Odede 2012 Update

I have been back in Australia having spent nearly 8 months in Odede, Kenya. While as you can imagine we as a community achieved far more than we thought possible and there is no way I can cover all the accomplishments in this letter to you, however I will just outline the major projects that have commenced or are in the process.

Goat Breeding Programme  has commenced -  Yes we have the biggest Goat Farm in Kenya with 100 local goats that will be crossed with the German Alpine breed. This project will produce goat’s meat, milk and many more by-products. There are 4 Purebred Bucks and 4 Purebred Does

Horticulture has commenced – Passionfruit Farming and Tissue Culture Bananas. We have planted 3 acres of Passionfruit and have over 100 Tissue Culture Banana Plants. The Men, Women and Youth each have 1 acre that they care for and will assist each group to develop further. All crops are watered by a Solar Wheelbarrow that we pump from Lake Victoria, the second largest fresh water lake in the world.

Fair Trade Craft Industry has commenced - We have produced items for export to Melbourne ie Stuffed animals, the cutest Angels you ever did see, key rings and many more to come.

Reusable Sanitary Towels has commenced - This has been a Youth initiative whereby they have produced a reusable Sanitary Towel. The reason is that many girls miss school due to not having appropriate hygiene items along with women also missing many things in their life for the exact reason. Together we developed an excellent reusable towel that I know will be a huge success. This picture shows the male youths learning about Sanitary Towels from myself.

Eco Forestry Seedling Nursery has commenced - This is a Youth initiative that is developing due to the destruction of all trees within the area for the use of producing charcoal and wood for fires for cooking. Within a 5 month period the Youth will have thousands of seedlings for sale along with developing educational programmes for the awareness of their environment.

Community Clinic and Family Planning Programme has commenced - We currently run a clinic which is sustained by the Women’s Group. This is the temporary building being used until our official Clinic is built in 2012. A fee of 20 shillings is paid weekly by each woman and this money goes to paying wages of the Nurse and the purchase of drugs. We also run a Family Planning Clinic that encourages women to talk about planning their families ie implants, tubal ligations, condoms and general discussions with their husbands. We have run 2 workshops with both men and women covering these very controversial issues.

      Access Road through the village of Odede has been completed  Due to all the activities within the village, the local Council chose us as one of the very few villages to get an access road. This will enable trucks to access our Horticulture crops along with other industry proposed for the village.

Eco Toilet has been completed – This toilet has been introduced within the Child Rescue Centre whereby we separate the Urine from the Solid Waste. We compost the Solid Waste with Green Mulch or Ash after each use. Once the drum is full it is exposed to full sunlight and rolled each day. This will break down over a period of 4-6 months and will produce 100% humus compost. The urine is diluted 5 parts to one with water and used to water our vegetable garden. This is currently in use and producing the most amazing vegetables you ever did see.

Child Rescue Centre Shamba (Vege Garden) is producing – This is Barack in our Shamba (vegetable garden) that feeds all the children within the Centre. We currently are growing, cabbages, tomatoes, beans, corn, spinach, egg plants, butternut pumpkins, sukumawiki (spinach), onions, carrots, herbs. Our babies will never go hungry.

So this will give you an idea of how hard we have all be working to sustain ourselves and develop a future for our children. 

Having said that I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU for your support. Without people like you these projects would never happen. I want you to know that every cent that you donate to me goes to the project. Also you can be assured that your donation is not a Hand Out but a Hand Up. A percentage of all monies produced from these projects are reinjected back into the community for self sustainability.

So once again Thank You from not only me but the people of Odede.

Cheers Marilyn

These are the Youth learning how to make the Reusable Sanitary Towels, yes they are all males and that in itself is quite an achievement.

Our Child Development Centre

The Youth in their Passionfruit fields

The women at Craft

The Youth with their Eco Forestry Seedlings.

The official handing over of the Goats from our sponsor B1G1