Praying for a tractor…

1 June 2012UncategorizedGrandmothercircles

Mary,

Has mentioned that each year the grandmothers and other women plough the fields with oxen and each drought the loose a few. Each dry season gets harder and harder.

Would your company, foundation like to donate to sponsor a tractor? Over 200 hundred children could benefit from having access to more food. Grandmothers, widows and families would have access to more food.

Massey Ferguson 4 wheel drive ksh5,525,000 with 3disc plough. This is special offer for two months.(64,000 US dollars)

Massey Ferguson 275-2vweel drive=72HPTractor with 3 discs plough ksh.3,305,000. ( 38,000 US dollars )

We do appreciate the interest that people are continuing to have in our work. We are with you in our prayers and discussions. I have sent out feeders to check on prices of the tractor and solar pump and will send them to you soon.

I have not been able to get the price of a solar pump. I have two quotations for a tractor.

Mary

News from Homa Bay Kenya

1 June 2012UncategorizedGrandmothercircles

News from Homa Bay Kenya.

News from Homa Bay Kenya

1 June 2012UncategorizedGrandmothercircles

Dear Joseph and Lois

I was off the internet for three weeks and this was uncomfortable because I felt I was either missing something or getting my friends worried for that silence. Thanks for caring. We had an internet problem.

We are getting very good rains at the moment and of this goes for another 4 weeks, our crops will do well.

Today, Theresa received the 300$ for her windows and she is very grateful. When her windows are fixed, I will take pictures and sent them over. This gift has come in really handy since on 22nd of this month we have a homecoming party for her son Ayub who was ordained a Catholic priest two months ago. We as women share her joy for this particular celebration.

Theresa standing in front of kitchen outbuilding which she built from mud and straw.

On Friday, we all meet for prayers and sharing at the parish in Raruowa. I will be exited to capture the joy the women have for having water at their door step. I will combine their reactions with photos that I will take after a door to door visit within a week or two and send in my report.

My love to you all,

Mary

Chicken Coop Report

15 May 2012UncategorizedGrandmothercircles

Hello Grandmother Circles US,

ksh= Keyan Schilling

Chicken coop project report.

Grand Total Cost of Chicken coop ksh143,896 US $1,713.07
Cash received from Grandmother Circles US

Ksh 144,000 US$1714.31

Members of the St. Monica Grandmother Circle are very grateful for the completion of the two chicken houses. One house is at Teresa Aduda’s home. They made this choice of a central place near the Raruowa Mission because it is easily accessible to them and any visitor who wishes to see it and also because taking care of poultry is a difficult task and they thought Teresa is well suited for this task.
The other house is at Mary Lieta’s home. This home also is easy to access and Mary Lieta can manage to take care of the poultry well.
The women now have a total of 42 birds in the two houses.
Challenges
·         The chicken in both houses were eating their own eggs. An Agricultural officer advised that they get food supplements with calcium and that problem was reduced
·         When the young ones were hatched, some chicks were being eaten by the older chicken. We had to remove the young ones from the house until they were one month old
·         Sourcing for chicken feed was quite difficult as some members were unable to contribute. Permission was given by the members for some of the eggs to be sold so that food can be bought.
·         Not more than one cock can be housed in each coop. The cocks were sold off and this was a source of income for the group.
Benefits
This project is still small and the benefits are not very large as yet.   We can proudly record the following:
·          Poultry multiply out of danger of any epidemics.
·         Birds can be sold for cash
·         Eggs are sold for cash
·         Anyone with visitors can request for a bird to slaughter
·         Members are given a sense of togetherness through joint ownership of the project
·         The selling of eggs and extra cocks gives income which at the moment goes towards the feeding of the birds.

We shall make reports of our progress as frequently as possible.
Mary Lieta

If only we had a tractor

5 May 2012UncategorizedGrandmothercircles

Dear Lois,

Greetings from Homalime once again. We have heavy rains now and its good to feel dirty as we toil on our farms. After digging, re-digging and planting and planting again, we still look up to the good Lord to give us plenty of this rain.

In Africa, life is hard. Hard enough for those who are able to plough using their own animals ( I have four bulls), and impossibly hard for those who have no means of tilling their land. But the African farmer is resilient!!

Many of our bulls for ploughing are are now too weak to go on farming. I sometimes wonder whether our major priority is water or a tractor for the poor farmers. Food sufficiency will only be achieved if more people could plough as big farms as they plan to. That can not be done by animals.

These are he thoughts that I carry on my shoulders and I am glad that I can share this with you.

Mary O

A Window of Opportunity

3 May 2012UncategorizedGrandmothercircles

A special request was made recently for us to assist a grandmother with getting a window put into her stone house that she built with her own hands. Yes it is true. Before her husband died he taught her how to carve out rock from the small quarry they had on their property.

