About an hour and a half along the Nairobi road there is an Ostrich farm and it is about there you turn off to go into Losinoni Village. It is a long way in there too - probably half an hour, along a dusty and sometimes rocky track. In these areas, you pick up people who need lifts and often the wee Maruti was loaded up! One time we had to take a woman to a clinic because she had bee beaten up.
Generally the area is dry and domestic livestock are moved to better areas. Check my pictures and you will see that generally it is dry, but with rain comes the green growth.
The village sprawls out around the primary school and a clinic. This clinic had been donated through New Zealand funding - well the building was. There were no fittings and it was only used when visiting medical people came to carry out inoculations and the like. But it would be developed as time goes on.
The first thing we did was investigate what tree planting was going on in the village. Mama George was the Village Chairman's wife and she had a small tree nursery.
Now a nursery may be just a few trees and Mama George's was just that. She used a few planks of timber to provide shelter from the sun. I thought she had done remarkably well taking into consideration the severe conditions and the lack of available water. Mama George was a leader in the local women's group so she was a good contact to have.
This old woman, Bibi (grandmother) lived in her small house by herself and she would not allow this photo until she had changed into her Sunday best! A remarkable, bright woman and the reason for our visit was that she had planted a tree, yes a tree and she was looking after it despite the dry conditions. Now if everyone did that, our battle would be over.
Our main focus as always was with the primary school and we began there by presenting our environmental seminar. Holes then are prepared - dug out, cow manure added and the soil returned.
When the rains arrive, we deliver trees from our nursery and divide them among the school pupils who carry out the planting and put thorns around them to protect from goats an
d other livestock.
The interaction between the us and the school - teachers & pupils is really what make the whole thing worthwhile and all participate enthusiastically.
Later we would arrive to assess the quality of the trees and how well they had been looked after. There is always a danger of
snakes lying on the thorns though most would slither off before causing too much of a fuss!
We would award the growers of the best trees/shelters prizes. Usually about ten of them. There was no funding fo
r this so we paid for it out of our personal resources and sometime we were creative. For this prize giving we awarded some of those one litre mugs and some pens. Having their picture taken was also a reward to them.
At one time, there was a severe water shortage and the village elders decreed that water was only to be used for household water and livestock. The School kids stole water at night to water their trees!
There was a responsibility for us to make the task of watering as easy as possible and we gathered bottles and
pottles - even beer cans.
Josiah demonstrates to Mama George the was to punch a hole in a beer can so water can be delivered to the tree slowly and economically. We did this wherever we supplied trees.
This old woman, Bibi (grandmother) lived in her small house by herself and she would not allow this photo until she had changed into her Sunday best! A remarkable, bright woman and the reason for our visit was that she had planted a tree, yes a tree and she was looking after it despite the dry conditions. Now if everyone did that, our battle would be over.
Our main focus as always was with the primary school and we began there by presenting our environmental seminar. Holes then are prepared - dug out, cow manure added and the soil returned.
When the rains arrive, we deliver trees from our nursery and divide them among the school pupils who carry out the planting and put thorns around them to protect from goats an
d other livestock.The interaction between the us and the school - teachers & pupils is really what make the whole thing worthwhile and all participate enthusiastically.
Later we would arrive to assess the quality of the trees and how well they had been looked after. There is always a danger of
snakes lying on the thorns though most would slither off before causing too much of a fuss!
We would award the growers of the best trees/shelters prizes. Usually about ten of them. There was no funding fo
r this so we paid for it out of our personal resources and sometime we were creative. For this prize giving we awarded some of those one litre mugs and some pens. Having their picture taken was also a reward to them.At one time, there was a severe water shortage and the village elders decreed that water was only to be used for household water and livestock. The School kids stole water at night to water their trees!
There was a responsibility for us to make the task of watering as easy as possible and we gathered bottles and
pottles - even beer cans.Josiah demonstrates to Mama George the was to punch a hole in a beer can so water can be delivered to the tree slowly and economically. We did this wherever we supplied trees.
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