Norbert reports:

We are now back in action following the aftermath of the heavy rainfall that left many people devastated in many parts of the country.

We were spared the havoc here in Msumarini. Schools have now resumed this week 13th May 2024 and we hit the ground running. Today we were at the school garden with the young farmers planting fruit trees, bananas and trees.

We had prepared the plot and planted cowpeas before the rains. They are blossoming. We will add a variety of vegetables by the weekend.

And here l am holding an empty tray of cake made from nutritious finger millet that the students enjoyed just before we started the planting sessions.

Now that the rain have suddenly stopped, the ground has also gone dry very quickly and the plants are 'asking for water'. Watering all these plants with a bucket is a very complicated and interesting exercise for some of these students who have never planted anything. The school doesn’t have long enough pipe connected to the water tank next to the garden. The students are sharing the green bucket to water the plot. What a learning curve for them!

The end of May brings encouraging progress

The work on the Water Tower is still on going. The work is tedious and it has to be manually done - with no scaffolding!! But…the construction work will be completed by early June and then we embark on the plumbing work.

The school garden is doing well. The students got on with transplanting more vegetables among the cowpeas and a first crop has been harvested.

Notice the treasurer of young farmers club keeping a record of the first sale! The vegetables were bought by the teachers and some students to take home. The harvested amount is not enough to supplement students meal at school just yet.