Dominion Farms Kenya, Africa

Irrigation in Yala

2011-09-13T09:43:00.001-05:00

Trip 79 July 3rd to July 17th, 2011

2011-09-09T13:49:00.002-05:00

Trip 79

July 3rd to July 17^th, 2011

I said goodbye to Sue at the airport and began a journey again to the land I have come to love, Kenya. It is a strange relationship with Kenya, full of frustration yet it draws me closer each time I come. Barbara Waterston did not come this time and that always seems a bit strange, as we have worked so hard as a team to bring change to a part of the world full of poverty and despair.

In Kenya calls come in by the hour; do you have rice to sell? The price of maize (corn) has doubled and there is little to be found. Both Kenya and Uganda are looking for food, and our stores are bare. The new rice harvest began yesterday, and soon time will tell just how badly our crop was damaged by our crop duster pilot who made a terrible mistake. He is gone but the damage was done. Over the past month these fields have been the subject of much prayer; only God knows what will come from them.

This trip is dedicated to the poorest-of-the-poor. Dominion has a team of surgeons, surgical nurses, aftercare nurses, and anesthesiologists coming to our farm and they will perform surgeries on the local people. These will include removal of tumors, repairs to burn victims, cleft paletes, cleft lips, goiters and so many other things that hold these people back in their daily lives. All of the medical team is Kenyan, all living in Kenya who care for their own people. This is a big cost to Dominion, but even including the rental of the hospital it is far less than the cost of bringing in doctors from the US. So often I see medical teams coming from outside to treat a few patients and that is good, but if the goal is to make the funds stretch as far as possible then I hope to show the way. So far we have around 75 patients signed up and ready for surgery. Tomorrow we begin four very busy days of intense work for the medical team and our support staff. Our farm will be over-run with people sleeping and eating everywhere.

Anne Owalla is a Kenyan lady now living in Holland, married to a Dutch man and she has two children. She operates an African cooking school and catering business there. When she heard what we are doing this week she dropped everything and is coming to the farm. She will use this time to teach our cooks how to prepare hundreds of meals and perhaps learn more herself. She will meet me in Amsterdam in a few hours then go on to Kenya with me.

As I sit here in an empty row of four seats at the back of the plane I began recounting the many trips; over 3000 hours of traveling back and forth for 1,500,000 miles over the past few years. What awesome changes have taken place. I have now lived roughly 1500 days in the country or over 4 years, yet it seems like yesterday that I took my first trip. Each time I return, it is around the clock work for days on end, to the point of exhaustion, but I can’t wait to get back again. Dominion finally reached one of our original goals and it was a big one; All our managers and staff are now Kenyans; the Americans, Brits, and S. Africans have gone home. We have trained and trained, but school is over and now they must perform. Some will make it, and others will wash out but this is the time to prove themselves. There have been problems but part of that is communication difficulties, so we will work on that. For the most part they are doing well.

It is now the middle of the night in Amsterdam and I am only 4 hours away so I need to make the best of these 4 empty seats and get some sleep.

The shower in Amsterdam always feels good and makes the rest of the trip feel so much better. Anne made it through the ticketing process and then we were on the next leg of the flight. It was cramped but I slept for half the flight. All my luggage arrived and Anne was met by her brother and more friends. I went to Robin’s house for the night and Anne went with her brother. By 5:30 am we were both on the way back to the airport, on to Kisumu, then the 1 ½ drive to the farm.

As we topped the hill there was so much apprehension in my heart over how the crops had faired after the crop duster mistake. How much was destroyed, how bad were the weeds, or were they killed? The phone reports had been encouraging but what is the real story? So much is at stake here. God was listening and we have been spared from a disaster. The combines were running and the yields were good; not great but good. We will make it, and our farm will prosper again.

Soon I was driving over the farm and the fields look good. It has taken around 100,000 hours of labor to pull the weeds, and that has been expensive but on the other hand a lot of people have been employed, so some good has come of it. Isaac and his crew have cleared hundreds of acres of new ground and are getting ready for new fields of rice. At the rice mill, the rice is being processed as quickly as it arrives and the trucks are lined up waiting for their loads. Our local outlet has people standing in line waiting for the rice to arrive and then buying all they can afford. They now have food to eat again.

The phone rang. “ Calvin come quick, we have plowed up a huge snake; come to where the Cats are working. What a snake, dark brown in color and fat. It moved slowly and everyone stood away back as it slowly uncoiled itself from the pile of debris, stretching to around 16 feet in length. Cameras came out while Anne stood back by the jeep. As it stretched itself out I went to the tail and others said to stay away but I had never touched one of these guys before. For a brief moment I thought of trying to pick this thing up but decided that just his tail would do. He was pointed towards the low lying swampland as I drove away but I don’t know his final fate.

The roof for the new equipment sheds are going up and should be finished by the end of next week so our combines and tractors will finally have a protected home. The parts warehouse is finished so thousands of parts are being moved from the containers to the new building. The mechanics shop is still struggling with following directions. They get distracted so quickly and stray from the critical path. We need a lot of attention to this area. The fish feed mill is operating but needs fine tuning with cooking temperatures and more consistent testing of the product, but product is being produced and we are selling it in the marketplace. Our dog food trials are going well, and in a month we should be in the marketplace with our products.

Today is a heart wrenching day as we head for the hospital. The surgical team has been working from morning until 10:00 PM for the past 2 days and now it is my turn to be on the scene and see the patients. First they wanted me in the surgical rooms, so I was suited up in special shoes, gown, cap, and mask, as was Anne. Three surgeries were underway at the same time. Doctor Onguiti was removing a massive tumor from the side of a man’s head and now sewing him up. Another man was undergoing hand surgery to make the fingers operational again and the third was a massive prostate surgery. The team worked like a well oiled machine, all 22 of them. Anne was taking pictures and then she passed out. Soon the nurses had her outside sitting down trying to collect herself again. The press were there and wanted an interview in the operating theatre, so I did my best to say how proud I was of the Kenyan medical team and all they were doing. It really was a great experience. I was told that most ladies do pass out as happened to Anne, so she should not feel bad.

Outside the operating theater a line of patients eagerly waited their turn under the knife. Two babies with cleft palates, an old man with a tumor the size of a mango on the back of his head, and a baby with a softball size tumor protruding from her back, and finally two boys with hernias.

We were next taken to the recovery wards. So many babies with cleft palates, all healing well; beautiful smiles in the making. Young boys laying still, after their hernia operations, and mothers with glowing smiles, so thankful for what has been given to their children. One man lay there sleeping, recovering from prostate surgery. A young mother sat proudly nursing and showing to all her baby, which could see from her left eye for the first time, after a tumor had been removed from above her eye.

Finally, we were taken to a room where people with real problems were waiting to be assessed and observed before surgery. It is not easy to figure out how to remove a tumor the size of a pillow case, hanging from a ladies back. Some were placed on antibiotics to get them stronger for surgery. A four(1.8kg) pound baby with a cleft palete was trying to be nourished by a starving mother, so feeding tubes had to get the baby strong enough to undergo the surgery, and the mother needed food as well. There was a man with a perforated intestine and bladder. His insides are septic and the doctors don’t know if he can survive the surgery. He has been placed on strong antibiotics and they will need to evaluate more in a couple of days. His will be the last surgery for the team, if they can do it, because his surgery will contaminate the entire area. A nurse asked me what I thought. My God, how does a person make this type of decision? If they do not operate he will die very shortly, and if they do the outcome likely will be the same. I encouraged them to go for it, but we will need to wait and see what happens.

I asked a lot of questions about all the tumors on so many people and found out some interesting answers. When I grew up and scratched myself or got a cut my mother would always swab things down with iodine which stung like crazy and today we use something like Bactine from a spray can. Well over here, they don’t know of these things. They go out and pierce themselves with thorns, in their ears or get injured and do not clean the wound. The body tries to encapsulate the wound with scar tissue and then it just keeps growing the tissue. Some masses end up weighing several pounds and disfigure the people terribly, often growing over eyes, or other grotesque looking bulges. They become infected and just grow and grow. Even after removal it takes months of injections to stop the growth, but removal is the first step. Mother was right, clean those wounds, even if it hurts.

There was a small ceremony under a tent to acknowledge what was being done for so many people. It took about an hour but my mind was really on the patients in the surgery rooms. I left around 3:00 pm and returned to the farm. It is now 9:00 pm and the team has not made it back to the farm and dinner is cold. Two patients have complications so it will likely be late before the team leaves the hospital. It will all begin again in the morning, and somehow the rice fields just don’t seem quite so important tonight.

As I leave my office tonight I am thankful for good health and a good medical system. It is good to experience the life of others to know how to be thankful for the one you have. Goodnight.

The doctors got home around 11:00 pm. At 3:00 am some had to return due to complications so there were some real tired people in the morning but they went off for another grueling day, standing for 12 hours of surgery after surgery. They have 22 more patients to go and will likely try to finish up by late tonight.

The day has been good as we surveyed the area for the new grow-out ponds for the fish. We did some quick engineering and will be able to expand the size by around 30%. No time to wait when you are working with the weather so by evening earthwork had begun. A television station wanted a quick interview and farm tour so that took a couple of hours. It will be added to the part done in the surgical suite yesterday. Our staffing levels need to be reviewed again and a couple of changes made. In general they are doing well and trying to show what can be done with the farm. The security firm formed by our former employees, is new and having a few growing pains but that is normal. They are really trying to do things right but still need some help with business issues along the way.

By late afternoon it was time to have some fun, at least for me. The government does a locust and qualia (small birds) eradication program and they are working in our area. These pests come by the millions and can wipe out a crop in days. For food security purposes the government and the UN provide these services. First our staff and others in the area establish where the little villians roost at night, then at dusk while they return to their roosts, a DeHavilland Beaver aircraft flies below treetop level and disperses a chemical to kill the pests. Often the government utilizes our runway for these purposes. The captain asked if I wanted to go for a ride and of course I eagerly agreed. Anne used her sweet smile to convince someone to let her go as well. We took off just at sunset and headed north about 6 miles then down to the ground right along the riverbank to deposit the spray. We weaved along the bank, popped up over trees, then back to the deck. This all in a 1940’s aircraft. Thirty minutes later it was dark as we landed. It was a great flight, but Anne was not so thrilled with it. I hope it all works.

Early Friday morning we rose to go to see the hundreds of women that work the fields of the farm. These women meet to sing and pray before they begin the job of pulling and chopping weeds. There is life in these ladies. There is joy in their hearts, and food in the mouths of their children because there are jobs to be done and money to be made. This is the love of God in practice, not some preacher screaming at them. They know who God is and now they know He answers their prayers, by giving them a job. They miss Barbara not being with them.They call me Daddy because they are treated like daughters, and their problems often are my problems as well. No, I can not fix everything but what I can fix, will be fixed. As we drove, a small group ran to the car begging us to stop. One showed us her hands which were covered in a fungal disease, while another showed her leg which was had a staff infection caused by a dog bite. We have people on the way to the pharmacy 20 miles away for the medication.

Friday morning we and the medical team ate breakfast together and then took a tour of the farm. They were tired and completed 80 surgeries in 4 days along with over 200 consultations. Last night they took the 9 pound tumor off the ladies’ back. Can you imagine carrying a load like that around hour after hour? She was continuously bent over from the weight so now she will need to learn to stand erect again. The man with the serious internal problems was operated on and it was complicated but they expect him to survive. He will need follow-up surgery in another few weeks. In this case it was a life saving operation. The hospital wards are now full of recovering patients and a lot of smiling people. This was the largest and most successful medical clinic any of the doctors have been involved with.

