The Sisterhood Exchange Program (SEP) members traveled to Eldoret this September to receive training from the Imani workshops. The training took place for two days where members were trained on making shopping bags, yoga bags, pajama suits, double sided apron, and school uniforms. There was also training on beaded jewelry, clay, cards, books, and picture frames. Much of the training emphasized quality control and members are now working to improve the quality of their products.
The Ekialo Kiona Farming Department also traveled to Eldoret where they were motivated by the AMPATH farm and learned they will need a good irrigation system like drip irrigation which is used at most of the farms in Eldoret. They realized doing that will give them a green and healthy farm as water plays a big role in plant life.
Free Internet access has taken a step closer to 20,000 rural Kenyans living on a remote island in the middle of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya. The Organic Health Response, with the help of San Francisco-based partners, Inveneo and Equal Access, is preparing to install a wireless Internet link and community radio tower on the top Soklo mountain on Mfangano Island. Based on a comprehensive topographical survey by Inveneo’s connectivity engineers, Equal Access is developing a radio broadcast map using open access satellite software to assess the reach for Mfangano’s first community radio station. On the ground, OHR is moving forward with site preparations and the tower’s challenging construction 1600m above the Lake shore. Thanks to land generously donated by the Okello family, a 12th generation Mfangano family living atop Soklo mountain, the tower site will serve as both the point of reception for OHR’s 70km long-range Internet link, and the point of transmission for the Ekialo Kiona Youth Radio Station. Actual construction of this unique tower will be carried out by the Ekialo Kiona Sustainable Design Guild, a team of local Mfangano carpenters, welders, and masons who successfully completed construction on the Ekialo Kiona Center in May 2011.
Born in 1925, Joseph Okello Misiara is a native of the Soklo clan that has lived on Mfangano Island for over 12 generations. He is now the Elder responsible for taking care of the sacred Kwitutu forest, an old growth forest and ancestral burial site that remains atop the highest point on Mfangano Island. Inspired by the land donation made by Joel Oguta for the Ekialo Kiona Center itself, Mzee Okello and his eldest son have generously donated their family’s land near the Kwitutu forest, to bring free Internet to 20,000 of their fellow residents on Mfangano Island. During a visit this June, Mzee Okello explained that although he has never used the Internet or touched a computer himself, he knows his land will be used to build a tower that will “connect the world together.” Mzee Okello sees this donation as a landmark for his children and grandchildren and his final legacy to the community of Mfangano.
OHR GOOGLE TECH TALK
On August 17, 2011, Chas Salmen, the Founder and Director of the Organic Health Response had the opportunity to present at a Google Tech Talk on HIV/AIDS Prevention Collectives in Western Kenya. Specifically Chas discussed the Mfangano Island Healthy Networks Pilot Program. To view Chas's full Google Tech Talk, click
here.
BLOGGING ON MFANGANO
This September, Chas Salmen, the Founder and Director of OHR, and Jenna Hines, OHR's Director of Agriculture Research Implementation, are moving to Mfangano for the year with many goals in mind. Over the course of the year, they are going to keep all of you updated through their blog to share stories from Mfangano, updates as they set up their farm, unexpected challenges, their progress with OHR and the Ekialo Kiona Center staff, and their evolving visions for a healthy Lake Victoria, and planet. Stay updated at:http://organichealthresponse.tumblr.com/
