Dear All,
We have been home from Kenya for a couple of weeks, with many pictures from Riziki. Our previous short newsletter was a picture of the new dam, full to the brim after one night of rain and holding 800 cubic metres of water.
We have bought a solar powered water pump so that this water can be moved to wherever it is needed for irrigation. Our filtration system for recycling our used household water is also working so the same pump can deliver that cleaned water back to its high level storage tank.
The water from the road should allow us to grow good crops all the year round. We know we can produce crops for sale when food is in short supply in the neighbourhood.
Some of the crops we grow are; Onions, Cabbages, Cassava and Kale. We also grow maize and beans which are dried before storing in silos. These provide the basic food for the children, supplemented by the other vegetables we grow.
The children have very long school days, which include Saturday, so during the school week the Riziki compound only has children from early evening till next morning. The older children do not get home from school till about 8pm! On a Sunday they attend the local church and then enjoy much freedom to play as they please in the afternoon.
We are about to replace our basic cowshed with a larger and easier to clean, simple structure. This change will enable us to keep more cows in better conditions and will be easy to extend if appropriate in the future. Our next capital project is to build a new barn as our storage situation for hay and other crops is critical.
Two of our young people are about to sit their KCSE exams, completing their secondary education. Three of our primary children also sit for their KCPE exams, and will then go on to secondary schools, depending on their results. They are in our prayers at this important time in their lives.
Thank you for reading this newsletter. We give thanks to all our supporters for gifts which enable Riziki to move forwards,
Ian & Diana Hogley