Since the beginning of August, the Farm has been busy preparing for the 2008 harvest season; this meant that the forage harvester needed to be in working order, all 4 tractors have to work and the trailers need to be adjusted to be able to take bigger loads. It is a bit like a circus really! It only happens once a year and if there are no mechanical failures, good weather conditions and dry farm roads we usually finish within 3-4 weeks. If the situation is ideal we only stop the forage harvester in the evening as it gets dark and we fill and cover the silage pit after 3-5 days of harvesting.

Unfortunately, this has not been the case this year. The last week of August saw us starting off very well. The silage harvest was going on well and on a speedy note but when September rolled around, things went down hill.

The first two weeks of the month it rained nearly on a daily basis- a total of 136 mm up till the 14th of September. Off-loading the trailers with the chopped maize is done manually, so when it rains we have to stop. Furthermore, the amount of rainfall in such a short period causes the roads to become impassable and some of the maize fields were water logged. In such situations, we are required to wait for 1-2 days for dry weather in order to continue, which delays the whole process.

The third week of September, FarmChem-Seedlinks a Kenyan based company selling farm inputs like maize and vegetable seeds, used our small holder unit (zero grazing unit) to demonstrate some of their maize and vegetable varieties to farmers from within the district.

Having seen the small-holder unit (a small farm of about 1 ha. that caters for 2 cows) they then visited the large scale farming system on Baraka Farm. The farmers were very interested in the dairy cows; we explained to them how the cows are kept, fed and taken care of from the day they are born until the day they have their first baby calf. The biggest obstacle to improved milk production in this area of Kenya is the little/poor fodder that is available for the animals. Thanks to the Golder Trust for Orphans, we are able to maintain a very good system on the farm and are exploring growing our dairy business to include cheese production. We are looking forward to discussing this project further with the Golder Trust for Orphans in early 2009.

Since May, the Home has admitted a total of 13 children in total; 4 babies – all of whom were abandoned and taken to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), 3 from Eldoret Street Rehabilitation Program and the remaining 6 from the internally displaced families as a result of the 2007 post-election violence.

The (6) six children were abandoned by their mother at the Eldoret Show ground-IDP camp.

The father, a shoe-shiner and the sole breadwinner, could not afford to meet all the family’s needs, as he too was living at the camp. As a result, the father would spend most of his time trying to look for ways to feed his children, which meant leaving the children alone for long periods of time.

The eldest girl (age 12) would take care of her 5 siblings in the harsh environment of the IDP camp.

All our children in school are doing their best in school. We managed to attend academic meetings, personal school visits and reviewed all progress report forms of all our children for the second term.

Many thanks to the Golder Trust for Orphans recent donation, which was used to purchase the supplies necessary to refurbish our children’s dormitory.

We are happy to share stories from the orphans who are being cared for in our home thanks to the Golder Trust for Orphans.

Sarah turned 10 years old at the beginning of September. To celebrate her birthday we had a treasure hunt Hope Farm style. Everyone (children and adults) had to perform some farm tasks in order to get puzzle pieces that made a map to find the treasure.

Sarah and April have been going to swimming lessons. Sarah takes it seriously and is doing very well. April approaches it with her usual enthusiasm and wants to learn to jump out of the water like a dolphin.

Michael writes his final school exams in May/June 2009, so he is working hard. He is temporarily sleeping on the bottom bunk in the small children’s room as we have to repair the ceiling in his room. He helps with the farm chores, which is a huge blessing to Andrew.

Sarah has baby chicks at the moment and she spends lots of time in the barn feeding them and sorting out the silly hens who don’t look after them properly. She helps with the farm chores and loves milking the cow.

All of you that have spent time with us know how much I enjoy farming and this month I have had such fun.

I know all we do is for the people we help and to grow the ministry but this last month has been so cool.

Thanks to the Golder Trust for Orphans during the last month we received a donation to help us produce our own food and to fence down to the river for more grazing. We bought a dairy cow called Fraulein and are now milking every morning and night. We are making our own butter and even made ice-cream. We got young bull calves which we had to bottle feed and have raised chickens for the table. I got a quad bike and made a trailer so I can easily manage the fences and herd all the animals.

Many thanks to all the Golder staff who are contributing to the Trust for Orphans. Your donations are making a huge difference in the lives of our orphans and our community.