We ended eastwards to Meru. It is situated about three hundred kilometers from Kenya’s capital city Nairobi. It lies on the eastern slopes of Mount Kenya and has an advantage of being on the windward side and hence plenty of rainfall. The area is the grain basket of the neighboring dry areas of lower Eastern, North Eastern province and Nairobi. A drive around reveals the beauty of this place with different types of fruits freshly hanging on the trees. From passion fruits to oranges, pawpaws to mangoes, avocados to bananas and many wild fruits. It was a good opportunity for the team to pick fresh fruits from the trees and direct to the mouth. What a difference from the previous weeks in the slums?
Until 20 years ago Meru was the largest coffee growing area in Kenya. Coffee bushes covered thousands of acres in this former economic powerhouse of Kenya. However, in recent years this industry has been brought to its knees and the only signs that coffee bushes existed in this area are a few isolated and neglected coffee trees where diseases have not wiped them all.
This season hasn’t been good for the peasant farmers in Meru. There has been shortage of rainfall which has led to a crop failure. The first activity we took was to clean and make flower beds for the local administrative office. Later in the afternoon we joined youths of a local secondary school to encourage them and share the love of Jesus Christ. The students were happy to share with the team on the experiences of youths in Africa and their perception of the USA.
Nick, Savannah and Olivia preparing the flower beds at the local administrative office.
Bethany sharing with youths at a local secondary school
Every afternoon we did sports with various schools. We dug and laid water pipes to a widow's small banana farm. One of the ways her son is helping her to become self-reliant is by setting up a banana farm. When she starts harvesting the bananas in a year’s time, she will be able to cater for her domestic expenses without any support since there is a big market for bananas in Meru. It was therefore great joy to have irrigation water flow to the farm courtesy of Nehemiah Teams. A big thank you on her behalf.
Team digging trench to lay water pipes
Nick in the banana farm
We summarized our activities by visiting widows in the nearby villages. We helped to clean their compound, wash dishes, and gave the gifts. Please continue praying for us.
