Distribution of food crops was made to the widows at the farm. Some of them walked 6km to get there. The ones that are really old or frail will send a neighbor or grandchild to pick up what is distributed. The ladies were given a common treat of tea (chai - made with lots of milk and sugar) and bread while they waited. Belinda, Eric’s wife, most likely prepared it on a wood fire by Marty’s kitchen out in back of the barn. The colourful cups and plates are kept on the farm for such occasions.

A common food is cassava. We had a good crop of it. You can see Leonard and Eric digging up the cassava roots. There is a pile of them at the feet of the ladies who are drinking tea. Cassava is a staple in Kenya - third highest source of carbohydrates, next to rice and maize. It is drought resistance, and very high in carbohydrates/starch; low in protein and other nutrients. It is peeled and then cooked many ways. One popular way is like french fries (chips) or chips (crisps). It is prepared like that in the city, not in homes in the village - too costly (because of the amount of oil needed) except as a treat to be bought on market day. Otherwise, in the home it is usually boiled - mixed in with other food as a filler to make it go further - or it can replace potatoes. It can also be dried and ground into flour. The flavor is vey bland. Note: unless cooked properly some cassava is toxic.

In another photo you see Joel standing in the sweet potato crop. It wasn’t ready for harvest at the time.

Leonard and Erick are splitting bananas, grown on the farm, into hands for distribution to the ladies. If you are wondering why the bananas are green - if they are left on the banana bush to ripen, the birds destroy them.

In all, the distribution was 3 large tins of maize, a hand of bananas and 3 cassava tubers. The widows are so appreciative, and they love to have their photo taken smiling, waiving, and showing their goods in appreciation. 
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The following week Jeremy and Joel took the same produce to a distant part of the area where we serve, and distributed it to widows there. 

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God is good - all the time   and   All the time - God is good!   

We wish you all God's Richest and Abundant Blessings!

​John & Marty

THE FARM SCHOOL AT THE WIDOWS' FARM
We have purchased another acre of land adjacent to the Widows' Farm and the farm hands - Eric and Leonard - have cleared it of ant hills so it is ready to use.  Ant hills are very, very fertile, so the men spread shovels full of them all over the new land to be plowed under.

Our colleague/team member Jeremy has assumed oversight of the farm, giving us more freedom to minister to the widows in their homes and minister at cell groups.  He has recently initiated a project in Kadawa by which an agronomist from a local university, in partnership with an organization from the UK called Just Earth, is training villagers how to produce more diversity in the crops from the land on which they live and produce a bigger yield.

We have given a half acre to the project, which involves 36 people who have made a three-year commitment to learn new ways to plant, cultivate and produce different seeds/food.  The yields will be from 3 to 8 times greater than their previous crops.  The increase will give them more for their personal use and they will be able to sell the excess.  Additionally they will be encouraged to tithe their produce to the poor and needy.  Eric and Leonard are part of the group, so we will see the Widows' Farm benefited from their education.

Currently the group has planted 18 different varieties of maize to weigh their individual yield, how resistant they are to disease, how they grow in the local soil, etc.  Being able to experiment in this way saves them any risk to the crops upon which they depend on their own land. 

This program has been successful in many areas and when the neighbors see the results compared to their crops it is an incentive for them to want to learn the same techniques/methods.

Blessings and Great Affection!! 
John & Marty

               

                       WITH MANY BLESSINGS & MUCH LOVE - JOHN AND MARTY!

Early Morning: To Doctor for change of dressing and to check swelling, bruises and fractured shoulder.  Getting ready for a day’s work.

Afternoon:  Farm Worker meeting.  Eric and Leonard met with John and Johnfred.  Eric asked for an advanced loan from his salary for a mattress and a bed.  He and Belinda sleep on the floor on a straw mat.  Leonard asked for an increase in salary to help him pay school fees for his children.  The most important need above food is education.  They know their children will never escape their dire poverty without it.

It's Marty!  I am here in Kenya!  John is at home in Florida!  John had eye surgery because of complications with his eyes due to glaucoma. Owing to that, because of follow-up treatment, we had to cancel our trip to Kenya, which was to be about now, and are to reschedule it for September or October.  But last week we received an e-mail from Violet Odindo telling us that Lorna had just passed away (literally 10 minutes before) and that Lorna had repeatedly told her to remind us that we promised to be at her funeral.  (Truthfully, many of us were praying that she wouldn't pass prior to a time when we would be there.  But the sweet old saint just got too tired to wait and wanted to be with Jesus!) Therefore, hasty arrangements were made for me to come!
Normally people here in the village are not embalmed.  It isn’t traditional, it’s too expensive (they are desperately poor) and burial must be done quickly because the body decomposes rapidly in the tropics.  But to honour her wishes and accommodate my coming the family agreed to have her embalmed. We gladly paid for it since it was done to accommodate me.  
The funeral was held this past Friday.  Funerals are held outdoors at the home of the deceased - who was laid out under a small canopy in from of her house.  The hole is dug near the coffin and she is buried next to her house.  A woman is dressed in a white wedding gown made especially for the occasion, complete with veil.  Lorna never had a wedding dress in her lifetime.  It was an amazing fair - absolutely spectacular.  Much dancing - native style - and singing and many testimonies.  (The MC admonishes the testifiers before hand to keep the remarks short, but he is mostly ignored - even when he politely interrupts.)  Folks from her family, from the community and from the church take the microphone and talk.  They are not microphone shy at all.  Many, many folks paid tribute to Lorna.  She was well known for her generosity.  A poor destitute woman, but always giving something to people.  Consistently and joyfully.  In church, during offering - which is done to music and the people come down front to give it - she would dance down the aisle with her few coins.  When it was time for a special offering or fundraising, there she would be - dancing ever so slowly, but surely, down the aisle to give her coins.  You may remember that she gave us a chicken once (we named it Lorna) and it produced many peeps. (We just couldn't eat it - which is what was really expected.)
After the tributes the worship team came up to lead more singing and a group of ladies in white dresses and black satin sashes - (they are official mourners) went into the canopy and picked up the coffin (made of wood) and danced it out of there, across the yard and partially out the gate; then turned it around and danced it back.  All the while they are rocking the casket, lifting it high over there heads, then up and down, back and forth and everyone is following them and gathered around singing and dancing and praising God.  It is traditional that an 8X10 photo of the deceased be placed on the coffin.  There were 5 different ones and 5 ladies carried them up high on display as the coffin was danced along.  It was wonderful!  Such joy and celebration!!!
Then the casket is taken to the graveside and two men get down in the hole and others, standing at each end of the coffin, gingerly hand it down to them.  Words are spoken, more songs, and the first shovelful is scattered bit-by-bit.  Then several young men take turns shoveling the dirt into the grave - done with remarkable speed and agility.
I am so glad I came and John and I could keep our word, and honour Our Lorna.
On Sunday I told the church that I want a funeral like that.  I told them that my children would never agree to such a thing (figuring that John would be gone before me, so he wouldn't object; I didn't say that).  But, I said, if my children are gone before me I will have my body flown here and they can bury me down on the Widows' Farm.  Everyone thought that was a great idea!!

Look for more about what I've been doing here for these two weeks!  I'll update the blog shortly!

Bless,
​                           Marty & John
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