LCRC Secretary

I have a small farm that I have leased and on that small farm I have grown various kinds of vegetables like kunde, carrots, and sukumawiki.

Being at the centre has been of great importance to me. First when I got to the centre, I got employed. The second benefit is that I learn a lot from the farmer’s classes. I grew up in urban areas so I didn’t know as much about farming, but now that I’m at the centre I’m learning about how to farm. I know how to check if the soil is fertile, check the soil profile, know the type of fertilizers to use, how to time the season to plant, to weed, and to harvest to get the best production. I know about farm tools and equipment, farm labour and management, how to store cereals after harvesting and how to maintain my stock.

I’ve learned about agriculture as a business. I can grow short term crops, maybe for 3 months, that I can sell after to the market. I can time my crops well; I know the best time to plant and harvest to sell to the market.

I’ve learned about livestock like keeping poultry. Since we learned about poultry, I have bought 3 chickens. By the end of the year I am targeting to have maybe 100 from the 3.

I’ve learned about keeping animals like cows; about dairy cows and those ones that are kept for meat. When I buy my own land, I’ll have space to keep all of these.

In 5 years, I plan to buy my own piece of land and practice what I learned here. I want my farm to be a resource place where people can come to learn what to do about agriculture. I can grow all local vegetables and I can start planting the short season crops so I will always have food for my family and for sale. I’ll keep poultry and animals like dairy cattle. I want to have a fish pond and keep pigs and other livestock, like rabbits. I’ll also keep crocodiles, maybe!

I thank Michelle and Ryan very much for bringing us a computer and printer and for helping us to learn how to use the Internet. All of this will sharpen my skills and I will be able to teach others to use these too. I can start my own business to teach people and hire people for my shop. People can come here for computer services at affordable prices, they won’t have to travel long distances for copies or typesetting because we have a computer and electricity and can offer those services here.

In the near future I want to go to driving school and increase my education. It’s very expensive to go back to school, but I can save for a long time and farming can help me go to school. I want to practice my career. I have specialized in business courses and I want to set up businesses that can help people in the community like wedding planning and vacation planning. Maybe I can buy tents and seats and those things that I can decorate for special occasions. People will come to me on special occasions and I will organize, decorate, and set up.

In the community, people are coming here to learn about farming methods. In the office they are coming for consultation. Some people are coming to the centre and at a glance they are impressed and they are saying they will do it on their farms.

This centre has already really helped the people of this community.  When we get the water we can be even greater. It is the best place for farmers to come to learn. It will improve their lives. For example, we have a poultry club where every farmer is keeping poultry for the club. This center is helping us, maybe we start with one chick, after maybe a year you’ll have at least 50. It will improve the economy. When people are having occasions they will buy chickens from us. Having a club is good because we can buy medicine as a class, for example. We can register as a farm and ask for aid from the government. Individuals can’t get help from the government, but as a club we can get it. Marketing chicken as a group is easier, news will spread that a group from the community is raising chickens. It will market us directly and provide a reliable market.

The centre has many ambitions about how it will help people in the future. We want to build a school for our children and a hospital where people can come to be treated at reasonable prices. Our people will be healthy all the time. We want to have a computer library and a library filled with books so people can come here and read or they can study computers and sharpen their skills or connect to Internet and learn from sources all over the globe.

We are also going to have hostels to host volunteers. We are planning every October to have agriculture shows to show farmers what we’re doing, like an exhibition. During that time the classes will be graduating and people will come from all over to learn from us.

We have the water project, I’m very happy to have clean water that can be used by community. We are going to sell water to be a source of income for the centre. We’ll have a water factory here, employ people, and sell water to people outside.

As a woman, I believe the centre is going to help us so much. Most of the times we have been undermined by men, we have no say. At the center we are told that as a woman we are somebody. I can apply what we learned to improve the standard of living for my family and children. I can have money to send my children to school. It will be a very good way for raising my children because I’ll have no stress about having money and making sure they can get an education.

In the near future our next project is to make reusable pads for girls. We will make them here and distribute in schools. It’s important because we have families that are poor and girls can’t buy pads and miss school, 3 days or maybe a week at a time. They will be able to have the pads at cheap prices, and they are reusable for as long as 5 years. We want to build a home for girls who become pregnant and are cast out of families so that they can continue their education until the end. It is very important to keep our girls in school.