By Bill Herrin | Project Director
Happy 2014, Friends of Yimbo.
After a rather quiet 2013 Holiday Season, we're gearing up for another productive year working with the people of Yimbo. We're focusing on two fronts. As I mentioned in my fall 2013 report, we're helping the Muguna (Yimbo area) Women's Group develop successful businesses raising chickens to help satisfy a large and growing local demand for chickens and eggs. Since the fall report, our consultant on the ground has met with the group at least 10 times. At least eight group members have come up with the majority of the required start-up costs, including building the chicken coops. Now we're working with the consultant on ways to encourage others to save enough to catch up to the lead group. The next step is for the Friends of Yimbo to cover the cost of shared resources such as veterinarian services and the purchase of incubators. Your help of as little as $20 would go a long way toward covering the veterinary costs, and $50 will cover about a quarter of the price of one incubator that can be shared by at least two women.
FOY is also still working on bringing safe, clean water to more families in the Yimbo area. In addition to the borehole project already completed, we plan to help our local water committee in the community participate in a pipeline extension project undertaken by the Kenyan government and the larger donor community. The government will work with local leaders that are "ready to help" extend the pipeline to their communities. FOY decided to help leverage what the folks in Yimbo can contribute. Right now, we're simply facilitating communication between the different communities that would benefit from the pipeline. When the groups agree on a plan, we plan to lend financial support to make the extension a reality. If this is successful, we believe we can move on to support building the health clinic I mentioned in an earlier report because water infrastructure will be in place.
Some of you may have noticed that we no longer plan to drill a second bore hole. We don't want to appear unfocused as we alter our plans. We are trying, successfully we believe, to be nimble enough to take advantage of the changing circumstances and opportunities that arise on the ground. We hope you'll continue to follow our progress and, if you like what we're doing, to help us as you can.
All the best.
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