All kinds of surprises

Hello Debra,

The word is spreading about the good things that happen because of this work.

With one hundred Maasai villages connected across the region, news spreads quickly.

Read on and see how Maasai women and men are taking the initiative, once they see the possibilities.

Taking off from earlier ideas, new forms arise that are so exciting--and surprising. I could not have anticipated them.

This month, I’m also reporting on how the countryside’s farming community faced challenges--and solved them.

Thank you for fueling the work.

Twende!

Robert Lange

June 2024

Seeing the possibilities

Throughout the Maasai communities, it is well known that the International Collaborative has organized women’s groups.

By sharing money in group banks, giving each other loans, and having collective businesses, members have significantly improved their lives.

 Together with the Global Fund for Widows, and also independently, we have organized many of these groups, including several in five Rift Valley villages of Mungere, Baraka, Losirwa, Esilalei, and Oltukai.

Taking the initiative

Most satisfying for me, personally, is seeing what the people have done themselves, modeling after our approach.

 In those five villages, the women organized themselves into 36 groups of 25 members each. Fifty leaders from the 36 groups rented a bus and visited Project Manager Kisioki Moitiko’s home in Monduli. 

Innovative adventures

Kisioki welcomed the 50 women who came to report on their 36 new groups.

They asked Kisioki if the International Collaborative could advise their groups and help them thrive.

In the spirit of the women, Kisioki went to the men of these same five villages. He told them what the women were doing and 55 men donated one bull each. 

They purchased another 20 young bulls ready to fatten and were able to deliver two bulls to each of the 36 women’s groups.

 Three more bulls went to the Men’s Group, where the Women’s Group advisors started their own cattle collective with a few dozen cattle. Even though their personal herds are much larger, they take this new collective cattle ownership very seriously.

Recently, the women started their group banks too, with all the members buying weekly shares. The 36 bank balances now average $1,200 each.

When we have initiated the groups, we and the Global Fund for Widows have usually matched the starting capital the women gather themselves. We don’t have the funds to match these 36 amazing innovative ventures but will soon visit all these groups. We’ll give them a boost of about $200 each to add to their bank balances, in recognition and with respect for their wonderful initiative and courage.

Ready to grind the corn harvested at the Smart Farm

Fire at the Farm--but all is well

The International Collaborative's Smart Farm borders the fields of multiple neighbors.

Proximity to these farms is important to us, as we are organizing ways to share our groundwater. We hope that this demonstration farm experiment will confirm that investing in a solar-powered borehole and sharing groundwater with neighbors is a sound investment.

An unwelcome surprise

Farmers often burn off harvest residues, such as cornstalks, after harvest. Our neighbor started a fire in his field that spread to the grass between our shared fence and our solar panel array, up to the electronic controls and the borehole.

All is well

We have an excellent staff living at the Farm and their five dogs alerted them to the fire. The staff responded immediately, and used the pump for water to extinguish the fire.

But the fire got to the cable between the controls, and the pump and water stopped. In spite of that, staff members were able to put out the fire quickly.



Kisioki and I inspected the damage. Because of the fast action of the staff, the fire was contained and only the cable to the pump was destroyed.

Our expert technician was able to hook everything up again—as good as new.

Thanks so much for sharing the ICSEE world with us.