Pilot Project Progress Part 1: Man's Work

Authors Note: This post is the first in a series about the newly started Pilot Project. Look for regular updates as the project is just now beginning!

The first general meeting with the new group isn’t for two more days, and yet the real work has already begun. As many of you will remember, Planting Faith is conducting a Pilot Project in the Murang’a District to try some new techniques and strategies based on keeping the best of what PF has done before while also improving and addressing issues and challenges we’ve had with other groups.

One of the first issues we wanted to address was the issue of group size and formation. At a simple level, it’s really hard to have meetings where everyone’s voice is heard if there are 50 people. At a much more complex level, we’ve found that if you ask people “hey do you want to do x,” they basically always say yes, whether you’re talking about promoting agricultural business or about underwater basket weaving. Which makes it really hard to make sure you have people in a group who are really interested in what it is you actually want to do!

Of course, these are some of the things that make international development so difficult, right? I mean, cross-cultural communication is hard, often times what the NGO thinks the community needs and what the community thinks they need are quite different, and it certainly seems so much more efficient to work with 50! And yet, often times it seems that these simple decisions made at the outset really do set the stage for the entire shebang.

So with this project we asked CCS to help us find a group that already existed, that had expressed an interest in agricultural business before hearing about our project, and that was already involved in their own projects. And what a group they found!

The Githuri Water Project group consists of 100 farmers who have mobilized themselves to access gov’t funds in order to get irrigation for their farms. Previously a total drought region, their group has now managed to get irrigation water for 50 households (and counting) using gravity, a nearby river, funds from the gov’t, and a whole heckuva lot of work. And after discussing with our CCS partners, they’ve agreed to mobilize 25 of those 50 households who are specifically interested in agricultural business for our project.

So, having met the leadership, Rebecca, Beth (our new CCS coworker), and I decided that it would be a good idea to invest a little time in the community to learn more about what’s going on, to begin some relationships, and to communicate how excited we are about what they’ve already accomplished. And so, just yesterday, we picked up hoes, pick axes, and shovels, took of our shoes, and joined the group in digging the main trench where they will put the next section of irrigation piping.

Let me be clear about two things: this pipe is a big pipe. And this ditch they put it in . . . it’s a big ditch. And so, what we had dreamily contemplated as a relational building time became (in addition to that) probably one of the hardest days work of this city slickers life. We’re talking digging 6 feet down into the earth, removing enormous boulders, and shoveling out tons of dirt in the excruciatingly hot Kenyan sun. And we’re also talking about watching women old enough to be your grandma totally making your 23 yr old self look like a complete pansy. I mean, these folks can work! So of course, Bec and I got blisters in all of thirty seconds, and did our best to not make total fools or ourselves. And while we’ll be feeling the effects for a few days, the relationships begun, the message conveyed, and the sheer joy of feeling in your bones a hard days work done together was well worth the effort.

Actually, most of my hardest days of labor have been on missions trips: mixing cement in Mexico, gutting houses in New Orleans, etc. But I’ve never, on any trip, really worked under local leaders who are already providing all the supplies, labor, and planning that the project required. There had to be 30 people who showed up to work all day in the hot sun with no pay and no food. If there’s ever been a time when you might have generalized the poor as lazy, incapable of managing or leading, or at least not very driven, it’s time to think again.

What a great opportunity for us! Hopefully, it was the start that we needed in the community (in addition to meetings with the leaders and a walk through the village as well). Please pray for us these next couple days, because our first meeting is on Thursday (check the blog on Friday for the next update!), and we’re all going to be out of our comfort zones!

Peace,

Michael

Long Time Gone

Well, there’s nowhere to begin but by apologizing: sorry it has been so long! But despite the long silence on our end, there’s plenty to tell . . . we just haven’t had time to tell it. To dive right in . . .

Visitors
Since the World Freedom Day party we’ve hosted numerous folks at our home in Nairobi, including Marian, Mark, Christen, and Stephen Sasscer (Rebecca’s Mom, Dad, and two of her siblings), Dr. Russell Mask (one of my profs from Covenant), and Mom and Dad from Memphis. All in all, that’s more than 30 days of visitors since July!

Former professors and new in-laws sound like a recipe for major stress, but we can honestly say that all our visitors were an incredible encouragement to us, and that everybody weathered the various small storms of international travel (running out of water, no power, bumpy roads, multiple day car breakdowns, food poisoning, and one really mean jellyfish) with incredible graciousness! I’d like to publicly thank Dr. Mask for interacting with us and giving guidance on all sorts of work and cultural issues (he worked in Nairobi for several years), Christen and Stephen for spending the last few days of their break running around with us, and all of the parents for being incredible role models for us newlyweds, for giving us great advice and encouragement, and for being willing to roll with the punches during their stay. Plus, ya’ll were a great excuse to do some great vacationing!