Dominion Farms is huge with many areas and a good tour takes hours. The medical people got a good tour and were amazed by what they saw. We ended with a fabulous meal and a promise to return next year. Most are anxious to go to Juba, South Sudan in November, to help the war wounded there. We want to start things off in South Sudan with this clinic as we begin our operations. Now it is time to go to the fields again.

Saturday morning began early with many of the medical people leaving for Nairobi, and I was on a mission as well. Several weeks back I was contacted by an Italian group that wanted to see the farm. They grow rice in Italy and in Kenya. They have a 30,000 acre property near Gilgal, almost back to Nairobi. The drive was long with so many road construction areas. It takes years to finish construction here, and diversions are prevalent. Often one must simply drive through fields or in a ditch along the construction area. It took almost 7 hours of pounding to get Chris, Anne and myself there.

What a place. They have around 4000 cattle including some exotic species and a very involved breeding operation. It is grass fed beef but it is very good. The farm portion is irrigated for vegetable production for both the Kenya and export market. They have set aside 10,000 acres for a game reserve, and are working with the Kenya government to breed near extinct exotic animals along with the usual zebras, tommies, water bucks, hippos,giraffes and so many more species. Some herds are large and some are small but there are thousands of animals on the property. At dusk, we drove to see the hippos in the river just feet from us but down a steep slope for protection. “Did you see that”, was shouted by all as a huge male leopard dashed right in front of the Land Cruiser. It was the biggest any had ever seen. We climbed a rickety old wooden tower to see for miles and observe thousands of animals in their daily lives. As we drove back to the house, a hyena watched us warily from the side of the road. The home is high on a hill overseeing animals on all sides. Camels sleep at the foot of the stairs and temperatures are cool at night, but the food was great. Time for some sleep.

Sunday morning we continued our tour at the newly constructed wetland area now teaming with hippos, then to the exotic breeding area, and finally a visit to their remote guest house right in the middle of thousands of animals. We ate our lunch and then left for home. Another seven hours later with aching arms from wrestling the steering wheel, we rounded the last corner and we were home. It was time for a quick shower and then off to bed.

Monday morning, the Kenya Wildlife Service arrived to talk about a nature conservacy near the farm. It was a group of 12 including several local politically motivated people. There has been an effort to have a nature conservatory around the lakes of the swamp and this has been an effort which Dominion has strongly supported. They have pushed forward and are trying to take approximately 2500 acres of our land with the arbitrary stroke of a pen; no rhyme or reason to the madness and instead of taking the wetlands they were trying to take the farmland. It was a very heated debate for several hours, but as the truth came out and they toured the farm, the executives began to admit that they were given poor advice and promised to correct the problems. Hopefully, they now will go back to the original agreements negotiated 7 years ago. They got so lost standing out in the swamp that they had to admit that the survey they used, was fradulent in its purpose. All ended well but everything here is always a confrontation of the mind before resolution is reached. We want this conservatory to take place and it will tie into our own plans for a private wildlife sanctuary over the next few years.

Next, a group from Edmond, Oklahoma and Uganda came to observe and better understand aquaculture and how it could be implemented in Uganda. I believe they left with a better understanding of the challenges and rewards involved. It was time for Anne to pack up. She was leaving for Nairobi in the morning to visit her family. She has been a delight to have here and really pitched in to help out, especially with the medical mission and the food.

Today began early with Anne on the road and me heading to the construction site of the new fish ponds. The digging is going well but as usual, equipment breakdowns are prevalent. One driver drove a tractor and scraper into the edge of the swamp and it was hours getting it out. The soybeans are growing ok but not great and need more attention. Weeds are tough over here and require a lot of labor to control. At lunch, the Kenya Revenue Authority showed up to give their audit report for the past 7 years. It took hours to go over the report. There were a lot of mistakes and wrong assumptions on their part. We have not made any amount of money yet and they do not understand why. Floods, wars, hailstorms and the like are just not part of their understanding. The meeting was gruelling but finally it ended on a fairly good note. It is now late here and after a few more phone calls to home and the office, I will hit the bed and try for a good night’s sleep. Goodnight.

Wednesday morning I was back in the fields again with Isaac, checking on the harvest. The weeds are jamming the headers on the combines, ruining the bearings. The rice is good and the quality is fantastic. We are out of bearings for the headers and still have hundreds of acres to harvest. Back down to the shop where now it is time to figure out how to build new bearings for the headers. It is not easy and may not last but we must try. The fix is in place, and the grain is desperately needed in a hungry land.

The new rice mill manager is turning out the best product we have seen and our incoming paddy is producing more product than we can believe, so we do some checking. Soon it is obvious, we were being ripped off by the last manager and his staff. When the rice is delivered from the field, the quantity is a bit over 16 tons per grain cart, but when we check, the mill is only recording 12 tons per cart. 25% is not there on the books and slowly the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place. From what we can see, it appears the manager and three former distributors had a massive scheme going. They carefully shipped the difference and underbilled it so nobody would know. To do this, the clerk, the drivers and the distributors all had to have a part. It was a well oiled machine. Africa is riddled with corruption and for us trusting souls from the west, it is hard to imagine all the schemes that can take place. One leak in the dike is plugged but new ones form all the time. What is next?

When we took the shipping responsibilities away from the previous mill manager he went ballistic and now I know why. The three distributors were really ticked and send me text messages by the hour telling me so many stories, trying to say that I must bring back the old manager. The truck drivers have taken to disconnecting the speedometers so we can’t find where they have gone to. Who else was involved; where does the trail of deception end? This theft adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past years. I thought I had it stopped but corruption is so sophisticated and so sly it is very hard to find. A few months back I knew in my gut that something was wrong so the dismissals began. It took till now to find the methods and the depth of the problem.

On Thursday afternoon three reporters from the major newspaper arrived and requested an interview. The papers have been tough to deal with here, often printing stories attacking us for completely unfounded causes, like polluting the water, taking people’s land, causing floods, and other nonsense. We have stood our ground, refused to be part of the corruption of paying off politicians or reporters so our enemies are many, but our hearts are pure and we can sleep at night. Now the press is trying to be our friends as none of the lies or propoganda have deterred us from our intended course. They started off by saying that they wanted to make up for the wrong they had done and it was a good start. They started by asking, “How have you endured the pressure we and the politicians have put on you?” My response was that “the truth will set you free,” as evident by their presence there, now trying to make up for years of lies and biased stories.

They went for a tour of the farm, interviewed our workers and people in the community, and were touched by what they saw. When they asked how the bad press had affected things, I responded that mostly it had held their country back from much needed foreign investment. Most of the world believes that newspaper stories are true as opposed to Africa, where it is commonplace knowledge that many articles are untrue. I laid the poor economy right on the shoulders of the reporters, since anybody serious about investing in Kenya usually calls me first to talk about my experience. They were ashamed and said it would not happen again; only time will tell. They admitted that for a small amount of money a reporter will write anything you want in a newspaper.

Wednesday night our 25 ton truck had a problem with the clutch. At 7:30 in the evening we received a call from the driver that it would not work. Our mechanics had to drive 90 km to make repairs. As a result of this breakdown we learned the truth about our trucking situation. As I slept that night I had a strange dream revealing that the trucks were being used to haul gravel by our drivers, and that the sides of the beds were all beat up by the shovels used to load and unload the materials. In the morning I went to find the vehicle which was being washed out, but the dents were everywhere from shovels just as I saw in my dream. The driver was confronted. We found that there was a gap in the time from where the man was when the breakdown occurred and where he was three hours earlier, and then the lies started. It was time for him to go so early Thursday he was dismissed. Bit by bit, piece by piece the truth comes out.

I got to Nairobi and to the hotel by around 8:30 pm where I met Anne for dinner. I had a hamburger and it tasted great but the meat was only cooked to medium and that was a mistake soon to be manifest. By early the next morning we were at the airport for the flight to Amsterdam, where I was to have a meeting. The man did not show up but I needed the stop because soon food poisoning had a hold on me. I did not need to be on an airplane at that time. It was a rough night. In Africa one drug fixes about everything, Ciprofaxen, and after 3 pills all is normal as I cross the Atlantic again. A twenty- one year old student, Regina, sits beside me with such interest in the farm. She asks so many questions and it is her generation which will soon have to take up the task of transforming Africa, but it is the obligation of my generation to prepare the way.

In Texas, the farm is moving forward. Construction of facilities to train many to follow in the paths we have already walked and to start new projects in Africa, is underway. Our first students will begin in September by moving there for the next year and when they are prepared they will to move on to Africa. This is a dedicated group now selling their homes, cars and furnishings for the life God has call them to do.

Africa is a learning experience each hour, where one must not become attached to money or things, because they can and often just disappear. It is a place of overwhelming need with even the basics of life often not at hand. Food is in critical supply for so many, yet for others this is just a time of opportunity to take the necessities of life from their brothers in order to fill their own pockets. If their brother dies, it is not their problem. For Dominion the mission is still the same; stay the course and transform the nation.

Please pray for Dominion Farms, in both Kenya and Texas, that we will be all we can be.

Calvin

Trip 75 Nov/Dec 2010

2010-12-23T08:26:00.000-06:00

It is Saturday just after Thanksgiving and I am off for another African adventure . Through Minneapolis to meet up with Barbara and then on to Amsterdam. Leaving in the middle of the afternoon for Europe makes it hard to sleep but we did get an hours worth. With 4 hours in Amsterdam, the shower always feels good and then on to the next leg of the flight. By now a person can nearly sleep standing up, so as soon as the plane is loaded it is time to go off to LALA land, which by the way is the Kenyan word for sleep.

We were late getting into Nairobi around 10:00 PM but at least all the luggage arrived. As usual we had hundreds of pounds of tractor parts, plus a new windshield for the spray plane and a few clothes. By midnight we were in our hotel rooms asleep. Monday morning came early with a meeting at 7:00 AM to choose designs for our dog food bags. Meetings followed all day until we were back at the airport for the flight to Kisumu. One interesting meeting was with Embassy people from a European nation seemingly eager to help us with a small grant to help with the training of local young people in agricultural vocations.

The flight to Kisumu left late so by the time we got to the farm it was 10:00 pm; as usual dinner was waiting for us. It was a short nights sleep with Ronald waiting for me to go to the fields at 6:30 in the morning. It had rained a bit overnight, so the fields could not be worked until after noon. The crops look good except for 2 fields which weeds simply overtook. Herbicides are always in such short supply here and importation is impossible without going through years of government approvals, but we are in the process of becoming suppliers to at least fix the problem for ourselves, and the other rice farmers of the country.

The rice mill is almost out of stock and the stores are calling hourly for deliveries. It is a good thing to sell everything we grow but the periods of no stock severely hurts our cashflow. Next year it should be better if we are not hit by a disaster of some sort. January has been a bad month for us over the years, with floods, wars, and hail storms coming in three successive years, costing us millions. In 2010 we were spared such a time, by the Grace of God and we pray that we will be protected again this coming year.

When it rains in Kenya weeds and grasses grow rapidly. The solution is to pull as many weeds as possible. 450 women grace our fields daily doing this important job, and they are thankful for the work and the paycheck. They start each morning early with prayer and singing, then attack the fields. They toil away bent over for 9 hours a day and then walk home full of smiles. I often stop to speak with them and they are so proud of being part of Dominion Farms. As I sit here early this morning, Barbara has gone to the field to work with them for part of the day. She will be worn out, but they will be honored that a white company director actually came to spend time at their level. The women are now bonding together as a team from the surrounding communities. Those that did not even meet before are now praying together and for each other each day. Their husbands are now becoming ever more supportive of them, cooking meals for the women to eat when they return home from the fields. Some walk 2 hours a day just to get to work and then do it again to get home. As the women become more self reliant, the husbands are no longer going after a second wife, but instead pouring out their affection on the one they already have. Barbara has noticed that the transformation of the people has begun.

