We arrived in Kitale on Sunday evening (Valentine’s Day), exhausted after a painfully bumpy and hot bus ride. We were welcomed by Joshua Machinga, who we met couple of years ago in Seattle, and who is the reason we started AGRA Watch, He is the founder and director of Common Ground as well as Pathfinder Academy, a school for children ages 5 – 15. He drove us to his home, cheerfully waving to every other person walking or driving by, just outside the nice little town Kitale, which is also where his organization and school are based – they are all part of the same compound. There is a Grow Biointensive garden here, which is run by older the school-kids, a ceramic water-filter studio and factory under construction, and dormitories for about a third of the students who stay on campus either because they are orphans, and don’t have anywhere else to live, or because they are from far-off towns. There are about 360 students total.
On our first day with Common Ground we were taken on a tour of the grounds by the headmaster, a warm young man. We saw the solar panels pumping their well water, the kitchen with its huge efficiently burning stoves to cook meals for all the kids every day all day, their water recycling programs, classrooms and offices. In two of the classrooms we were invited to introduce ourselves after the headmaster entered and all the kids stood up and collectively recited their “welcome”, and then he asks “are you happy?” and they all say “yes thank you!”. They wear a uniform of a purple shirt and dark blue skirts/trousers. The little ones put out their hands as you walk by, wanting to shake hands like the adults do. Every time you meet a new person here, everyone stands and shakes hands. This can take awhile when you are two big groups, but everyone always goes through the process. Everyone is incredibly respectful and welcoming, a bit formal, and very warm.
We also had the pleasure of meeting some of the staff from Manor House, the agricultural school where Joshua and Samuel were trained in the method of farming called Grow Biontensive, which is a term used by John Jeavons, who runs an organization called Ecology Action, and who co-founded Manor House, which is based here in Kitale. It is basically organic farming, but with some particular techniques including double-digging, using small beds, and growing a particular ratio of crops to ensure sufficient calories, compost, and seeds for saving for the next harvest (more on this later). Before Manor House was a farming school it was a boarding school for English children, and today a guy also joined us who had gone to school there before independence when his father was a farmer. It is very interesting to bump into the history of colonialism in concrete ways like this – a man who actually became an organic farmer in England after being born and raised in Kenya under colonialism, coming back to visit the school where he had been a student, that today is training organic farmers. I wanted to ask him what his family has done to compensate the people whose land they stole, but I didn’t.
The highlight of the day was going to meet a Community Based Organization (or CBO, a term used as often as NGO here) in the hills outside Kitale, the land of the Pokot tribe, that Common Ground has been working with. This organization was formed by yet another graduate of Manor House, David, who we found to be incredibly engaging, intelligent and articulate about the problems with GMOs, the WTO and the injustices of US and EU agriculture subsidies. It was exciting to talk to them, since they were aware of AGRA, but not sure about the Gates Foundation, but when we explained more of what they are involved in, and that we were from Seattle they really seemed interested, and said they wanted to collaborate after we chatted for awhile. And we also got one of our best quotes yet (this visit was again filmed and recorded); David said even if Bill Gates gave him ten million dollars, he would not take one dime if it was to spread GMO’s. He and his team, who are mostly volunteers, have a demonstration garden where they train farmers from the area, including youth – who he said mostly want “white collar” jobs, but since there are very few opportunities they turn to farming because they have no other options – and women, who he said demonstrate greater unity and ability to teach and learn from one another than most men. They were very sad that we had so little time and could not visit some of the communities they have worked with, and we were very sad as well. But we got a late start, then we got a flat tire (which was changed), then Joshua kind of freaked us out, saying that this would become a dangerous area after night, and we knew nightfall was on its way. So we sped back to Kitale, and drove the remaining few kilometers in the dark, the only fear being that we would run over one of the many bicylclists who have to share the road with cars without any street lights or visibility. We spent the rest of the evening enjoying another great meal, and the latest installment of the Mexican soap opera dubbed into English that we have been watching every night for the last week!
