DOONHOLM BASE AND FARMING
 |
| Darlene and Charles visit the Doonholm Base, pray with the young men, and look at the gardens. |
In
Nairobi. Kenya, a majority of the residents live in slums and shanty areas, because
houses are cheap and life is affordable there. Families in this kind of setting
live below a dollar a day for food. An increase in population pressure has lead
to scarcity of resources and high unemployment. This makes them encounter
difficulties to acquire basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing. Many
youth and children are forced by circumstance to run away from home and seek
refuge in the streets. There are other factors such as child sexual abuse and
battery, child labour within the families. All this contributes to children
going to the streets, where they live in groups and the common name for their
home is “Base”.
We
have frequently visited Doonholm base. In this base we have youths in the age
bracket of 10 to 25 years old. They are all drug users and many sniff jet fuel,
smoke marijuana and cigarettes.
They
earn their daily bread by collecting scrap metals and plastics for recycling
and by going through garbage dumps for food and plastics. Some engage in robbery or begging to get
daily bread. Many have been caught stealing by angry mobs and killed. Some are
now in prison and some are in wheel chairs due to serious beating by a mob.
Life
has become so hostile and difficult for these young men. But a few of them have come up with new income
generating activities to satisfy their needs rather than risking their lives.
In this base they have started to practise small scale agriculture. They stay in an open space near the junction
of railroad tracks.
They
had a great idea but no means to accomplish their goal - until a summer visit
of a group of Christians from American led by Jeremy and Dr Chad helped them to
purchase some farming tools and seeds.
Currently
it’s no longer a farming idea but a practical farm work that everyone can see,
the guys in this base have planted kale, spinach, tomatoes and other
vegetables. Coulston visited and said the tomatoes look better than his at the
MitS Farm. The farm is not as productive
as they would wish, so we are appealing to friends to help them.
OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
Ø
TO STOP DRUGS
Ø
TO STOP ROBBERY AND OTHER
SOCIAL CRIMES
Ø
TO FIGHT DISCRIMINATION BY SOCIETY.
Ø
TO REGISTER THE GROUP WITH THE AUTHORITIES
MISSION
To be productive
and independent in society
VISION To be a main supplier of
vegetables in the county.
To increase a variety of business opportunities by
·
Rabbit keeping
·
Goat keeping
·
Increase variety of vegetables.
SUSTAINABILTY
OF THE PROJECT
·
Ploughing back the profit from
the farm.
·
Put some savings from the farm
in the bank
·
Do a simple loan project
TARGETED MARKET
§ Food kiosks within the slum near the base
§ Residents within Doonholm
§ Outside Doonholm as production grows
NEEDS
TOOLS
Ø
1 Hose pipe 20 metres
Ø
2 Forks
Ø
1 spade
Ø
2 mattocks
Ø
3 machetes
Ø
2 rakes
Ø
2 spraying cans
Ø
2 tins pesticide
Ø
4 irrigation cans
SEEDS
Ø
cabbage 2 tins
Ø
spinach 2 tins
Ø
onions 2tins
Ø
Dania 2 tins
Ø
Kunde
MITS as a ministry does not intend to
keep buying the same tools and farming equipment every year. We agreed together
with all those who have a farm at this base that we as MADE IN THE STREETS shall
try our best to buy the best tools and leave taking care of the tools in their
hands. They all agreed to take care of
the tools and use them for the better glory of God.
Written by the MITS Eastleigh Team
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment