February 1, 2018

Photos by Maxine Delaney

Glass being installed in the new windows at Mitoone School, Kenya. Mitoone is twinned with West Kent Elementary, whose grades 5 and 6 students raised enough money through a Christmas bake sale to pay for half the windows for the school.

Farmers Helping Farmers #HolidayCampaign contributed the balance.

These are the first windows Mitoone has had thanks to the coordination of grade six teacher Valerie Beer who is in Kenya sharing letters and stories from West Kent students.

Truly a school with a view!

Guy Cudmore and Gerry McQuaid’s freshly painted walls and blackboard in the Standard three classroom at Mitoone School.

Winston & Damaris checking out the gardens and maize field at King-O Secondary School

A visit to Muruguma School with Dr. VanLeeuwen and his veterinary team. “Who would like to visit Canada?” was the question.

A fourth new cookhouse will be opening at this school later in February.

5 orphaned piglets being raised at King-O School

Photos by Maxine Delaney

January 27, 2018

Dr. John VanLeeuwen and his team doing a walk-in clinic at Mbaaria Market, Kenya.

The day’s tally will be between 300 and 600 cattle dewormed and given the once over.

Lunch is served to Dr. John VanLeeuwen and his crew during the walk-in clinic at Mbaaria Market.

Photos by Maxine Delaney

Eighteen of Mwende Women’s Group 70 members have been provided with grow bags. The bags allow them to grow nutritious vegetables to feed their families in a limited space.

Photos by Maxine Delaney

January 26, 2018

We visited 4 shambas or farms owned by members of the Mwende Women’s Group to discuss the success as well as the ways to improve the use of equipment and training provided by Farmers Helping Farmers.

by Teresa Mellish

January 24, 2018
Yesterday we all met with the Naari Dairy and presented the cheque for purchasing cows. They will select needy youth and women to receive the cows. They indicated they will add at least 100,000 shillings (C$1250) to the 235,000 shillings (almost C$3,000) we presented to them.

I presented the cheque donated by generous Islanders in the recent holiday campaign to Flora, their Treasurer. When we first started working with Naari Dairy a few years ago, there were no women on their Board and I am delighted that they have some women on their Board now.

They were very proud to show us several new buildings. These included a building to have meetings and training for their members . Their Savings and Credit Cooperative is operating now. They have added a building to store a milk cooler which they would like to purchase soon.

Although it is dry everywhere in Kenya because the rains stopped too soon, they hope to harvest some maize.

Welcome – karibu – to the blog for the Farmers Helping Farmers volunteers travelling to Kenya in 2018.

Ellen and Barry Cudmore, Ken Mellish, Maxine Delaney, Teresa Mellish, Gerry McQuaid and Guy Cudmore (back row, left to right) and Valerie Beer and Winston Johnston (front row) are preparing for their trip to Kenya.

A group of 15 volunteers spent the day at UPEI preparing for their upcoming trips to Kenya. The first delegation leaves two weeks from now, while others will travel in mid-February and May.

Dr. John VanLeeuwen and students from the Atlantic Veterinary College will be travelling to Kenya to work with dairy farmers. The students are Ashley Kroyer, Jaimee Gillis, Stephanie Hatayama and Lee Wesselius.

Students from the Atlantic Veterinary College and the UPEI education and nutrition programs will work with Farmers Helping Farmers on a variety of projects, along with Kenyan partners in schools, dairies and women’s groups.

Dr. Jennifer Taylor and Dr. Colleen Walton are pictured with nutrition students from 2017 and 2018 trips to Kenya.

There are two students from the Education program at UPEI who will spend six weeks in Kenya as part of their practice teaching.

The orientation session included an introduction to Kenyan culture and language, as well as practical details on how to make the most of their experience.

The delegation will be bringing along two large hockey bags of female hygiene kits to be distributed at schools in Kenya. They were produced by a group of volunteers called the Empower Sewing Group in Guelph, Ontario.

Some of the team from 2017 were also part of the orientation, sharing their experiences in Kenya.

The groups also reviewed their very busy itineraries for their time in Kenya.

Stay tuned to this blog for stories and photos from Kenya very soon.