Drip Feed Pilot Program

We are off to the races!!!!  After our very successful community garden in town of which you have all seen pics, the next challenge....How do we get drip feed technology into the hands of the community?   Rocky and I have been working to develop a plan to roll out small, individual drip feed systems that are cheap and easy to install.   We have developed a 5 row, each 17 feet long with a 5 gallon bucket to supply the water.  Most of this system is sources locally in Maai Mahiu which also supports us supporting local community.  We had two well wishers out of the States (you know who you are and THANK YOU) who were very excited about this program and came forward a month ago to fund the initial 10 systems.  Each system costs $20 and that includes employing a local young man, John, to set the system up with the family.  So we not only give access to new technology for a family but also employ young, hard working individuals from MM.  One of the big issues with the town is lack of employment.  

judge the progress and if it works then move forward with another 5.  My hope is we have these systems installed in 50, 100....who knows maybe hundreds of families in Maai Mahiu.  We will also install sack gardens eventually which work out to be $3 a garden completely installed.  An very important part of this project was total family commitment.   The family has to be present for the installation and help through the entire process.  If they don't show up we don't install.  There needs to be ownership and through the installation John can education the family on how and why the system works.   

We have currently installed 3 systems with the other two being done this week.  The first was to one of the HIV patients we help support with food.  He has not been able to work so they are very desperate.  I included a picture of a man with his children working.  Truly amazing to see a person work even though he's so sick.   The second two families are those of grandmothers (ShoShos) from our community garden project.  They believe in our systems and constantly talk about how well the garden is progressing.  For us this is great press within the community.   The hope is those families surrounding the ones already with a drip system will talk and ask for the system also.    I also included a photo of John our project manager.  He had a long days work in the hot sun taking a well deserved rest.   In the future it would be nice to know we can employ him at least part time installing systems.  Who knows maybe we can turn this into a multiple employee business.....

I'll be updating pictures in the next month or two and show progress on the systems.  Thank you again to the donors who have funded this project.  CTC is low on funds currently so those who decide they want to adopt a program really help take off stresses.  Also, many new ideas are hard to get on the budget so working outside the box is pretty quick and successful.....