Post Tagged with: "makueni"

Lutheran World Relief in Kenya

Here are some highlights from my recent assignment in Kenya with Lutheran World Relief. The project I was documenting seeks to impart the skills of conservation agriculture to farmers who live in extremely arid areas of the country. Techniques like digging zai pits, terraced farming, and other water-harvesting methods allow farmers to make the most of the little rain that does fall, enabling them to move beyond the subsistence level and into making an income. What’s a zai pit? Watch the short video below: In total I shot five video stories, one each day, and a few stills as well. You can say it was exhausting, but not nearly as much as what these farmers do, working their fields every day to reap what they can from the land.

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Sevu & the Sand Dam

Want to know what real hunger is like?  Don’t ask an American. The video below, narrated by Sevu, a small farmer in Kenya, gives the most poignant description of hunger I’ve ever heard.  Luckily, that’s not all this video is about. It used to be that the seasonal river that runs through Sevu’s village would quickly become dry again a few days after the rain.  Now, however, a series of small sand dams stationed throughout its course have kept the river flowing and have allowed Sevu and his family to farm year-round, thereby increasing their income and access to food.  Sevu and the family are doing so well now, in fact, that he was able to place an international phone call to me yesterday just to see how my wife and I are doing.  The dams are part of a larger program introduced in the area by Lutheran World Relief to[…]

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