The seeds you bought will soon feed kids
Perfect timing for seeds
The seasons in much of Africa are either wet or wetter, or dry or dryer. But in September in Busia, Kenya, the amount of rain, while the weather is warming up. Perfect for seeds to be planted.
Chrisphine Ochieng Okumu is a permaculture educator. He understands how the weather works in his part of the world and exactly when to plant to maximise crop growth which is the difference between the villagers eating well through summer and winter or going hungry.
More importantly, many of the children in the villages where he works suffer from Jiggers Disease. A nasty parasite that infests their feet and impacts on their immune systems.
Beyond treatment, they need good food
They need nourishing food to offset this side effect, which is why Chrisphine as head of the Jiggers Elimination Campaign decided to teach the villagers how to farm properly.
It was one thing to help them learn how to till and prepare the soil and grow the seeds, and another to afford to buy them which is where Small Acts came in.
Chrisphine said the seeds for each farmer would cost USD10. We launched a Fund the Seeds, Feed the Kids an appeal on Monday September 20th asking for the funds to cover 10 farmers, (USD100 or AUD130).*
For this each farmer would receive 1kg maize, 1/2kg kale, carrot and bean seeds, and a 1/4 sack of potatoes.
In a few hours, we received a first donation of AUD100 from a very generous donor. It went directly to Chrisphine. By the next day, he had purchased the seeds the money bought. We received these photographs the following day of the seeds he had handed out, and the villagers and children beginning to plant them.
Immediate impact
It is hard to think of a bigger of more immediate impact than that for a small act.
There are many more farmers we can fund with seeds, so please, if you want to make a big impact and deliver not only fresh food, but healing and hope to the villagers of Busia, for just a small donation, COMMIT NOW.
Are you a teacher or parent?
If you are a teacher or parent wanting to involve your children in some creative, problem solving about how they might Fund Seeds to Feed Kids, please get encourage this.
It is such a simple way for your children to learn how they can make a REAL difference with a Small Act. We would love to hear your stories about the ideas they came up with.
Please join our Small Activists Facebook group and share your stories. We will be sharing photos like these as the seeds grow and are harvested.