After 7 years of living in a tiny space I am finally moving to a bigger house. As we began releasing some of the Americans and senior staff over the past months, some homes have become available, so I am going to take one. Much work needed to be done and over the past month the people have worked so hard to make the place nice for me. The colors are not perfect, but they are proud to make things look so good.

The shop area is coming together well and projects are being completed which have sometimes waited a year of more to be finished. The workers still make mistakes, but they are becoming fewer each month, and they are proud to not be under the control of a domineering manager. They will all get there given time, in their jobs. Our gardens around the buildings are looking great. For the past 6 months Barbara has been training an employee, Charles in landscaping and a month ago we set him up in his own business with the first contract being to maintain our properties. He is doing great, working hard and learning how to operate a business. He has 3 employees and works long hours himself, building equity to expand with.

Wednesday was fish day for me and I spent virtually the entire day with Enos, going over fish diets, water quality, flow rates, feed production and everything else we could think of. Enos is a professor and scientiest, but it is now time to make him into a businessman and manager of a large operation. This transition will not come easy but with training and time he will make it. We have constructed a beautiful new home for him and his family up on the dikes surrounding the fish farm. The breeze is cool and the view is awsome. To the front of his home he oversees the the ponds and fields of rice waving in the soft breezes; to the rear he overlooks 1000 acres of reservoir, flowing gracefully over the dam. Today, Ronald got another 86 acres of crops planted and by Saturday should have 80 more ready to go.

We ended the day with a wonderful meal at Ronald’s house. I went back to finish up work while Barbara remained to talk. By 10:00 I was fast asleep. Today is Thursday and it is early, but the sun is shining its head over the horizon. It will be a day of meetings with government and local officials, then security reviews for the farm. Back home in the US the office is buzzing trying to get a couple of our office building sales closed. God always provides the resources for his work, even if I am not there.

The meeting with the committes went well as we forge an alliance to head off problems and have answers for those who would question our operations and methods. The afternoon was spent with our workshop personnel. They are trying so hard but their skills are limited by tecnology and lack of training. It is time for us to place a concerted effort to finally train up our mechanics to understand more of what they need to know. They can learn and are eager but effort and patience will be needed. Final sale documents were being finished up back in Oklahoma but still not closed on the sale; tomorrow perhaps.

Friday morning was great, meeting with Enos, David, Chris, and Paul. They represent fish technology, rice and feed production, sales and procurement in their own rights. Now as we start to increase the production of fish food, a team of people will be needed to bring it to fulness of operation. They all have vital roles and must now work in unison to be in full production by the first week of January 2011. It can be done and we will build a

major business from this enterprise over the next couple of years, if only we can find all the ingredients in a hungry nation. We now have the equipment to make the feed but the country does not produce enough ingredients to make as much as is required. Now that thousands are purchasing our fingerlings the demand for quality floating feed is enormeous. Dominion will fill this need. Next, security changes are soon coming as we encourage our employees to form their own company and contract with ourselves and others for services. In Kenya, security is a large business as everything needs to be guarded. Batteries, fuel, tires, and many other things just leave if not watched all the time. We have 67 employees now doing this and they do a good job. Things are now in place for them to become entrepreneurs, and make their own way. They are trained, they are able and now it is time to cut the strings to independence. Hopefully over the next couple of years hundreds of more businesses will be created.

The country also has a shortage of propane so our fuel is limited. Next year we will purchase a boiler which uses rice husks as fuel and this should eleminate the shortage. The boiler is expensive to buy and will take months to construct.

By evening, back home in the US things were on the move; Trey and Butch were getting everything ready for the final step in the closing of the buildings. At 9:00 AM the funds started to flow, first from the buyers lender, CitiBank, to the escrow agent. Excitement was felt 8000 miles apart; prayers went up; No hang-up now. After a final check of all documents, the funds flowed on to Dominion. Shouts were heard on both side of the world. God was faithful and by 11:00 AM in Oklahoma, or 8:00 PM here debts began to be paid down. By bedtime I was debt free; all the funds I had to borrow to get the farm this far were repaid. God is good. As I sit and reflect on this transaction, it was covered by the grace of God and His faithfulness. The office buildings were built as God put the plans for Africa in my mind, and with His favor they were occupied for all this time by the Federal Government. He had a plan to fund His work way back then, if only I had the courage to step out in faith. I could have kept these properties for some elaborate retirement or for safety in the current financial storm but they were for another purpose; to save lives in a desperate land. So often we find ourselves trying to hang on to the very things which have been planned to bless others with. Our personal greed often stops the flow of funds. When we do not give, the flow of funds just stops and the needs of many desperate people are not met. My God “owns the cattle on a thousand hills”, not just one old nag which I need to clutch to myself . Oh, that I can become a river flowing with his blessings to others, to change nations.

Saturday morning, Chris and I left for Kisumu to meet with our new rice distribution manager. Teresa is a beautiful lady standing perhaps 6 ft 6 inches tall. She came in second in the Miss Nokia, Africa contest and desires to be a model but has a heart for changing the next generation of young people. I met her at Church a couple of years ago and felt she should come to work for us someday. Now she is using her beauty to market rice and reach young ladies in the slums of Kisumu. Next we went on a shopping spree for cakes, cookies, popcorn, and buckets of ice cream. On Monday we are going to have a party at the farm for our employees. Many will eat cake and ice cream for the first time.

Sunday morning my six senior managers, Barbara, and I left for a few hours retreat to learn to work better together, to build goals and to plan the way forward for next year. It was a great time of team building. We left with Barbara going to Kisumu with Ronald, and Chris riding back to the farm with me. As we passed through Luanda, a young man pulled out from the side of the road and slammed into the side of the Jeep. We both stopped and climbed out to look over the damage. The young man was terrified; how could he pay for the damage he had done? He came sheepishly forward appologizing, as the crowd gathered. His passengers were saying to him, how are you ever going to pay for the damages, but what he got he did not expect. As he came close I stretched forth my hand to his and said it is all ok. He did not know what to do as he stood there in shock. His friends came to me to shake my hand, and I told them both that all was fine, and blessed them with God’s presence. I bet they are both still in shock as they lay their heads down tonight. I drove home only to hear from Barbara, that Ronald was very sick in Kisumu. Chris and I prayed for him and called another of our employees to go see them both. Ronald spent hours in a bathroom of a hotel and everything came loose, then Caleb took him to a pharmacy to purchase antibiotics I told him to get. Ciprofaxin is the drug for most things in Africa because it works and it does it fast. Tropical diseases, and food poisoning are so easy to get here, but often they go away as quickly as they come if you know what to take, By the time they arrived at the farm Ronald was feeling better but not 100%. It is now getting late here and work starts again early in the morning. Good Night.

Monday morning came early with a 6:30 meeting with our women working in the fields. The ladies roared with excitement when I told them they would be given rice on Saturday. Two thirds of these women have orphans living with them, and food is so scarce. Today one lady stopped Ronald in his truck and on her knees, literally begged him for a job. Her two children had no food and she had not eaten for days. “Ronald just please give me a job, I will work hard, I will do anything.” We now have 451 women working. Next it was time to get bills paid and the sale of the buildings now will bring us close to current with this. It is hard to make money when our cupboards are bare, waiting for the next fields to harvest, so other funds will be needed to get us to that time.

In the afternoon it was party time. All the permanent and contract employees assembled at the work shop and we had a Christmas party. This was a special time for many as we gave out rice, ate ice cream and cake, topped of with popcorn, cookies, and as much soda pop as they could drink. Most had never eaten ice cream or popcorn. We went through 7 gallons of ice cream and finally just ran out. They had a feast and then one by one I shook their hands and handed them a big bag of rice. For most it was worth a days wages and will feed their families for a week. They were gracious and so thankful. We will give away thousands of pounds of rice to our employees for Christmas along with a small bonus. We have not made a profit yet but next year looks good, so we gave in advance. The workers were so impressed by us as managers, especially being white people serving them, and treating them as equals.

The evening was a surprise for me. Before leaving for Kenya, I put in an offer for a farm in Texas, but the price I would pay compared to the owners request was far apart, so I just walked away. They have now come back twice and reduced their price. We are not there yet but I believe it is possible for us to get there now, or at least I am willing to give it another try. That farm will be a copy somewhat of the farm here with grain, soy, and fish. We will use the genetics we have developed here with an indoor fish farm utilizing all of the crops to make fish food. Nobody has really tried this, that we can find in the world, but it looks like it will work well both here in Kenya and in the US. Time will tell, but at least we will have good tasting fish. We will train people to go and transform the developing world from there as well.

It rained all night and the roads were muddy today. Ronald was leaving for Christmas at home in Louisiana. Much still needed to be done for those being left behind. Two years ago when everyone left for home at Christmas, war broke out and people could not return for months. It was a very costly and trying time, but Kenya has changed, and those days are in the past. The staff was still giggling about the good time they had at the Christmas party, and were so moved by the fact that Barbara and I did this for them. They still could not believe that they were served by white people. One of the men said they never thought they would be served by a white person to Barbara as she went around giving out more popcorn. She replied with saying it is my pleasure which took everyone by surprise. Barriers were broken between races, cultures, and economic status of people from different corners of the same world.

Tonight again it is late, but things are good here. The rain ended, after giving our crops a nourishing drink of water. The road dust is controlled, and our people are smiling. On Saturday all the causuals which include our field workers and those not on payroll will be paid and given more rice to feed their hungry famlies. Christmas is a time to reflect on the needs of others and to be thankful for the provisions we have. In our little part of the world we have much to be thankful for. Goodnight.

Thursday in Oklahoma the funeral was held for a very special person, David Thomas. He was a friend for years and a pastor at our church. It was through him that I was initially brought to Kenya. After struggling for years with a form of brain cancer, he passed away. I was asked to write a eulogy for him to be read at the funeral and did so. I will attach a copy to this report as well, for those of you who knew him.

Friday at noon, Chris and I left for the drive to Kampala. It takes around 6 hours to get there including an hour at the border. It appears that the Ugandan police are getting after the Kenyan vehicles as I was stopped twice on the trip for nothing but a hassle. With patience they finally understood that I would not give in to intimidation and finally let us go on the way, but it was a bit of a pain. In Kampala we had a good dinner with my sales manager and another friend from Oklahoma. Chris has malaria and was sick so headed for bed shortly after dinner. After sitting for hours of driving and meetings I needed a walk.

Over the past few months of selling rice in Kampala, we have tried to use our rice as an incentive to get “women at risk” off the streets. We hired our first lady about 5 months ago and she did very well as a merchandiser, but then began getting sick day after day and not recovering. Three months ago I requested she get tested for HIV/AIDS and the results were not good. She is no longer able to do a day’s work with her illness. Chris and I have gone to the streets to recruit these women and it seemed to work well, but for tonight I just wanted to get some exercise. That didn’t last long. As I turned the corner there was a young lady asking to speak to me, but I just went on by ignoring her plea. After a couple of miles it was time to come back to the hotel. A car pulled up beside me and the same young lady jumped out and almost ran into me. “ I need talk to you?” then came the proposition of her trade. I just wanted to walk away and did but she pleaded, “can’t we just talk and be friends?” Of course this had to be right in front of the hotel with many watching. I imagined what they thought, “ a white guy with a prostitute,” and it was uncomfortable. As I walked away I thought of Jesus and the woman at the well, and came back.

