By David and Joanna | Field Officer and Volunteer
Since our last report, the village of Ondati has experienced harvest season. The fruits of five months hard work in the fields come to bear at this all important crossroad in the fortune of the village. Between a bumper crop and a poor return lies the difference between a farmer’s children eating well or going hungry.
As the fields of sweeping green were once again reduced to reddish brown, the opposite was happening at Ondati Girls Secondary School. The first stage of pineapples has just been planted with high grade suckers sourced by partner organization Africa Now.
In the school dairy farm, the first two of our cows calved down, thus marking a significant increase in the amount of milk available for sale. This was our first big step towards the final goal of financial self-sustainability.
Another major contribution of income is set to come from our bee-keeping project after the decision was made to allocate funds for an investment of fourteen more hives and a centrifugal extraction machine. We were visited by two bee-keeping experts to impart vital skills to our staff, committee members, students and interested community members
While there is a need to be ambitious and maintain good progress in all of the projects, it is important not to get ahead ourselves and lose focus on the small details which make a big difference. The tendency to overlook problems when they are at initial stages is tempting, especially when there are more exciting things to be getting on with.
Speaking of exciting, I have never seen people more excited as African school children when they score in a sports match. While attending the district sports day, I saw goal celebrations ranging from 2 minutes to well over 10 minutes! The most compelling of them all came from a girls team when ALL of their supporters invaded the pitch and, together with the team, proceeded to charge around screaming with arms flailing above their heads!
The Ondati Secondary School has had a promising start, but we need your support to keep moving forward. Any donation, no matter how big or small, will contribute towards the education of the girls at the school, by supporting the businesses at the heart of the school.
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