Progress on Every Front
Avis Goodhart, her brother Fred, and Betty Bartholomew spent the entire month at the orphanage starting and finishing many projects. A huge irrigation pond of over 1,500,000 gallons of capacity was dug, the convenience store was stocked as last minute bugs were worked out of the point-of-sale software system and consultants were brought in to give advice on a) the water catchment project, b) making various types of soap for sale, and c) starting to teach the girls how to sew using the new sewing machines.
The orphanage in Kendu Bay supports 68 orphans + staff + 2 babies and 5 destitute widows living nearby. The orphanage is named Bartholomew Children’s Family in Kendu Bay, Kenya, by Lake Victoria. It is directed by Bishop Washington Ayugi (pronounced eye-you-gee), the gentleman who began to bring orphans into his home many years ago to give them a safe place to grow and thrive.
February started with the electricity coming back on for the gas station and convenience store in the brand new shopping area. By the end of February the exterior paintings of Jesus and exterior signage were ready to be mounted on the top of the gas-pump-cage. And, the convenience store was partially stocked and shelves were built to show off the new liquid soaps and bar soaps the orphanage kids are making. These are top quality products, as field tested by the ladies at the orphanage.
The most amazing progress was made on getting water to the collard green garden. Last month, due to the severe drought, we had to scale down our project of growing 59,000 collard green plants down to 10,000 plants. We just simply could not get enough water to the plants. Fred was given a God-inspired idea that if we had a large 3000 Liter tank (almost 800 gallons) on top of an 18 to 20 foot tall tower, then we could gravity feed an irrigation system and until that is built, two men go to a nearby pond and get almost 400 gallons of water into the tank sitting on the tuc-tuc and then bring that water to the tank. Then, they pump the water up into the big tank. Then other men water the plants while the tuc-tuc returns to the pond for another load of water. By taking this approach, they were able to get four times the water onto the plants, but it is still not enough.
As Fred looked over the area surrounding the Jehovah Jireh Farm, he saw that there appeared to be a swale where someone had tried to build a pond. Upon investigation, he found that the community had tried to hand-dig a large pond about one acre from the edge of the Jehovah Jireh Farm. It dried up many years ago and no further efforts were attempted to dig a pond there. In fact, upon further investigation, Washington and Fred found out that the area of the former pond was community property and that the local villagers would love to have water in that area for their livestock etc. Three problems presented themselves: 1) we didn’t own the land between the Farm and the community property, 2) we needed permission to dig a pond on the land we didn’t own adjacent to the community property and 3) we needed to dig a huge pond within 10 days before the Americans went back home.
Solutions: 1) the land between the Farm and the community property was purchased, 2) the idea was presented to the leaders of the community of a) building and sharing a pond with them, b) getting the chief in the area to approve the project, and c) getting a written agreement with all 44 leaders of the community to provide support for the orphanage so that everyone using the new water source would contribute something to the orphanage every month, and then to 3) build a pond large enough to provide water to the collard greens and take care of the community for 30 to 45 days during times of drought.
Washington was given another God-inspired idea by requesting that the chief sign the agreement as ‘Office of the Chief.’ This requires all future chiefs of the area to abide by the agreement. Within 48 hours of presenting the “Mutual Benefit Agreement”, a large tent was raised in the community, over 200 people attended, and all 44 community leaders signed the document and so did the chief, as well as Bishop Washington for the orphanage. Then we had 7 days to dig the pond and no contractors had even been contacted to dig the pond. A businessman in a city about 2 hours away agreed to do the job immediately with his excavator and a second company agreed to supply two dump trucks to move the dirt. They were immediately placed under contract to create the pond of 1,500,000 gallons knowing the rainy season would start in 7 days. They dug 10 to 11 hours each day and by the end of the week it was starting to rain at night. The photos above show the pond being dug and now it is at least 14 feet deep!
God is giving favor on this project as He supplied 1) witty ideas, 2) a company that had two dump trucks immediately available for hire, 3) another company just finishing up a huge 9 acre pond almost 2 hours away and then moving their excavator to the Farm within two days, and 4) digging a pond that will hold 1,500,000 gallons of water within 10 days of getting the idea. That is truly remarkable!
Al Lockhart, Trustee 636.634.5805
Horizons Foundation of Missouri Horizons4kids@gmail.clom
Donations may be sent to Go Ye Ministries, PO Box 736, Prairie Grove AR 72753
100% of your donation is used for the orphans at Kendu Bay, Kenya