First I set her straight about my non-interest in her advances, and she said that was fine. I did not know where to take the conversation, but began asking about her family, her education, and what was important to her. Her mother died at the age of 6, and then her father married a woman who abused her, so she was raised by her sister. Children raising children in Africa is so common. She told me how she hated what she was doing and wanted to get out of it but had no job or way out. She has a 4 year old child that must be supported, and could not find a job for 5 months now so has to turn to the streets. She said she had tried to talk to me a half hour earlier and that I just walked away; then she got picked up by a John who tried to take her off somewhere bad and she panicked and when he stopped the car for a moment she bolted out almost at my feet. I asked her about her relationship with God and she said she was a born-again Christian. The past Sunday she went to church and told the pastor she was having to be a prostitute, asking for his help. He told her to pray that God would send her a way to get out of the mess. I was still uncomfortable standing there on my own, so tried 3 times to call Chris, sick or not to come and help me out with this, but he did not answer. It was just uncomfortable being there with all those prying eyes of the hotel guests, in both the restaurant and lobby. Then I made the decision; ignore the people and just do what was right. I stood and talked with her as a father to a daughter and she listened. She told her story of coming to the streets and asking God to protect her but being so desperate for money, she did what must be done to take care of herself and her baby. Afterwards she would go home crying to God for forgiveness. She was a Christian and went to church every week to pray, and ask for their help but none came. Her father only took money from her and the step mother was a tryant. She hid her profession from all, living away in Entebbe and sneaking into the city at night when she was out of money. She had not eaten, and was desperate. She did not have bus fare to go home, so would sleep on the streets until she found a man to pay her for services. What do I do next?

I told her how Dominion has a program to get young ladies selling rice for us and she was interested, but we are out of rice for another month. If I don’t help her now I know she will have to sell her body and may end up like Sandra, sick and dying. She did not carry protection with her because she did not want anyone knowing she was prostituting. My first concern was to get her off the streets that night then try to find a permanent solution the next day if possible. First, I made her promise that if I gave her money for bus fare and something to eat that she would go home to her own one room space that night, and she agreed. Next, I asked if I could pray for her, and she agreed. So there I was standing in front of a crowd of gawkers holding the tired and weathered hands of a prostitute praying God’s protection over her and for God to bring her out of her mess. I gave her money and sent her on her way, then walked through the crowd back into the hotel, every eye on me. I knew down deep that I had not done enough.

Back in the room I told Chris of the girl and he suggested we have her come back and find out more about her and come up with a solution. A phone call was made and she was only at the bus stop, so she came back where the three of us could speak outside of the prying eyes and ears of others. The hotel would not let her in until we gave them permission.

Chris spoke to her so gently and she began to tell the story to him again, but in embarassement began holding back on things. The problems were much deeper than she was revealing and I just sensed a very hurting child there with a past full of pain. “Jessica I think you have a hole in you that is hurting so much to be filled; you are searching for love and acceptance which you have never received. You mother died and left you abandoned to an abusive father and you have never known real love and acceptance in your life. When you are with these men you somehow feel needed and accepted, if only for a few minutes, and equate that to love, but it only leads to hurt, self condemnation, and more pain.” I couldn’t believe I actually said all that to her! She collapsed on my lap and began weeping uncontrollably. All I could do is comfort her and let her cry. She pulled herself together and It was time for her to go as we promissed we would not forget her. As she stood to leave she first hugged Chris and then me. She hung on like a child hugging her mother. Perhaps this was the first time she really felt loved and released in her life. She left for home and sent me a phone text saying she made it safely.

On Friday we went shopping for animal feed inputs and the Uganda cupboards are bare. The country is short of so much as Kenya is. If good crops don’t come in, hunger will be on the horizon soon. We had lunch with Joseph, an aid to the President, and a friend; it was time to head for Kenya. I arranged for Jessica to meet with Dereck as we left town. The drive home was slow with lots of rain along the way, but we made it by 9:00 pm. Dereck called to say that Jessica and he had talked for 2 hours and was perfect for merchandising our rice.Though we have no rice for a month we will get her off the streets now, letting her clean the warehouse or wash the truck or who knows what. The girl is just one of so many that need rescuing. We plan to make this a major program when the Transformation Center is finished, but for now we must wait until God provides the funds. The farm just can not support this yet.

Saturday morning was pay day for all of our casual workers so around 600 lined up at the front gate to get their money. The Police send heavily armed officiers on paydays since there is a lot of cash involved. Today the workers were in for a treat. We took the last of our rice and kept it to give to our workers and each got a bag along with the money. It will go far in this Christmas season to feed hungry mouths of their families. Barbara stood patiently and gave away each of those 600 bags along with a smile and a word of blessing.

Saturday was the time for me to wrap things up at the farm. Many documents and checks had to be signed as the year comes to an end. Endless people kept coming by to give their Christmas greetings, but I needed to see the fields once more before leaving. The place looks great, with many turning ripe for harvest in just a few more weeks. But then the sky turned almost black as perhaps 500,000 birds decended on one of our fields. They were back. Qualia birds destroy crops all over Africa and the UN has a control program for them but for right now they are out of control again. The UN will be there soon but who knows how much damage will be done by that time.

Chris then met me at the buildings under construction for the Transformation Center, and we prayed and planned to somehow have it operational by the middle of next year, with the funds coming from somewhere to get it done. If Jessica can pray for a solution to her monumental problems on Sunday and have a job and forgivness by Friday, then that same God can provide the funds for us to finish this place. We are going to be ready, one way or another. Just before dark Barbara and I walked through the village with all the children running along behind. Their hope is in Dominion Farms, for a future without hunger. It was time to pack.

5:00 AM Sunday morning we rose and headed to the airport in Kisumu and then for the trip to Nairobi. That morning we held 2 interviews for an assistant sales manager who could take over Chris’s posituion when the Transformation Center goes into operation. Both people were nice, but the second one was made for the job. She has been marketing rice for a competitor but their product could just not keep up with ours for quaility so she wants to join our forces. She is cute, bright, can drive a truck, and loves what we are doing with the youth and women’s programs. She will fit in well. I hired her on the spot to start after the first of the year.

Our sales force in Nairobi consists of 4 young ladies and a warehouse operator, and it was time for a year end dinner. We took them to an Italian restaurant where they feasted like they had never done in their lives. The lives of poor Kenyans is limited to survival foods, and things like lassange or pizza are never even tasted by most. They are scared to try new things but today was their time for adventure. We had milkshakes, pizza, fish, suckling pork, appetizers, and 5 kinds of cakes. They were stuffed and almost giddy after the meal. We gave them all large bags of rice as we left and they were already planning for next years dinner. They really opened up about their lives and plans for the future. One will be married soon and wants us to be at the wedding, another is married and says she will work for us until she is 60, and the others are looking for husbands. Their aspirations are simple as compared to those of us in America, yet just as important to their lives. They could not believe how long Barbara and I had been married to our spouses. They live for food, a simple roof over their head, and most of all for relationships. For so many, Dominion Farms is the basis for the building of their lives and development of their relationships.

We just finished crossing the Atlantic, coming over the east coast of Canada. Severe cold weather and lots of snow will greet Barbara in Minneapolis and not a lot warmer conditions await me in Oklahoma. We both can’t wait to get home to our families, and those we love, to soon celebrate the Birth of our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, but we also leave our other family behind in Kenya.

May God grant both them and you who read this, a very special Christmas season, full of the generosity and love of Christ.

Calvin and Barbara

Dominion Farms

Trip 72- July 4th-24th, 2010

2010-07-27T14:37:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning July 4 began with the packing of the parts and pieces for the long flight to Kenya. Not clothes and cameras but tractor parts, a combine drive shaft and manuals. This trip would be unique in that 4 other men were coming with me, but Barbara Waterston was staying home. These men, Kris, Ed, Paul, and Sam are getting involved to pick up the slack in the areas of humanitarian and spiritual help for the local youth and women. They were all going on different flights. I went through Minneapolis where Michael Waterston came to meet me for lunch with his new girlfriend, then on to the plane and praying for empty seat beside me; I had a row of four to myself, so at least some sleep was in order. Amsterdam afforded a quick shower and then to a very packed 747 to Nairobi; not much sleep would be gained here, but I managed to get a bit.

In Nairobi we all met and headed for the hotel. With a quick meal and a hot shower we were all ready for bed. First meeting was with a government agency desiring to lend funds to our Community Farms program. Three more meetings followed with more banks and they at least sound very supportive, but things move slowly in Africa. By three we were at the airport for a 50 minute flight to Kisumu, and then a drive to the Farm. It was dark by the time we arrived and I was starting to feel ill. Not malaria symptoms but like the flu from back home; I likely got it on the plane.

As usual I started the day with a farm tour. Ronald has broken out perhaps 600 new acres of ground over the past 3 weeks and it is good ground, principally level and easy to prepare for planting, however the massive seed bed in the topsoil makes the first few crops an uphill battle in obtaining good crops. One must however begin! The hundreds of ladies working in the fields waived and smiled as usual. I was beginning to feel really bad. The four guys and Chris left for Siaya to meet around 50 pastors and community leaders to explain the Community farm model to them. By noon I went in to do my presentation, but I was pale as a ghost and just worn out. After my talk I left for Siaya town center to purchase 20 bottles of soda then drive home.

The land clearing has finally taken off as we broke through a tree barrier which has persisted for 2 years. The workers were excited so we all celebrated with a soda. It is a real treat for people of Kenya to just drink a bottle of Coke. The other guys returned about 5:00 but by then I was really sick, so I ate little and headed for bed. A rough night ensued until morning. By 9:30 the crew had gone to the second day of meetings, and I went back to bed. It is now 2:20 PM and though I feel like death warmed over I am back at the computer answering emails and writing this letter. Now back to bed for a while again.

Friday morning I arose feeling much better but still not 100%. The rest left for Kisumu; they would have to do this presentation on their own again. I got a call around noon and they had probably 120 people, all very enthused over our programs for both the rice and the fish. I spent most the morning with Ronald driving around the farm looking at many of the smaller details. We are actually doing pretty well in some areas but others need much attention. It rained two days ago almost 2 inches and that has severely slowed the harvest but by noon the sun was shining and the machines were going back to work. Our ever faithful ladies working the fields always trudge on rain or shine making sure our fields are weed free so they have money to fill their own stomachs.

Saturday I was feeling much better so all of us left for Kisumu and a good day of planning and encouragement for those interested in helping with the Community Farm Program. Many youth leaders and youth pastors came and began to understand how they can have a dramatic influence on their generation. We are on the way to building a powerful force of active involved leaders.

On Sunday I stayed back at the farm while others went to speak at several churches in the area. When I show up they all want me to speak and after talking 4 hours on Saturday my voice and cold were just not up to it.

The days just fly by over here, with meeting after meeting and so many problems to work through from mechanical breakdowns, to marketing stratgety, and personal reductions. The days begin early and end late each night. By Wednesday it was time for some of the team to start their way back to the US. Kris was going to Liberia for a week while Sam went to Paris and then home. Ed and Paul were last to leave on Wednesday night, so I went to Nairobi with them.

Thusday was a full day, starting at 7:00 am and having meeting after meeting with banks, power companies, the tourism department, package manufacturers, engine rebuilders, andchemical sales people, along with two interviews for possible positions. Soon we will be establishing a small hotel on the property to accommodate our many guests, and hopefully a radio station to spread our message linked in with a chain of Christian Radio stations in the US, providing live links between the nations. The possibilities are awsome!