She chiseled stone brick by stone brick out of the earth, squared it and then lift it out of the quarry.

Grandmother Circles US with your support will be sending the funds this week for the window. Grandmothers Rock!

Thank you for supporting this window of opportunity!

Lois Mineau

News to know from Homalime,

23 April 2012UncategorizedGrandmothercircles

News to know from Homalime,.

News to know from Homalime,

23 April 2012UncategorizedGrandmothercircles

Dear Lois,

These are he thoughts that I carry on my shoulders and I am glad that I can share this with you.

MaryO

News from Kenya, April 19, 2012

19 April 2012News from Kenya, St. Monica's School, WaterGrandmothercircles

Dear Lois,
It is good to hear from you after quite a long silence. My family and I are doing very well. The two girls I was supporting in High School did their final exams and passed their exams well enough to go on to middle college. I am happy because they were not very bright.
It has taken me a bit of time to send in my completed reports. This is because of the loss of Maria Amolo. Our funerals last for a long time. People who were not able to come for burial keep on coming to Maria’s home and I needed to avail myself for them. It has eased up now.

The water tanks project has come to a fine completion and I have finished compiling the report. I will send it along with the Chicken coops report. For water it is simply exiting and many St. Monica women have recorded a life changing water situation in their families. I am waiting to record the impact of this on their farming and small businesses.
You surely have some good news for all of us. Thanks be to God for all the changes that are coming our way.

Please let Tina know that that we are doing well with the grinder. The fact that we have the grinder now means that in social gatherings, people can now be served with groundnut soup. This is a traditional special dish. Quite a number of families also come to buy small quantities of grounded nuts for the very young children. I want to thank her in advance for choosing to send me a video camera.
.
Serphine and I are in close contact with the stone cutter right now because God has blessed her family with a catholic priest. One of her sons, Ayub Ochieng was among the 5 priests ordained as catholic priests on March 22nd this year. That was a +++ for the St. Monica Women. We celebrated mass with him at the parish and are waiting for the big occasion on the 1st of June when he shall have a home mass. Serphine and I are on the committee for this celebration. I believe the said window will be a face lift to Teresa’s house. I always take my visitors to her home to see her home, quarry and the house she built with the stones she curved out. Please say a big thank you to Vicky.

About the priorities we set out, I wish to assure you that we do not take any offence at small projects interjects the status we set out. There are many worthy causes that we did not address. Teresa’s cause is definitely our cause too.

Mary O

News from Kenya January 4, 2012

18 April 2012News from Kenya, St. Monica's SchoolGrandmothercircles

by MaryO on 2012/01/04 11:48 AM

Dear Friends,

I do wish you all a very fruitful 2012 and continual cooperation with us in the projects we undertake. The Christmas season was wonderful. We had family reunion and also arranged many visits to the old folk in the community. The new year has started and we are now busy thinking about school. At our shop, we are making school uniform and we find the demand for cheaper school uniform higher now than ever.

The Schools have increased the tuition fee and quite a number children from low income families and orphans are stranded.

On behalf of the Consociates, Grandmothers, St. Monica, Marit Women Group and others I wish to convey our sincere thanks to you all for what you are doing to make our projects a reality. This last Christmas was the best for the Widows of St. Monica Women Group. Each one of them received a water tank(3,lts) complete with gadgets for installing it and workmanship paid. I will make a tour to each home, confirm the installation of the tanks and send a report with pictures. Together with the chicken project, they are a very happy lot!

We also want to thank you for the support we got last year for education. With assistance from other sources, we were able to support the following:

1.Berlyl Ogola 10500 2.Sharon Okoth 14,000

3.Winny Ounda 20,000 4. Lea Wabwire 20,000

5.Lillian Odhiambo 20,000 6.Joan Oburu 10,000

7. Modester Achieng 10,000 8.Mary Agumba 7,000

9.Lucy Akinyi 7,000 10. Mary Simbe 20,000

11.Caroline Oyongo 5,000 12 Godfrey Simbe 30,000

St. Lucy’s Raruowa 35,000

The girls with the higher amounts are total orphans. The one boy is at university.

We have received from you for this year 27,000 and will see who to assist.

After discussion, we decided it is better to support a few students enough to keep them at school than give small amounts to many of them.

Our tentative list of priorities is here below:

1. Koliech, 4 large water tanks (5,000lts) 2. Marit Women 16 water tanks (3,000lts)

3. Oriang Pottery 4 water tanks (5,000lts) 5.Kagola Youth farmers- a watering system

6. Marit Women Group – 100 chairs and four tents for hire

Marit Women Group has appeared twice. They support school children by giving cheaper uniform, sanitary towels and pants for the girls. So they need an income generating project.

We also have a new project (Aloys, Serphine and myself), for the support of the elderly.

I will be writing soon giving the accounts for the chicken coops and the water tanks

Peace,

Mary