by Lia

We have some exciting news; two new volunteers from Switzerland are coming  to Kimilili in January. Agnes and Alexandra (Alex) both work in the same consulting company in Zurich. Recently, Agnes was talking to Alex about her dream of going somewhere far away for a while and how she had approached Rev. Wasike about realising this dream. Without a pause in their discussion, Alex asked Agnes whether she could come along as well. 



Agnes and Alex are taking their well-earned vacation time and going to work with the children and adults of CBSM, which we are sure will be a great learning experience for them, as well as those in Kimilili. The board of CBSM are in the process of planning workshops and various other events which the two new volunteers can hold or be a part of during their stay.

The CBSM community are excited by this prospect. There is work to be done both in the school, as well as with the women’s co-ops and youth groups, whose seeds Vicki sowed this last fall during her visit.




Agnes is going to hold a business-training workshop with several of the women co-ops and youth groups. The workshop participants will learn about and build free emission silos (necessary links). Agnes will also be working closely with the women co-ops teaching them about the necessary of M&E (monitoring and evaluation) of their on-going projects.



Alex, who studied art, will be taking off where Vicki left off working with the teachers and children of the CBSM Education Center. She is going to help train the teachers on various methods for teaching art. She will teach the children about collages and hold our first art contest. We plan to publish or print the winning selection as notebooks or postcards.



The two women are in the throws of preparation and are very much looking forward to their time in Kimilili. 
 

 
by Rev. Wasike

Andrea Sebastian left for Kimilili this morning from Nairobi. He spent a few days with my family and me. He has called to confirm a safe journey. He went with Sarah Sitatai, one of our onsite volunteers. Sarah will introduce Andrea Sebastian to the CBSM management board and community members. I will be going to Kimilili in due course.
 
Rev. Wasike and the women co-ops of the CBSM Gardening Vocational Training Program have decided to organise two further fundraising events in August, Tea Parties for Kimilili. These tea parties will be a combination of tea party, bake sale and raffle. The funds raised through the sale of cakes and raffle tickets will go towards the down payment on the school land.

We ask everyone to look into their cupboards or ask their friends to look in their cupboards and see if you/they might have some light weight objects (e.g. pens, baseball caps, stickers, sun glasses, skipping ropes, sewing kits, old stamps) that you/they can send to Rev. Wasike to use for raffle prizes.

The goods can be sent to:

Rev. Wasike Wilberforce Walubengo
P.O. Box 2099-00200
Nairobi ,Kenya

Please make sure that you mention that the contents are gifts, second-hand goods, and of no monetary value, so that Rev. Wasike does not have to pay duty on the goods.

We want to invite all the schools and government officials and community elders who came to our Kimilili Football Tournament a few weeks ago to attend the tea parties and help contribute to our cause.

The women of CBSM have made a goal to try and raise 10-20% of the money needed for the down payment on the school land. You can help them indirectly reach their goal by contributing in this manner.
 
Sebastian M. is coming to volunteer at CBSM in a few weeks time. Sebastian is studying geography at the University of Marburg in Germany. He is especially interested in the topics of education and sustainable agriculture. We are thrilled that he is coming to Kimilili and work together with the CBSM Gardening Vocational Training Program.

Chris (Australia) and Arthi (USA) have been working hard to make up learning modules for the women gardening co-ops. Sebastain will use these learning modules to hold a series of agriculture workshops for these groups during his visit in August: Composting, Maize pest prevention, Seed identification, handling and storage. These are all subjects of great interests to the women and youths of CBSM.
Sebastian and Wilfred (or Kimilili supervisor) will also be working together with the youth group to build  “zero emission fridges” for the storage of seeds, maize, and beans. These silos were originally made in Mozambique, but are easily reproducible in other rural areas.

We are all very interested to see whether or not they will help reduce loss of seeds through various diseases (e.g. weevils). If they do work, this will mean that the women co-ops can store maize in bulk and then sell the seeds at times when the prices are higher and the demand is greater.