Finally the meetings were over and I was back at the airport, ticket in hand for the last flight back to Kisumu, then the long drive to the farm. The boarding call was made and I was in line to board when suddenly my phone rang. A sobbing voice cried out, Calvin, this is Anne and I need your help. Please, my sister-in-law is 9 months pregnant and the baby is in trouble. She went to the public hospital but they could not help, then a private hospital but they demand a 10,000 schillings ($125.00) payment up front to do anything. My family has nothing and you are the only one I know to can turn to. “Anne, call me in 5 minutes,” I shouted to her as I bolted from the plane back through security while dialing my driver to get back to the building entrance. He sent one of his girls running to the security entrance where the money was given. I ran, and made it through the door as the last person, and got my airplane seat. My driver made an immediate transfer via his cell phone to the hospital as the plane left the ground.

It rained as I stepped off the plane in Kisumu and ran for the truck and a long drive home. Potholes reined supreme in the black of night, ready to swallow you up while weaving between the wet black bodies dressed in wet dark clothes on unlit bicycles. Then the phone message came. “My sister-in-law is in surgery but it is too late, the baby is dead”; all for the lack of a hospital that cared and for so little money to save an innocent baby. My vision was blurred by both the pounding rain and tears. Somehow missing the potholes was just not as important anymore.

Anne is a Kenyan lady who lives in Holland; she is the resource for her family. When trouble came she called our friend, Vitallis who lives in London, and he told Anne I was in Kenya, so quickly the process began, but not quick enough. The desperation of a mother and child was felt between nations but the result was the same, death and pain. Anne called several times to offer thanks from a poor hurting but grateful family.

Today, Friday is fast coming to an end. It has been busy, working in the fields and in the shop with the mechanics for several hours. Our workers are coming along well but lack so much knowledge we in the west just take for granted. We have not done very well at teaching so many basic things to them, but this is changing. I explained how the radiator systems worked, and how compressors operated, how to keep records. They were so eager to learn and I have promised to do this more often. I had a group of community leaders come to see me and we discussed many issues. I explained how they can make fertilizer and grow better crops, and they listened intently. We will meet again but next time I requested it be in their huts instead of my office. They were stunned that I would come to see them, but it will be done. Time to get back to the house and eat dinner; then another call came in. “Stay away from the town at the bridge on the side of the farm. The police have a robber and killer on the run and expect a gun battle, so lock the gates and stay alert.” Quickly I drove to the workers all over the farm and warned them to stay put and be alert. So here we sit hunkered down again. Goodnight.

On Saturday it was to catch up day getting ready for the trip to Kampala. Ronald was breaking out new ground in the swamp with tractors getting stuck in the newly cleared land. It has been many years since we started here and I have never driven one of the large tractors; today was my day. It was kind of fun having 475 hp at the touch of your fingers. These machines are highly automated, air-conditioned, and quite comfortable, but they still get stuck and are hard to pull out. Late in the afternoon I went for a long walk with Elizabeth, our accountant. Ronald picked us up and we showed Elizabeth the farm. She had never really gone out into the newly developed land; she was impressed. Well another day is coming to the end so goodnight again.

Sunday morning at 10:30 Chris and I left for Kampala. The traffic was awful and after the recent terrorist bombing security is tight everywhere. Our sales operation needs to expand as we begin to bring in less expensive bulk rice for sales to the poor areas of the city, which are many. During my last trip Chris and I observed large numbers of Commercial Sex Workers in the streets. As we began to understand their plight our hearts went out to them. No jobs, no husbands, and no support system drives many women into prostitution, not by desire but by circumstances. We have decided to take this problem on in our expansion plans. Our plan is to set up these women in their own small businesses to market our rice and become self sufficient and leave the old lifestyle behind.

Sunday night it was time to get the program underway; we ventured out into unknown territory, and started walking the streets. Quickly we had 2 ladies, Winnie (29) and Gertrude (28), approach us;They tried to get Chris to set up the white guy (me) for them, but that was not to be. Soon we were talking but NOT condeming, and offering them a way out of the problem. They hate their profession but each have two small mouths at home to feed, so they do what they must. We bought them dinner making us subject to controversy among the people around us, but then Jesus himself was seen with the Woman at the Well so we figured we were right on track in reaching out to them. They desperately want to quit the sex trade and within a couple weeks that will now be possible. After they figured out we were serious, not condeming and trustworthy, they opened up with details of their lives and daily struggles. Both were single mothers, abused, and hungry. Both had their bibles with them and Winnie had gone to church that morning and her Bishop knew what she was doing but could not help her get out of her situation. Their next concern was that we would forget them, and asked if we would come to meet their parents.

Next we found ourselves in the midst of some bad ladies, on drugs or drunk and we just could not figure out how to reach a space cadet so they were passed by.

As we started heading back to the hotel we saw a lady standing in the bushes almost out of sight. She was well dressed but still a lady of the night. We talked and she told of praying to God every day to get her out of the mess. Her defenses were high and mistrust of men was obvious. Of course she wanted money which we would not give, but she was really intrigued by what we offered for her. Her Bible was in her purse. There was something special about her which we both felt. We asked for her phone number and said we would call the next day. By Monday night we were having dinner with her and trying to get through to a very broken and ashamed spirit, full of mistrust, and baffled by why I would come down to her level to help. Sandra is 30 years old, single, a mother of 2, with the latest being only 20 months old. Her older son lives with a grandparent. She worked in the Sudan for 5 years as a maid and for 5 years has been on the streets, 3-4 nights per week. She and her sister live in a slum and support 7 children and they are all hungry; it took two chicken dinners to fill her up. As we spoke she just could not believe we were real and then became fearful that what we offered would not come to pass. I do not know if I can really trust what you are saying, as her head always looked down, away from our eyes. I gently lifted her head to look at me probably 20 times and asked her to smile, something she had forgot how to do. After so many years of abuse, trust was just not possible to grasp. Finally I asked if I called her in the morning and then came to her home on the way out of town would she trust us to be true to our words. She said yes. For likely the first time two men walked her safely to the bus stop and payed only for her ride home.

On the walk home two more approached, Jessica (22) and Irene (22). These listened intensely and immediately said they would join the program and leave the streets as quickly as possible. The have no husbands but have 2 children to feed. We got phone numbers and will call as soon as we are ready. It again was midnight and time to get some rest.

Tuesday morning we both had sore muscles from walking the streets, but in our hearts knew we were on the way to making big changes in desperate lives. I called Sandra at 8:00 AM and she answered with a bright, “Hi Calvin” so we were making progress. The day was filled with business meetings but at 2:00 PM she met us at a gas station and we drove to her home. Down a steep washed out ally we went with all the stares of the locals trying to figure out who this white guy was. We parked under a tree and then walked around the back to a small shack about 8 feet wide by 16 feet long. No bathroom, no water, and full of poverty. Sandra knelt at our feet as she talked, a Ugandan tradition in some tribes, but we asked for her to sit. Her feet were beaten from so many years of walking with no shoes. We left rice and introduced her to Dereck, her new boss. She and the neighbors could not believe that we had come, but friendship and trust was being built. As we left she promised to work hard, but I believe she was still in a daze; a smile was beginning to be seen in her nervous but now uplifted face. Next week she will begin. Many more will follow.

The trip back to the farm was slow and at the border the truckers staged a protest so everything just sat for an hour. After 6 hours of bad roads, dust and dirt we made it home. I had several visitors from the US to see me and we had a lively discussion; I was beat but still had to work past midnight getting ready for the next day. As I lay in bed that night I was a little more thankful for my position in life with a better understanding of the tragedy of others. Pray for Sandra.

Wednesday just seemed to vanish with things to do at the farm, going over contracts, working on designs, studying financial statements, and the many day to day affairs. Elton from Fairview, Oklahoma and a couple of Ugandans showed up in the afternoon and are seeing the farm with Ronald. We will talk tonight.

On Thursday it was time to wrap things up at the farm for this trip. There is never enough time to get everything finished the way I want but that is just the way it is. Problems always need to wait for another time but slowly we are making progress. The fish farm construction is finally doing well since Bryan got here, and we hired back a native Kenya construction man. Our fingerling production is allowing us to provide 1,000,000 fingerlings per month to the government and people of Kenya. The mechanical shop is highly improved with less employees but still has a way to go.

Friday morning began at 4:45 am with a drive to the Kisumu Airport for the 7:00 AM flight to Nairobi. Elizabeth came along to try to finish up the 2009 income tax audit with our auditors. Meetings were held with the Director of the Communications Comission, whom I have known for years, and his staff. They love the radio station idea but a lawsuit has their authority to hand out licenses tied up for the next while. We will be ready when they are. Joy a young lady in the radio business, has been trying to get us to move this along for quite some time but we were just not ready, and after the war in 2008, it was put on the bottom of the list of things to do. She attended the meeting and then we had lunch. She is very good at marketing and promotions and during lunch I asked her to consider heading up our marketing department as we expand into the Nairobi marketplace with our rice and fish. She is very interested and invited me to come to her house for dinner with her and some of her friends.

Kibera is perhaps the largest slum in the world with around 750,000 people living in a few square miles of tin shacks with no running water, little electricity, and few toilet facilities. Joy lives on the edge of this slum, so getting there was interesting. It was a traditional meal of fish, skuma wicki, and oguli. We met, and then quickly ate, needing to dash off to the airport for the start of the long trip home. By 10:30 I was on the first plane and tired.

Friday was a very special day for Sandra. Dereck and his wife picked her up and took her to the super markets where she will be working for orientation. Next they took her to clothing stores and purchased her new clothes and shoes and then to the hairdresser. Finally they went looking for apartments to rent and she will leave the slum soon. She is coming out of her shell and for her, the Cinderella story is coming true. Over a period of a week she will change from selling her body for food, to making a life for her children. How many more cinderellas are there out there that just need a break. We will find out.

Right now I am half-way across the Atlantic, headed for Atlanta and then home. It will be 50 hours time from when I got out of a bed until I get back into one; the seats are hard, and the airline food is marginal but I have nothing but thanks for the life I have been able to live. Africa struggles on and on, but around Dominion Farms, God’s grace is shinnig through, lives are being changed, and there is hope in the air for what is about to come.

Please pray for Dominion.

Trip Number 68 ( November 29th thru December 12th, 2009)

2009-12-23T13:35:00.001-06:00

Sunday was a good day starting with church, then finishing packing and leaving for the airport around 4:00 PM for a 6:30 flight to Minneapolis, where I met up with Barbara for the flight to London. It was a bumpy ride and hard to sleep, but we arrived at around 1:30 in the afternoon, rode the tube downtown, and by 3:00 we met up with Vitalis and he drove us to our first meeting. A large group of people were there from the Diaspora of Kenya who now resides in Great Britain, along with a University professor and government contacts. This group was working on obtaining a grant to help develop outgrower fish programs in conjunction with Dominion Farms. Their interest in helping their homeland is admirable and their dedication will get this project realized.

