The Kamomo Environment Group

How ironic that the first posting showing pictures of my work comes towards the end of my time here. Nevertheless, I hope these pictures give you an idea of what agricultural development is like in the Rubingo community and exactly how dirty I've been getting (*grin*).

I "supervise" the Kamomo Environment Group, which was formed five years ago with the help of ACTS. One of their primary responsibilities is educating the community on good agricultural practices. The KEG teaches on five topics: Banana Plantation Management, Terracing, Tree Seedling Nursery Beds, Fuel Efficient Stoves and Sack Gardens. We average 2-3 community presentations and demonstrations per week, so I'm busy running around and organizing the events. Above, Milton is showing a woman how to use a split-level in order to dig terraces in her garden.

Here, Jovanice is showing some men how to move pine tree seedlings from the nursery bed into plastic pots filled with soil. Eventually, the trees are planted on the hillsides to combat soil erosion (which is prevalent in my community).

This is a sack garden, which is easy to construct and convenient to use especially for those who lack real estate to plant vegetables. Poor nutrition is prevalent among those who are desperately poor so sack gardens help to address that issue.

The KEG is made up of progressive farmers in the community. They're active in bee-keeping - here, Nathan is priming a Kenyan beehive with smoke in order to attract bees to it. Ugandan honey is pretty tasty...but you have to be careful not to swallow bee stingers that may linger in the finished product!

"Grandma" Agnes and her honey extractor. Check out the expression on her face! We spent the morning figuring out how the contraption worked and succeeded in extracting some honey from Nathan's honeycombs.