REPORT ON VISIT TO NDANDINI and KYAITHANI Sept 30 2011

We (Jan & Terry) have just returned from several days visiting the Ndandini and Kyaithani villages.  We are very pleased with the progress that has been made over the past year since we last visited in September 2010 after drilling the well at Ndandini.

All work has been completed at the community garden and a ladies group has been formed that is already starting to turn the soil inside the greenhouse.  They are so excited with what is happening at their village and so committed to getting started.


They have decided that they want to start planting inside the greenhouse as soon as they can, even though they will have to fetch water by donkey from the well site (some 4km away) for the drip-irrigation until the tractor and water wagon becomes a reality early next year.

The sight of the very large 8x24 metre greenhouse inside the fenced acre of land along with the new volunteer building and toilet hut is quite impressive in this area of mud & thatched huts and basic mud brick buildings.

There are 250+ tomato plants growing inside the greenhouse at the Ndandini Primary School that St. Hilda's church donated last fall.  The plants are each over 5 feet tall!  What a sight.



The womens group doing the work there are very excited with the crop and the fruits of their labour.










Unfortunately, because the only green to be found in the area is the drip-irrigated gardens at Ndandini, the birds have found the outdoor garden and are feeding on the Kale leaves.

It would be great if we could provide a netting cover over the outdoor garden area to protect the crop from being eaten by the birds.















The newly installed solar system at the Kyaithani Secondary School is making a big difference in the habits of the students there.

Many of them leave home in the dark at 3:30am to get to school by 4:30am to study under the lights.  With average family income of 100 Ksh/day ($1), they cannot afford to spend 80 Ksh/night for a litre of kerosene for lighting at home to do their homework there.

We delivered a PC, internet connection, DVD player, LCD TV and camera and spent several hours training the teachers how to get started with them.  We have already received emails from the teachers and several students.

We met with the 9 Kyaithani Secondary School students who each received a $300 scholarship this past year and had a chance to talk with each of them.  They are all eager to start exchanging emails with donors and especially with other students.  We have set up an email address for students, teachers and the administration.

We are actively soliciting donations for hopefully even more scholarships for next year.  Check out www.ndandini-scholarshipfund.blogspot.com for more information about the scholarship program.

We also visited each of the 6 school sites in the Kyaithani School Cluster where we will be installing water tanks and soon delivering water from the Ndandini well with a tractor and water wagon.  In concert with the teachers and parents, we have identified the best location at each school for the water tank as it will be used by nearby villagers as well as the school itself.  We can now begin constructing the bases for these water tanks.  At each of the schools we were impressed with the support of the teachers and parents.   The parents at each school have planted a garden to support the school meal program even though now they have to bring the water by donkey from the dry riverbed over 4km away (and scoop in the sand to get that water!).

The entire extended Ndandini and Kyaithani community of over 3000 people is now truly becoming united and working together.

Everywhere we went we were asked to "THANK THE DONORS"!  And we do indeed.  It is all happening because of your support.  Thank you.  Please keep it up.

Terry