Work
Based on our guest schedule, you might assume that we’ve hit a lull in our work schedule. Not so! In fact, and maybe I always say this but really this time, I don’t think we’ve ever been busier. To take it group by group:

Our farmers in Ngare Ndare have planted butternut squash! Back in August we visited the group and took a tour of about 7 farms with the entire group, which was really fun. They had just germinated at that time, but they looked good, and the reports over the phone line sound like they’re coming along well. This is great news! Please pray that we’d be able to get up there in October before harvest, and that we’d be able to help the group to put together a marketing plan in time to really turn a good profit. This would be a major success.

In Mang’u farmers continue to grow passion fruit, but the truth is, many of the farmer’s crops failed due to neglect or disease, and we’ve spent most of our time since arriving trying to help the group find its feet again and decide on a way forward. After the leaders sent letters to all defaulting members (on their own initiative), we got a good portion of the group together for a meeting. The group decided they want to plant a new crop together using their own funds, to get on loan repayment schedules that would allow them to repay their loans slowly, and to start a community managed loan fund referred to locally as a Table Bank.

Table Banks are basically small-scale, informal credit unions that, using only the members contributed savings, make small loans and allow members to save with the potential for annual dividend payments. Table Banks have several distinct advantages over traditional microfinance banks and loan schemes. First, and most importantly, Table Banking is an initiative that begins in the right place: with the community’s own assets and resources. So many well-intentioned community development programs implicitly enter a community with the message that “You need help. You have problems. And we can fix them for you.” Nothing could be more disempowering and hurtful to the vulnerable poor, who already feel powerless and destitute than to bring a message that says, "You can't solve your problems without our help." But Table Banking begins with the message that “You have resources! You have opportunities! You have money! If you work together, you can help each other achieve your goals!” Second, using the community’s own savings for the loan capital means that loans are smaller, safer, and more appropriate. Whereas an outsider might over-estimate a poor person’s debt capacity, and mistakenly give them more debt than they can possibly manage, Table Banking begins at the right level, as determined and managed by the community. Third, whereas microbanks and lending programs tend to be totally based around credit, Table Banks reward people who do nothing but save by giving them dividends or interest payments on their savings at the end of the year!

Our group in Kabete has also decided to begin Table Banking, so we’ve agreed to lead both groups through a training on forming Table Banking produced by the Chalmers Center at Covenant College. This is a totally new step for us, and we’re trying to equip our coworker, James Njeru, to be able to do the training on his own by the time we finish, so pray for us in all of that.

Our sunflower and aloe vera groups are continuing. We finished our Prepare a Better Business training in one of the groups, and the training continues to go well in all the groups. Two groups have harvested their sunflower, but low production because of the drought here and complications with getting the machine for processing have made the process more complicated. Our aloe vera farmers are implementing some new irrigation techniques, and production seems to be good, but we’re continuing to work on the marketing side of things. Please pray for wisdom and encouragement for both us and the farmers.

Finally, we’ve begun meetings with members of our new Pilot Project group! I posted something about the project several months ago, and more updates will be coming out soon, but for now I’ll just say that CCS hired an excellent new staff person for us to work with, and after meeting with some of the farmers and even visiting some farms we’re more excited than ever. Stay tuned to see how all of this new stuff unfolds!

Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera
And of course, there’s always the rest of everything. Rebecca and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary on August 23rd. Not many people graduate from college, move out of their parent’s houses, get married, and move overseas all in the space of a single year, and both friends and family have covered us with prayers because of the potential stress and strain that all that change can put on a marriage. We praise Jesus for giving us an incredibly happy and joyful first year, and for leading us to a job and country that have given us such a huge opportunity to learn more about each other and our future lives together.

We also are continuing our adventures with urban gardening. Having successfully harvested a heckuva lot of lettuce from one tire and some very small carrots from another, we’re ready to expand our operation to five tires for the October rains. And while you might be thinking that we’ve got bigger concerns than learning how to make salads grow up out of our driveway, I’ve got to admit that there’s been something significant about getting into the rhythms of growth and harvest, of participating in just a minute way with what our farmer’s do every day, and in remembering what our farmer’s have always known: that food doesn’t come from a restaurant or in a box, it comes from the earth, and it comes with care.

And we’re continuing to try to find ways to engage relationally with our farmers and other friends here in Nairobi. Our New City Fellowship small group continues to be a blessing, as does our relationship with my good friend from Bungoma, David Khisa. Alvin Mbola, a local community development professor and field worker here, has given us priceless guidance and direction in everything from our pilot project to how to help our friend who is trying to decide how to care for her orphaned, HIV-positive niece. And even as I write this, our three farmer friends from Mang’u, Lucy, (another) Lucy, and Mary, are busy in our kitchen learning how to make pumpkin pie.

Jesus has been good to us. The work is hard, and we’re always looking for better ways to do what we’re doing. Please pray specifically for the work, that our farmers would see success and that these projects would benefit their lives, that Jesus would guide us through this pilot project, and that he would guide us in our daily life as we seek to understand how best to walk through the many trials and struggles that our friends face here. Pray also for our Muslim neighbors who are celebrating Ramadan now (and who occasionally bring us tasty leftovers), that we would be good neighbors to them.

We would love to hear from any and all of you any time.

Peace,
Michael