We had dinner with a very well informed gentleman from British Seafood, and we were able to begin to understand the markets of Great Britain for Tilapia. He was fascinated by Dominion’s approach to breeding, growing, processing and sales of our fish. The markets are very price conscious with lower prices being imperative, but they are still within our reach. A few hours sleep and we were off to the fish markets at 5:00 AM. The market was an interesting place; cold, and wet, but very informative. By late morning we were chilled to the bone, but more knowledgeable about fish markets in Great Britain. Vitalis and I were invited by HSBC to meet with a couple of international investment bankers interested in African investments who have requested several proposals from Dominion Farms. After the meeting, we had a great meal cooked by Vitalis’ wife Tonya, then were back on the tube for the 1 ½ hour trip to Heathrow airport. What a hassle it was at the airport with overweight charges for 250 pounds of tractor parts in our suitcases, but they are desperately needed at the farm. The plane left at 7:00 pm and I slept most of the way to Nairobi, arriving by 7:00 AM Wednesday morning.

It is always interesting arriving in Kenya with people waiting for us at the airport and catching up on the past few weeks, but this time the small talk was quick as we were whisked off to the domestic terminal for the flight to Kisumu. Kisumu was hot and sunny without a cloud in the sky. Two hours later we drove over the last hill to see our absolutely beautiful farm in the distance; 2000 acres of developed and planted land before our eyes. Fresh brilliant fields of recently planted rice glistened among the yellow fields of those nearing harvest. Hundreds of ladies were working pulling weeds and scaring birds from the fields, but still glancing up as we sped by to give a quick wave and welcome us home. The combines were both going full speed bringing in the crops to replenish our starving granaries. We are totally out of rice and have been for a month, not one bag to send to the supermarkets and hungry people of the country. Just one more week and we will be there with a bountiful harvest in tow. Thank God there has been no hail storm, as in the spring which destroyed much of our crop. We pray for protection of our fields.

The day was spent as usual catching up on the details of the last six weeks since being here. The farm is still struggling financially but there is a light at the end of the tunnel which is getting brighter by the day. The fish program is progressing well. The green water ponds are stocked with over 300,000 fish and the main ponds are under construction. We are certainly pleased to finally see this underway. The youth have a huge batch of tomatoes in the ground, the cows for the dairy are arriving and the sheep are grazing the land in the banana plantation. Bananas will be maturing very soon with the first harvest coming in May of this year.

Thursday was spent planning with Steve while Barbara worked with Chris on matters for the Youth. Our first group of trainees has graduated and we have now hired several to gain work experience and be prepared to teach others soon to come. For me, the day was dominated by a visit from the Minister of Fisheries and his staff. They came to learn about fish farming and reinforce a relationship with Dominion for the National aquaculture policy and support basis. They are committed to purchasing 500,000 fish fry each month from us to support the program and for the training of so many uneducated but anxious fish farmers to be. They learned a lot and now understand the program does not work without our supply of fish fry and technology on a large scale project. We are eager to be part of the program, and all are pressing for an early start on the project.

Friday we were honored to have 15 of the orphans which Dominion Children’s Foundation supports come to the farm for the day. Not one of these kids has a parent living; most have been wiped out by the HIV/AIDS scourge on this land. The youngest is 12 and he has very poor language skills, but they are being worked on. The oldest is 17, and like the rest, very small for their ages. Poor nutrition and disease have played havoc in the lives of these and so many others in the area. They had a great meal and toured the farm for hours with their eyes wide enough to pop out of their heads. They left with a greater understanding that they were part of the Dominion family of support.

Saturday was an early day for Barbara as she went to work in the Fish breeding program, while Steve and I worked on details of the out-grower programs. This looks as if it is going to be a real success, including many people in the community. We have around 250 small scale farmers signed up for the crop program and 50 signed up for the aquaculture outgrower program as well. Dominion will provide the technology, and be the market for the products. We have arranged for a few bank loans for some participants for working capital for their portion of the work, but more funding is required from outside sources to fully utilize the resources of these people. In the afternoon I went to Siaya for a break and bought an ice cream cone before going to the fish farm construction project. The main big ponds are now under construction and scheduled for receiving fish in January. Combining of the fields is continuing and initial yields are good.

Sunday morning Dirk and Johann from Spiegel News Network in Germany arrived for the beginning of three days of filming of the farm and surrounding community. They will produce a documentary film to air early in January 2010 in Europe and then syndicated for the international markets a couple of months later. They were given free rein to film as they wanted and to speak to whoever they liked. The three days were packed with interviews, operational descriptions, and travel around the area. They chartered a plane for aerial photos and spoke to many people in the community and our employees on the farm. There were many tearful moments as people came forward to tell their stories of the impact Dominion has had on the lives of the people of the area. One early morning they went to see the women who keep our rice fields groomed. These women meet every day on their own to pray before work. Barbara and I stayed on the side, trying not to interfere while they sang and prayed, but when they finished they requested that I come and address them. I thanked them for all their hard work and being so grateful for their jobs. When I finished they motioned for Barbara to come forward and then the tears started to roll. There stood 300 women in a field of rice hugging and holding on to her, expressing their love and appreciation for their changed lives. The news crew was touched so much that composure was all but lost. Story after story came forward of goat herders turned into tractor drivers. Schools and clinics Dominion has contributed to constructing were visited in communities around the area.

Since we are all out of living space, the news crew had to stay at a small hotel about 25 KM away. One evening while taking them there I met up with Barry, a young man from Alabama who had been trying to make contact with me for the past few weeks. After dropping the crew at the hotel I was returning to Siaya and made a wrong turn instead ending up going through a small village where village justice was being practiced. A man sat on the ground surrounded by the village people carrying sticks, and judiciously beating him. He had obviously not lived up to their standards and a “caning” was in progress. As soon as I realized what was happening I turned the car around and backtracked to the same place only to find the ceremony was over and all had dispersed. Perhaps knowing an outsider had observed to procedure made them quit or they had mercy on the man. Often these rituals end in the death of the subject person.

Barry and I hit it off well. He is a member of a black church of formerly poverty stricken people in Alabama who decided to do something about their situation. Thirty years ago they pooled all their resources form 150 members living on food stamps and purchased a convenience store. Then they used the food stamps to by food at the store and from the profits paid for the store. Soon, they had four stores. These were sold and they started to purchase farmland, and now have 5000 acres of productive land. All their members are off welfare and have jobs at the farm. This place I have got to see.

Barry’s church was asked to come to a community in Kenya and tell them how to do the same there. They wanted to know the Dominion story and have my help to transform their community. I agreed to meet the community on Wednesday morning. The community is only accessed via dreadful roads but after an hour of 4-wheeling we were there. A group of 30 very poor but hopeful people waited in a small school for me to describe our Community Farm program to them. Chris interpreted and they listened intently taking every detail and asking valid questions. They have over 200 acres with river frontage which they want to pool together and farm as a unit with the help of Dominion and Barry’s church. Their incomes will go up by 5 to 10 times depending on crops grown. I expect this project to proceed but it is up to them; it is a break through for groups to lay down their pride and traditions for the common good, a theme Dominion has been promoting for years now. Someone is listening.

Wednesday morning we had a staff meeting with the senior managers of the various departments from the farm. This place is a tough place to live, isolated from the world, and it wears on people. Frustration levels easily exceed what a man can take and we all need to work together, sharing scarce equipment, and looking out for each other. Feathers are easily ruffled and tempers can often flare, but we are all setting examples of what must be accomplished to change this land of desperate people. We will all try harder.

The fish farm construction is progressing well with 12 green water ponds complete and 300,000 fish in half of them. The main grow-out ponds are now being built and four should be operational by February 1, 2010. The fields are harvesting well with yields similar to those of farms in the US. Our rice tastes good and it is now being processed for sales next week. Barring another hail storm we will have our granaries full within three months. New fields are being reclaimed from the swamp with around 400 acres close at hand for new planting.

Friday morning we met with our rice distributor for the area around the farm in Siaya. We are about ready to expand our distribution into Nairobi and working on those strategies. Kevin was our first distributor and consistently our best so we need his input and we hope he is involved in the expansion into Nairobi. Two years ago Kevin was an unemployed youth looking for direction. He began to sell and has worked very hard at it, now selling around 100,000 pounds of rice a month and growing; he purchased his first car this week and we are so proud of his accomplishments.

Friday afternoon we had a Christmas dinner for our staff at the same little hotel and the food was good, but our time was short. We had a hasty trip back to the farm and then on to Kisumu to catch the last plane into Nairobi and our last meeting of the day just before boarding for Amsterdam. As I stepped off the plane in Nairobi the phone rang. Our driver, returning to the Farm from Kisumu had a tragic accident on the way. A young man on a bicycle somehow drove out on the road in front of him and in trying to avoid the bicycle rolled and demolished the jeep and tragically the life of the man on the bicycle was ended. The driver was not badly injured but very sore. Life in Africa is so often suddenly scarred with death. Accidents, injury, sickness, killings, and war are so common here, but that does not make it any easier for those involved. We pray for the family of the deceased young man. As we boarded the plane for Amsterdam there was a sick feeling of hopeless pain in our hearts.

Currently we are three hours out of Detroit over the wilderness of Northern Canada. We are anxious to get to our respective homes, but can not wait to return to Kenya in just a few more weeks again. Sixty-eight trips are not easy and equate to over 2800 hours in coach class seats, but it is worth it, in the changed lives of the people.

May God bless the People of Kenya!

The Kenya Monitor Paper Article

2009-12-23T11:07:00.002-06:00

Article from the Kenya Monitor Newspaper that details our operations and commitiment in Kenya.

http://anax1a.pressmart.net/thekenyamonitor/KM/KM/2009/12/01/ArticleHtmls/01_12_2009_005_002.shtml?Mode=1

Trip Number 67 September 18th-October 3rd, 2009

2009-10-08T08:56:00.002-05:00

It‘s 4:00 a.m. as I pull up to Trey’s home so he can take me to the airport for the first leg of the journey. First stop is Minneapolis where Mark Waterston picked me up from the airport and I am off to interview a man from Minneapolis for a possible position. It was a good interview and I hope the man comes on board with us. A couple of weeks back I had a catastrophic engine failure in one of my aircraft and, in keeping the thing in the air I really stressed the muscles in my lower back and right leg. My chiropractor did help somewhat, but not enough, so here I am leaving for Kenya barely able to walk. Barbara Waterston is going as well and is taking along her niece on her first trip to Africa, so I met Coleen at the airport along with the rest of the Waterston family. A few teary eyes and we were through security and waiting for the plane.

The ride to Amsterdam was uneventful but not conducive to sleep. Arriving at Amsterdam, I was in pain and walking slowly to the showers for a hot, long shower - then on to the next plane to Kenya. This time I slept well and we arrived in Nairobi at around 8:30 p.m. along with our entire luggage. As usual, each of us had huge suitcases full of tractor parts to keep the farm running a long way from the nearest John Deere dealer.

Sunday morning we left the hotel for a 10:00 a.m. flight to Kisumu where Mathua picked us up from the airport for the 1½ hour drive to the farm.

There is massive drought in Kenya with scores of people and hundreds of livestock dying to the north of us. Around our farm the drought is not as pronounced and the vegetation is still green - but few crops are thriving. Food is scarce in all of East Africa and Kenya has not been spared. Each week thousands of starving refugees are leaving Somalia and Sudan and fleeing into Kenya. The country’s food supplies are stretched to the limit and corn prices are 3 times higher than only a couple of years ago. In some areas water is so scarce that people are killing each other for drinking water. Thank God this is not the case for people immediately around the farm. Our rice stocks are getting low and the cupboards may be bare before the next crops come in.

The farm looks good with around 1,400 acres under crop with several hundred more acres to be planted when weather permits. Lush green fields of rice stretching across the previous swampland will help feed a desperate corner of the world. It’s always exciting to be back and see the progress. Lunch was ready and then Steve and I had to get to work on so many issues. He was to leave on Wednesday for two weeks of well-deserved vacation time, so much had to be done before then. The usual frustrations are always there to deal with, from shortages of supplies, equipment breakdowns and personnel difficulties. Little in Africa follows the game plan.

