‘Greenest of Gifts' Delivers Success

Jubilant Kenyan Farmers Receive Greenhouse Kit, Training

With much jubilation, song and dance, the Kipchamo Poverty Eradication Program (KIPEP) members received the "Greenest of Gifts" greenhouse kit and training from volunteer expert Dave Adams in Eldoret Town, Kenya.

KIPEP member Pauline Kenduiywo, who is between 60 and 70 years old, says, "I walk about 8 kms one way each day to attend the training and at the end of the day, my legs ache terribly. However, even if the training was to take place for a whole month, I would walk to and from the training each day for the whole training period."

Volunteer expert Dave Adams discusses proper crop management wth KIPEP members. Photographer: ACDI/VOCA-Kenya

ACDI/VOCA’s community made the gift possible by generously donating $11,000 to help combat environmental and food shortage problems facing Kenyans as the country emerges from last year’s drought—its worst in the last half century. The environmentally sustainable drip irrigation and greenhouse system will allow the KIPEP farmers to grow more—and more nutritious—food and earn more money.

Over three days, Adams provided training to 17 smallholder farmers (11 of whom were women) from the 13 farmers’ groups that the umbrella organization KIPEP represents. Adams is a longtime volunteer with ACDI/VOCA and is skilled at adapting trainings to local cultures. He taught the participants about greenhouse construction, plant diseases and pests, irrigation practices and proper fertilization application. The farmers actively asked Adams questions and reported that they were very satisfied with the training.

A KIPEP member practices techniques that Adams taught her during the interactive three-day training. Photographer: ACDI/VOCA-Kenya

"I cannot read or write, but I have listened carefully and have learned a great deal. Adams’s effort in coming will be put into useful work to benefit the group members, and the group members will live to remember him," Kenduiywo says.

KIPEP has a total of 700 members in the Rift Valley, and 11 of its 17 leaders are women. Proceeds from vegetables grown in the greenhouse will be shared by the 13 member groups.

At the end of the training, farmer Rose Lenji said that the group could never have been able to pay for for the greenhouse kit and the cost of bringing Adams from the United States to train them. She expressed deep gratitude to all those involved in bringing KIPEP the “Greenest of Gifts,” saying, “Let God pay you."

Adams, KIPEP members and ACDI/VOCA staff at the end of the successful training. Photographer: ACDI/VOCA-Kenya

To learn more, visit our "Greenest of Gifts" information page: www.acdivoca.org/greenhousegift.