Ngeya Garden: Maiiu Maiiu, Kenya
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| Mama Hope is dedicated to helping communities find long term, sustainable solutions to poverty. One of the most important efforts we support is sustinable, small plot agriculture through drip irrigation. As in much of sub-Saharan Africa, many Kenyans struggle to grow enough food to feed their families and are especially vulnerable to prolonged droughts. With the help of our partners in Kenya and In the U.S., Mama Hope has found funding to train communities in drip irrigation practices, which maximize limited water supplies to grow subsistence crops at very low cost.
Youth Irrigation Education Project
The
Mama Hope Youth Led Irrigation Project is now underway. Thanks to the
generous support of the William Zimmerman Foundation, Mama Hope has
secured funding to initiate Drip Irrigation Training projects at four
demonstration gardens in Kenya. The program's purpose is to help the
people to grow crops during the prolonged drought
seasons, when food and water are normally scarce. The Wind of Hope
Community Center and the villages of Kambi Garba, Maiiu Maiiu and
Arimiet are receiveing training and cost-efficient irrigation systems
which will enable the villages to manage their water supply during the
dry seasons and grow crops throughout the year.
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The first demonstration garden, under the oversight of Comfort the Children International, was established in Ngeya, Kenya this spring. It provides a place where teens and young adults from nearby villages are learning the skills and knowledge to install, maintain, and grow crops with drip irrigation. The harvest from this garden will be used to supplement the food distributions made to students in the region.
With the addition of 3 more demonstration gardens, 45 young adults, age 15 to 25, will be broken into 3 groups of 15 members, with each group responsible for 20 rows of vegetables. For two months, they will take time as a group to weed, insure the drip lines are aligned with the plants and conduct overall maintenance of their plot.
After the training is complete, our funding will allow for purchase of locally made materials such as water tanks, drip line tubing, and seeds so that after the training, the young adults can duplicate these irrigation systems in their respective villages. Their training will allow them to in turn, teach their communities about the promise of year-round farming.
Mama Hope is also testing a new low-cost drip irrigation system, generously donated by Driptech, at one of its demonstration gardens. The new irrigation kit, created by Stanford PhD engineers and designers for low income farmers trying to grow year round in dry climates, has found great success in initial testing in India. Through our Youth Led Irrigation project, we hope to test its viability in the Kenyan climate and the potential market for its purchase by small farmers and households.
If you wish to help support Mama Hope's drip irrigation programs, you can donate here.
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