Early on Monday I was up before sunrise and in the fields with Ronald Boone to go over as many details as possible. Most fields look very good, but only after months of preparation and hard work. The first paddies of this season will be harvested in November and we pray for good yields, no hail and no equipment breakdowns. Our stocks should hold until the end of October but we may run out of inventory during the first two weeks of November. The rest of the day was spent going over fish farm construction details and modifications. The first 8 green water fingerling ponds are nearing completion with 60,000 fry already transferred into the first one. We will add 60,000 more to the new concrete ponds every two weeks. Two of the youth buildings are roofed in and about to receive their plastered walls. Barbara and Coleen were off to visit the girls of a secondary school. It was a holiday but they came to school anyway just to hear her speak to them.

Tuesday was devoted to working on fish farming issues. The farm has made lots of headway over the past six weeks. The breeding system is operating smoothly and hundreds of thousands of fry from around 80,000 selected mothers are now hatching. Our fish are highly sought after by locals to use in their own small ponds and the Government has requested 500,000 fry each month. Five years of breeding and research have resulted in a fast-growing, high meat-producing, durable fish. Our genetic strains are now well established and are being further improved with each generation. These are intellectual properties to be safeguarded at all costs. No females are ever sold. Enos has done a good job and we appreciate him.

Our aquatic plant production has proven up to the task of supplying high-protein food for the fish. The aquatic plant fields look extremely attractive with row after row of long thin ponds teaming with rapidly growing tiny plants flanked by thousands of banana trees (to shade the ponds to reduce water temperatures). So far we have 10,000 banana trees of every variety known. By the time we are finished, we will have 500 acres of banana and aquatic ponds. These are all very expensive to build but are highly productive for the organic production of fish feed. Aquatic plants are tricky to grow but produce organic food that is consistently high in protein. We’re close to mastering that system.

Our experimental aeration systems are exceeding our expectations for adding oxygen to pond water. An Oklahoma company, Water4, has developed very simple water pumps which can be made of simple PVC materials. I took one of these with me to Kenya for testing. They will make it possible for so many local people to irrigate their gardens and to keep their fish ponds full. We will manufacture these at the farm and distribute to all of East Africa. Steve at Water4 also researched and developed a manual air pump for our fish out-growers. It is very simple in design and he finished it the night before I left for Kenya. It works great and next week it will be put to the test. We are grateful for Steve’s innovation and commitment to poor fish producers. Barbara and Coleen spent the day at another school - again speaking to hundreds of girls about their future.

On Wednesday morning Barbara and Coleen headed for Nairobi for four days to work with Feed the Children’s large orphanage and feeding center there. They have an operation that cares for abandoned and handicapped babies. It is a heartwarming labor of love to take in the discarded babies of the poorest of the poor and to raise them up in a loving, caring setting.

For me the day was filled with meeting after meeting to plan the next few months. Steve was leaving for two weeks leave in South Africa, his home country. Ronald, our rice farmer, invited me for dinner and it was good to get caught up with him and his family.

Thursday I was back in the fields early again after a good rain the night before. It was muddy, so work was halted until the sun dried things out. By noon Chris and I were headed to Kisumu for a talk to the Kisumu Boys School - the largest school in Nyanza province and the second largest in the nation. I spoke to over 1,200 boys about their present and their future. It was well received and soon the school will bring them to the farm to learn how to get involved with the outgrower programs. By dark we were back home and Mark Ham, Doug Conner, and I ate great steaks cooked on the grill. I was tired and headed for bed.

Friday I met with some of our rice distributors who were concerned about our looming rice shortage. We have stopped all bulk sales which is hurting our cash flow - as well as theirs. This all relates back to a devastating hail storm which ravaged the farm in January of this year. It took out 350 acres of mature rice that was ready to harvest and destroyed the productivity of the following crop due to the volume of seed that was driven into the ground by the hail. In all, 700 acres of crops (350 x 2) were lost or severely diminished.

At noon busload after busload of school children began to arrive from around the province, some of which were expected and many of which were not. We took them all on a tour. I talked for 4 1/2 hours standing in the hot, blazing sun, explaining everything from rice farming to land leveling, banana production, fish farming, and rice milling. There were many good questions from many students, all eager to learn. By the end of the day I was burned to a crisp and now reap the consequences.

As we traveled about the farm I was on a bus from a girls’ school whose students appeared to be around 14 years of age. I was shocked to learn they were actually in their senior year and aged 18 to 22 years old. Most had barely developed from little girls into teenagers by outward appearances. Poor nutrition and continuing illness such as malaria and HIV/AIDs have obviously taken their toll on these young lives - and to think that soon many will become second wives to old men so their fathers can acquire an extra cow in the trade. Very sad! Many wanted to become involved in our out-grower training program and we promised they would be welcomed back as the program develops. There is such an urgency to intervene in these vulnerable lives.

On Friday Jack O’Neil died of AIDs. He had worked for us as a tractor driver until a few months back when he fell asleep while driving and ran into another tractor, putting it out of commission for some time. He was relieved of his position but was still a friend. Now just a few months later he has passed on, leaving three wives and several children who may be infected. More tragedy is on the way.

It is now mandatory for every pregnant lady to be tested for HIV/AIDS before giving birth, so the baby can be potentially protected. This is done at the local clinic just a couple of blocks from our complex. The latest results show that 9 out of 10 pregnant women are testing HIV positive. What will happen to their children?

Saturday I went to Siaya looking for some equipment and to meet up with our rice distributor there. He bought me lunch and then I asked him to show me where the trailer was located. As we rounded one corner there was a strange three-wheeled little car that I wanted to stop and see. It was from China and was getting repaired. The owner was sitting there and we began to talk. He was a mild-mannered man who seemed to know me and then explained that he had worked for Dominion Farms some years back in the accounting department. His name is Malik Obama, half-brother to the President of the United States. Later we went to a large soccer tournament where I was introduced as the CEO of Dominion Farms - hopefully good PR for rice sales. The teams were great and it was a welcome break from the long days of work. After leaving there we drove by the home of Mama Sara, grandmother of Barack Obama. She was not home. Across the street was the home of Malik and through the gate could be seen the women of his family covered head-to-toe by their black burkas.

Sunday morning I went around the farm with our new crop duster pilot, Andries, who has only been there a couple of weeks. We worked on designs for a hanger and load-out equipment, and then went to look at the fields.

We must be careful where we spray, especially near the perimeter of the farm and around our gardens, fish farm, and aquatic ponds. By 9:30 Mark and I were on the way to Kisumu to go to Church. It was good and the message spoke to me. Mark liked it and says he will go back. We encountered a massive thunderstorm on the way home and were driving some times at only 5 mph but the sun was shining on our farm. We need three more weeks of sunshine to get all the crops in before the rains come in earnest. With God’s favor we will get it.

Monday morning was packing up time and a brief meeting with some local officials. One last trip around the farm and a stop on the hill beside the cross and it was time to head for Kisumu to catch the plane to Nairobi. Barbara and I had a great dinner with the Minister of Youth and Sports. Hon. Helen Sabili is a God-fearing, dedicated servant who is truly committed to the wellbeing of the youth of Kenya. She loves what Dominion is doing, especially as it regards to the youth outgrower programs, and promises the support of her ministry. We look forward to working with her.

Tuesday morning came early with a flight to Europe. We have now just passed over the mountains of Darfur on our way to Amsterdam and points beyond.

As we leave the continent of Africa again it is with an urgency to return. There is so much to be done and we can not do it all, but the call of Africa is as strong as ever. There is desperation in the people and it is growing stronger day by day. Food shortages loom large for most of East Africa with no effective programs in place to turn the tide. Our yields must be good and our grain must be fully harvested, not just for the sake of Dominion but for the many people whose crops have totally failed. May God keep the people of Kenya and bless their land.

The days in Europe where everything is modern and clean were productive and I learned much about food marketing there. The economic crisis of the world has affected them as well, but social programs seem to mask the situation. In Africa there are no social programs to fall back on and hunger is just that, hunger.

Saturday night I made it home to hundreds of email and piles of work, but it’s home and it’s the best place in the world to be.

Calvin

Trip Number 66 (July 18 thru Aug. 2, 2009)

2009-08-12T15:51:00.001-05:00

Saturday morning found me back at the Oklahoma City airport for another journey to the wilds of western Kenya. This time I went through Houston and then on to Paris for the first leg of the journey. As I departed Houston at 3:30 in the afternoon, I couldn’t get into my usual sleep pattern. I spent most of the trip working on the design and engineering of our fish feed plant and the fish processing plant.

Our long awaited aquaculture facility is finally under construction. We’ve been breeding a “super tilapia” since 2004 with outstanding results. Lake-caught tilapia typically yield 24% usable meat while we have achieved an average of 35% flesh to total weight – an increase of almost 50%. This is significant, as consumers pay for meat – not bones. But this selective breeding process has been time-consuming and costly.

The principal buildings will be constructed almost entirely from materials currently on hand and recycled from other projects on the farm. The feed mill will be a simple structure, requiring only a concrete floor, frame and roof with the sides mostly open to dissipate the heat. The processing plant, on the other hand, is a very tightly constructed cold-storage plant. Years ago during our rice breeding phase, we built a large greenhouse that is no longer needed. It will be disassembled, relocated, modified and become the frame for the plant. Few in equatorial Africa insulate their building due to the mild climate, but this will be the exception. The walls will be thick and filled with rice husks, while the attic space will be heaped with the same byproduct, providing extremely high insulation values. As the hours flew by, each design fell into place and I identified so many building materials on the farm that are no longer needed for their original purposes. The old boom from the crane will become a center beam, concrete forms will turn into ceiling joists, and many things previously discarded will be useful again. It is as if these materials were just biding their time while waiting for their next job. In Africa you learn to use what you have.

The Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris is a difficult place to get around, somewhat like the maze at JFK in New York. After 30 minutes of walking, waiting, and bus riding, I was at the proper terminal. I was beat – having been awake for some 30 hours – and then discovered that I had no seat assignment. At the ticket counter for Kenya Airways, God must have let the lady know this as she handed me a business class ticket and pass to the first class lounge. The next three hours passed quickly and I departed the City of Lights in total comfort. After a good meal I was perfectly flat and fast asleep. All was good. In Nairobi, all my bags and I made it through the endless immigration line and I was off to the hotel.

First meeting was at 10:30 a.m. I was on a mission to purchase the piping for the fish farm, a very large order. We were not getting competitive prices from the brokers, so my driver and I were on the road at 7:00 a.m. in search of manufacturers. We got the same old run around from some, thinking I was just another dumb, rich American. By 10:00 I had cut a deal with the largest pipe manufacturer in the nation – saving a cool $20,000 for the morning’s work.

Next, we met up with the people from Feed the Children in Kenya. Larry Jones has quite the operation in Nairobi, feeding over a hundred thousand children a day and taking care of handicapped and abandoned babies. Over the years they have acquired three pieces of prime property, two of which are undeveloped. One is highly suited for upscale residences or apartments while the other is industrial land. Both are ripe for development and there is a pressing need for another center for abandoned kids and handicapped children on the side of the city where the industrial land is located. This would include a compound with a school, dorms, medical facilities and vocational training venues. I believe that if both properties are properly developed, they can produce enough income to support a substantial outreach to these children. As an accommodation to Larry Jones, I’ll undertake some research and planning to see what is feasible and how these assets may be put to their highest and best use.

