press back with their profits, so another one can be bought with the money, making this deal a sort of franchise.

Thanks to Brett (two T's) from Chicago, Norma from Twin Falls, Ryan and Amie from Lynden (Washington), and The General Fund (we were about $14 short so we dipped into the reserve).

If you were wondering, sugar cane juice has a surprisingly light, refreshing taste that's vaguely floral and not too sweet. It's best when spiked with lemon, lime, or ginger.

Lemosi gets schooled

If Lemosi were an American and knew me well, he'd hate me. I'm a seat-of-the-pants type of guy, and Lemosi is not. Every time I've seen him, he is dressed nicely with a clean and pressed shirt (though he's dirt poor). Though his phone is held together with rubber bands and was probably made in the 1500's, he managed to call me 8 times when he heard I'd come to his school while he was out on an errand. He was mortified that I'd come during school hours and he was not there. He always speaks politely, smiles like he's Miss Teen USA, and sometimes you can tell he's nervous. We're paying for his last 4 terms of "high school" (Forms) and the accompanying exams. He's extremely grateful for this gift, and having talked to several people about him, I can say for sure that he's a hard worker who will use his schooling to the best of his abilities. I've also told him that since Daddy Zikomo helped him out, maybe he can throw some volunteer time our way sometime. He agreed and wrote it down.

Thanks for this one go to Jack and Jasmine in Pasadena (right?), Matt and Brielle in Eugene, Erika in (crap. crap. i'm horrible. tell me. i'll edit the post when i figure it out.), Jill in Minneapolis, and Rebecca and Mike in Vancouver, B.C. Now that's teamwork, gang (picture that with a denim ballcap on backwards and a thumbs-up).

The Kids

This is Clement, Henry, Mdiuzani (sounds great on the tongue when you get used to saying it), and Rita. They took a "nicer" picture than this, but I liked this one best. These four have received their school fees courtesy of Nick and Jori in Twin Falls, Idaho. Also, courtesty of Tom and Shanna in Twin Falls, their all-important national exams at the end of the term are also paid for. They're all polite, attentive young folks, and I especially like the girls--they're not afraid to speak up (even though culturally girls are more shy), their English is great, and they have things they want to do after Forms (high school). Generally, these are four great people.

Matthews Jimu, the fifth who was going to get money from this donation, hasn't been coming to school. This happens a lot, and I was firm, telling him we wouldn't pay for a student who doesn't show up. He was crestfallen. I told him that if he can get the Head Master to write me a letter, convincing me to give him a second chance, we'll see about getting him some funding. Stay tuned on that.

***

Things are going really well with the Zikomo Project. There is a transfer fee of $30 plus 1% for the money to get from the U.S. to here, but we minimize the effect of that by sending BIG amounts all at once. On this last transfer, in the end we paid 2.5% to get the money here (that doesn't include PayPal fees), if you figure the $30 in. I don't think that's too bad, do you? More photos are on the way. So far everything that was requested has been covered. This is good.

Hence the Silence

I've been having visa problems lately, and am being pulled in a lot of different directions, not the least of which is settling into a new home out in the village, an hour bike ride away from technology. Hence, I haven't gotten other photos up yet. Do not fear.

All gifts that have been sought up to this point have been given right away. So this is great! In fact, I have to turn several willing donors away each time. I hope no one gets frustrated with that, because it's AWESOME. Most recently, the requests for clothes/shoes for Mattis and a Hope Kit (HIV/AIDS awareness teaching aids) for me and whoever I can find to replace me were met.

Photos soon.