Below is a description of the evolution of one of our agriculture projects in Kenya. This story comes from Covenant missionaries Pete & Cindy Ekstrands’ blog.
“So what do green peppers and sustainability have to do with each other? The green house project at the Kitengela Covenant Church is truly a sustainable project as they have successfully moved from crop to crop and now they’re raising green peppers.
Started through a Covenant World Relief (CWR) grant in 2008, the greenhouse project was first a chicken house which successfully raised broilers and laying hens. After most of a year of raising chickens, Pastor Simon Kamau of the Kitengela church noted that the feed price was going up and the chicken price was going down. So he decided to get out of the chicken business and raise tomatoes. He worked with the Kenya Agriculture Service to test the soil and learn what fertilizer he needed. He also visited the large supermarkets and asked what kind of tomatoes they would buy from him. And then he raised beautiful tomatoes for about a year.
Now after the tomatoes, he has again done his research and switched to raising green peppers. The photos show the beautiful green pepper crop. Revenue for each of these ventures is helping the church respond to needs of the many Congolese refugees in the church and area. The church is teaching the younger children English, negotiating school fees to get students in school for a reduced price, arranging apprenticeships for promising refugees, helping them to find jobs (such as for a Congolese pastor to teach French in a Kenya school) and more. Thanks Lord for Simon and his leadership and for the blessings on this project and church.”
From chickens, to tomatoes, and now to green peppers, this project has gone through much transition, but it is doing well. We are grateful for the impact it has on those involved!