On our second day with Common Ground we met two farmer groups. A young woman named Linet accompanied us on the visits. She got a degree from a Kenyan college teaching organic methods, and was hired by Joshua to work with some of the communities. The first group was a widows group, facing many of the same challenges of the women we met in Thika, including the care of multiple orphaned grandchildren. They welcomed us with a song and dancing – love this! - and then sat us down in a covered area of the farm, and Linet told us we could make our presentation. We had not been prepared for this, so it was a bit awkward at first, but we gave a short presentation about our work and asked them to tell us about their challenges, and what they are learning, while we recorded. The leader of the group at whose home we were meeting, Joyce, stood to address us in Swahili, with Linet interpreting. A strong woman with a powerful voice, we at first thought she was angry, but she was only expressing the difficulties in their lives. Then she asked for our help. Almost everywhere we go people assume that we are donors, or that we have considerable income since we are white Americans. Of course we do have many resources available to us, but it is always a bit awkward when the farmers make specific requests for funding and we have to explain that our main purpose in coming to meet them is not to identify projects we can fund, but to see how we can promote their example of learning to sustain themselves from the resources at their disposal. We were then asked many practical questions, including what could we do about their limited water supply? How could we help them improve their markets? What should they do about their excess crops that go to waste? Again we had to explain that we are not experts or farmers, and we did not have solutions to these challenges, but we shared what knowledge we have about ways people are dealing with some of these issues. The reply that was of greatest interest was when we talked about preserving food through canning and drying. They don’t use these methods, but were very interested and asked a lot of questions about how it was done. We later learned that Joshua hopes to integrate this kind of training into his program, which seemed like a great idea given their keen interest.
We then went on a tour of Joyce’s chicken coop, kitchen (mostly indoors and the smoke was making tears stream down our faces), and her garden, which was small but really lovely. She was clearly using the biointenisve methods, with multiple beds that had been dug very deep, intercropping and a diversity of food crops. She said that the training she received from Linet and Common Ground had changed her life, as she was becoming self-reliant, and saving money by not buying chemicals. We were getting ready to leave and she had a sad look on her face. It turned out that she had prepared lunch for us. Even though we were in a bit of a hurry, we stayed to accept this generous gesture. Travis and I were invited along with Joshua and Linet to sit in her living room, while everyone else ate outside. We were served delicious chicken, ugali, greens and tea. It was very good, and I worried that she had killed a chicken for us. She lived in a very modest home, with dirt floors, but extremely clean. She proudly showed us the various seeds she was saving, and smiled as we ate her good food.
The next farmer we visited was a cheerful energetic woman probably in her fifties who spoke quite good English. We were given a fairly quick tour of her farm, where she had multiple projects going on, including an interesting composting method, a fish pond (partly subsidized by the government), multiple beds, and a couple of large fields. We met her mother who was in her eighties and working in the fields, who was living there because she had been pushed out of her homeland around Mt. Elgon due to fighting. As we were leaving, it started to rain, which was unexpected – usually the rains begin in March.
We were hurrying to get back because it was the last day of a British volunteer named Deborah whose project had been to work with the school children’s choir to teach them some songs in English. When we arrived the whole school had gathered in their cafeteria for their concert, and it was thundering and pouring down rain on a tin roof. The kids were singing their hearts out to be heard above the din. They were sooooooo great, really talented, and sang some songs that are very special to me, including “Oh Sisters, let’s go down, let’s go down to the river to pray…”, which my family sang for us at our wedding, and “Stand by Me” which I sang at Sage and Kacy’s wedding – they both brought tears to me eyes. It was awesome – I want to teach a kids choir someday!
After a refreshing downpour we headed back out to meet a fellow who is dedicated to recycling all kinds of things that usually go to waste, including plastics into hand bags and necklaces (one of which he gave to me), and roof tiles, and he makes organic fertilizer for sale. An entrepreneur and inventor, he too had specific requests for us, to help him buy the land he currently leases so he can start a cottage industry there. He is certainly deserving of support, and Joshua has been trying to help him.
Our final stop was the Western Seed Company, which has been receiving funding from the Gates Foundation, and we hoped to get an interview with them. Joshua tried to help us set something up, but they said they were not willing without a more formal request.
Joshua’s family’s home - he and his lovely wife have six children including a new born baby - sits on the grounds of the school, with the garden near-by. Next to his home there are 3 or 4 huts for volunteers that are really one-room homes, very nice. Every night we would sit with his family in the main home, including various nieces, nephews and sometimes other visitors, to eat dinner together, and usually watch tv. We were welcomed, and felt very at home right away. We will write more later about the many other aspects of Common Ground’s work, which is extraordinary – Joshua is a very busy man, much in demand and with an ambitious vision, again integrating multiple programs in his drive to promote his community’s development. Our visit was so short, we only got a glimpse of everything they are doing, but it is quite amazing that he not only has trained over 40,000 farmers, but he founded a school for almost 400 kids too.
Our third and final day in Kitale was spent visiting Manor House Agricultural Center, where Samuel, Joshua and others we met were trained. Two of the women behind the projects we are visiting, Shana and Sandra, arranged for Travis and I to be able to present on AGRA and our campaign to the staff and students, which was a great opportunity, and a real honor. We will write more about that soon!
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