You wouldn’t believe me if I told you how well our research is going out here in rural Western Kenya. But then, maybe you would.
My research partner, Daniel Nassar, along with Baylor students Nick Saltarelli, Stephanie Allen, and Jacob Cooper are in the process of conducting a large agricultural needs assessment survey with the elders of Bethlehem Home, a program that feeds the financially destitute of the Nyakatch Plateau. For several weeks now, we’ve been hiking to the homes of our Elder friends, some of whom live many miles from where we stay on the edge of the plateau, to conduct surveys that help us better understand how people farm in the region, and how we can better serve their agricultural needs in future projects.
We’re learning amazing things!
What’s more, we’ve been hard at work in the shamba (that’s the local word for garden), a large plot of fertile plot of land that we are developing in conjunction with the Bethlehem Home Kuoko Academy for a community garden. Danny and I have been partnering with the faculty to integrate the garden into the school curriculum, and the students have been working alongside us to plant carrots, passion fruit, banana, maize, beans, and many more crops. The best part: nearly every crop has sprouted and is thriving!
Finally, if things couldn’t get anymore exciting, the team and I have partnered with a Nairobi based company to perform soil analysis on several of the farms we’re working with in our survey study. The Kenyan team arrived on the plateau yesterday and we split up into teams that took soil samples from about ten farms, samples that will be analyzed for over twenty five core nutrients and elements to help better understand the quality and potential of the soil up here. You know you’re having fun when you’re having a glass of orange juice under a mango tree in the middle of the day talking the cation-exchange capacity of the soil with local Kenyan soil scientists.
One more perk I can’t avoid sharing. While speaking with the soil analysis team leader, Geoffrey, I learned that the reason he was able to offer us such a great deal on soils sampling rates was because his company, Crop Nuts, had recently become funded in part by USAID as part of a program to make soil testing available to small scale farmers in Kenya. I told him this was extremely cool because we in turn were able to pay for these reduced prices because of two grants likewise from the US: The Glasscock Grant, which enabled us to purchase project relates supplies, and the BIPI Fellowship, without which we wouldn’t be in Kenya at all. Hooray for American grants funding relief work and quality science in Kenya, especially to the Baylor groups. Sic ’em! We’re exploring options as a result of this for future partnerships with both Crop Nuts and USAID.
Much more information to follow. For now, send your prayers and good wishes for our ongoing success conducting our project research and learning how to better serve the needs of this community of people. Oriti! (goodbye)
Jake! This blog about the research you are doing in Kenya is so interesting! It is very encouraging and fun to hear about what people in completely different fields than I are doing to better the world around us! Keep up the good work
-Sarah-Kate
Jake,
It is so exciting to hear how much things have progressed on the plateau! I miss our team, the people of the Nygathach Plateau, and Pastor Habil so very much. I hope the soil test results go well and hope you can partner more with Crop Nuts! Can’t wait to hear more about the garden.
-Kylie