That afternoon I flew to Kisumu and was met by a driver from the farm. As is my practice, I look forward to that last turn in the road before the vista of the farm opens up below me. The weather was dry and it was harvest time. Only two fields were left to be harvested and replanting had already begun. Clouds of dust trailed behind the tractors as they plowed in preparation for seeding the next crop. Supper was on the table and it was good to be home again. That evening passed quickly as I caught up on my emails.

By 5:00 a.m. I had rousted Ronald Boone and by 6:00 we were in the field getting the men started and solving the logistical problems of the day. A few tractors are always down for repairs but Doug’s crew presses on in the workshop – returning them to the rigors of the fields as quickly as possible.

The farm looks good and finally we are able to replant those fields destroyed by the hailstorm of January this year. Over 350 acres of crops were destroyed in a burst of hail tracking right along the equator. It then took four months of growing out the rotten seed left on the ground before those fields could be returned to production. Two lost cycles on 350 acres of paddies in 2008-2009 equates to 700 acres of lost rice production. Strange as it seems, we must now view ice as a threat on the equator.

Our fish operation has received a boost via a grant from the African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF). These people have it right, providing funding to established businesses which will have huge, predictable impacts on the impoverished masses. Dominion Farms competed against businesses throughout Africa and won a repayable grant of almost US$1 million. We’re buying and shipping equipment as fast as possible from the U.S. and construction is now underway here in Kenya. Our crews are clearing land for fish ponds, hauling in gravel to the site, and staging materials on site. By the middle of August we will have 80,000 fingerlings in the first pond. It will be October, 2010 before we get our first harvest of 700-gram tilapia, a date just around the corner by African standards. The planning and layout must be absolutely correct to keep the perfect quantity and speed of water flowing through the ponds. Once the system is turned on it can never be turned off without killing millions of fish, so every element of construction is checked and double checked. Ultimately each tank will hold at least 300,000 fish. With 32 ponds in total, that’s a lot of fish.

Our 2,400 chickens are looking great and our homemade chicken feed is doing well. We are now at 96% of the egg production as compared with production using expensive commercial feeds, all using our own production with mostly in-house waste products. The egg yokes are brilliant bright yellow due to the high protein content of our foods. Free chicken meat and high quality eggs are great, but what we’re really after is the chicken manure for growing the duckweed used in our fish feed.

The shop is running well, but with the tractors running 12 hours a day, all year long, breakdowns are common. The rice mill was down for a week as the generator was damaged by employee negligence. The mill worker assigned to watch the machine and monitor the gauges every minute decided to wander off, and of course at that time a hose sprung a leak. Our old Caterpillar standby generator will hopefully keep us going.

Early mornings are beautiful here. The quiet of the day is broken by the sound of big diesels coming out of their night’s rest as the sun breaks over the horizon. The smell of fresh turned earth is in the air and the birds arriving by the hundreds. Eagles on the rocks, egrets following the plows, storks fishing in the canals and guineas scampering across the fields. It’s hard to imagine without seeing it.

On Thursday we received an invitation to meet with the President and Prime Minister on Friday afternoon, so at noon Steve and I left for Kisumu. They were delayed so we went to the markets to see how our rice was selling. At one store we were told how Prime Harvest rice is almost flying off the shelves and we witnessed it ourselves. We are the high quality, low priced, best value in the marketplace, with a growing customer base. Over the past six months we have established a string of over 20 distributors, are leading rice sales in several supermarkets, and have established a significant market presence in Uganda. Such rapid growth has been stressful on our sales team and on our cash flow, but the near-term prospects are gratifying. We’ll press on until we dominate the market.

The politicians finally arrived (five hours late) but it was a grand affair. This was the first time since the political unrest of January, 2008, that the President had visited Nyanza province. It appeared to be a healing event for many, but who knows how long the goodwill will last? After all, this is Africa.

Saturday was a great day. Our rice distributors were invited to the farm and it was the first time for some. They toured the rice fields and the mill to get a much better understanding of the process involved in getting the rice to their shelves. Government officials arrived to assist with our certification as an Enterprise Processing Zone for the fish processing plant. This certification has been four years in the making and it finally looks as if it is about to happen.

That afternoon I met the youth of Daraja (a village south of the farm) with a message of hope and help. These young people have no jobs, no land and no money – just a life of despair. We are about to change this, at least for a few. For the past month our youth training program has been underway with resounding success. The initial group of 27 students are learning aquaculture, horticulture and building construction. We can only handle this number, as our classroom space is limited to the use of our boardroom. They have constructed a chicken coop and are about to start raising free-range chickens. We have isolated 22 acres of irrigated fields to plant in maize, vegetables, fruit trees, bananas and fish ponds. These kids are working hard and learning well.

The next phase of the youth program is about to really take off. In May of 2008 the youth leaders of the area asked for guidance and help. The aftermath of a war and the hailstorm caused delays, but now we are ready to respond. We have announced a small scale fish program to develop a series of co-operatives of youths to raise fish on a contract basis. Teams of 10-12 will be formed and will each be given 2 acres of lakefront property for aquaculture. Dominion Farms will train, provide resources, knowledge and market for the product. We initially have land for 100 of such groups or up to 1,200 young people. If they work hard and guard their assets wisely, within a year they will begin to make good money and gain a promising future. About 60 young people showed up and there was excitement in the air. At11:00 p.m. a soft and steady rain started to fall, providing needed relief from the dust and giving life to the 300 acres of rice seed we have planted in the last few days. God is good.

Sunday morning Josh, Chris, and I left for Kisumu, to speak to some leaders there about the many activities at the farm. By the time we arrived, however, they had left for more ceremonies involving President Kibaki. It would be a four hour wait so we took Josh to the supermarket for his first shopping experience in Kenya, then had lunch and tea. On the way out of town, we visited a fish processing plant to see if there was any excess equipment for sale. They no longer process tilapia since there is none to be had, only a dwindling supply of Nile Perch. We arrived in Siaya around 2:00 p.m. and within a few minutes there was a full auditorium of youth eager to hear the presentation about our fish program for contract growers. We also had bankers from all three banks. We finished at 6:00 p.m. with assured support from the banks and the beginning formation of a strong voice of the youth in the community. From this group and the one the previous day we should start to see the green shoots of entrepreneurship, responsibility, patience, honesty, discipline and market awareness.

The workday at Dominion Farms begins at 6:30 a.m., as the day’s activities are planned and prayers are said by our workers. Chris and I accompanied Ronald for his usual morning tour of the farm, directing where the tractors should go and taking care of the workers in the fields. This is a great way to see the farm as we travel to the far corners of the developed land and beyond. Before the start of the last big rains, we were able to clear around 700 acres of land and as the mud recedes we again can get into many of these areas to plow and clear weeds. By mid-October, 500 more of these acres should be planted.

The day passed very quickly with job interviews, engineering calculations and planning sessions. In the afternoon Chris, Ronald, and I took a 4-hour drive to see a government fish farm that uses our fingerlings. It is for demonstration purposes only, but interesting.

Tuesday began with finalizing designs and construction methods for the fish ponds. We needed a good source of gravel and that was located only a mile away. The duckweed ponds are coming along well but need a source of fresh water so trenches are being dug. Between the duckweed ponds we are planting banana trees with 5,000 already in the fields. In one of our rice fields the surveyors made a mistake and placed the levies in the wrong location which caused a lot of problems and will require rebuilding to salvage the field. It is so difficult to transfer modern technology to people who just do not understand what we are doing, but it is part of our job here to teach. After a trip to Kisumu to see our electrical contractor; we were all back at the farm and I was off for a walk. This time, however, I decided to visit the villages. Kids and adults came out from everywhere and all seemed to know my name. Beautiful little children with big smiles, no shoes and torn, dirty clothes, but they were wonderful. We talked and walked and played for an hour and then it was time to get inside before the mosquitoes came out. It was now getting late and I had to pack for the trip back to Nairobi.

Wednesday morning was time to wrap things up on the farm, making last minute schedules for the next six weeks, taking a few pictures, and answering last minute questions. Then I was off to Kisumu for the flight to Nairobi. I sat on the plane next to a 22-year old woman, Maureen, now supporting two of her brothers and sisters after both parents and an older brother had died of AIDS. The evening was spent with our electrical engineer who has been trying to get the hydropower plant at our dam approved by the authorities. It looks as if we are finally almost there.

Thursday started at 7:00 for breakfast with a former Member of Parliament and a Deputy Minister from the treasury to discuss various issues including the up and coming fish program for ourselves and outgrowers. The government is currently appropriating funds for outgrowers and it looks as if our people will qualify. The remainder of the day was spent in meetings with the other companies who also have been awarded AECF funds for business development. Many good companies from around the world, but I was the only American there. Americans seem to flock to Africa for Christian evangelism, tourism, and humanitarian efforts but shy away from investing real capital and effort in building the continent’s economy. This must change.

Each company made a presentation of their business plans and many are very good ideas which will make a real impact on their bottom line and the welfare of the surrounding communities. I was particularly impressed by a large sugar cane company that was doing a $3.0 million dollar expansion for the total benefit of the surrounding community. They make good money already but want to reach out to their neighbors as well. We had much in common, as not all profit is measured in dollars. I hope our fish out-grower program works like this as well. Mine was the last presentation done on Friday morning and was well received with many questions. The presenters had many requests to come to their countries and help there. Who knows what may come about in time, but for now I must get our own farm finished and profitable. By noon I was off to the Feed the Children compound to see the babies and the handicapped children. It is a well run operation but is always stretched financially. Those other properties will somehow need to be converted for these purposes. By 4:00 I was checking in at the Ethiopian Airlines ticket counter for the a flight to London via Addis Abbaba and Rome. In Addis there is a new terminal but there are smokers everywhere (especially the Chinese), so the stay was unpleasant. I arrived in London at 8:30 a.m. but without my luggage and I was tired. After an hours napping at the Sheraton, I was in meetings regarding fish sales in Britain, shipping options and various other things. A good traditional meal of fish and chips ended the day.

By five thirty I was on the bus to Heathrow Airport and the morning flight to Houston. Just as I was anxious to see the farm in Kenya I am even more eager to see Sue waiting at the airport to welcome me back. She always looks so great.

This has been a very productive few weeks and the farm is coming into shape slowly but surely. There have been so many obstacles along the way and there will continue to be, but real change is coming to the area as the vestiges of poverty and sickness are slowly broken. Light is beginning to shine through to the eyes of the people as hope builds in their hearts for a better future. The youth are getting organized to take control of their future, breaking the traditions of the past which have kept them in bondage so long.

I hope Dominion can live up to the task of providing the guidance to lead them out of their wilderness.

Calvin Burgess, CEO

Dominion Farms LTD.

Algae production

2009-06-22T14:14:00.002-05:00

Thank you for your email and input regarding Algae. We have been doing extensive research on algae production for several years now and are very excited with the results. This will be a significant portion of the fish production system and animal feed supplement portion of our work, as well as a potential health supplement for human consumption. I would be happy to discuss this further with you if I had an email address. Perhaps your daughter could give it to me.
Thanks,
Calvin

Kenya Trip # 65 (May 24 - June 5, 2009)

2009-06-10T08:17:00.001-05:00

Departed Oklahoma City on Sunday on a flight to Minneapolis where Mark and Barbara Waterston picked me up at the airport. They took me to see their beautiful new condominium, after which we went to the home of their son, Michael, where their daughter Jennifer and her family were visiting. I had not seen Jennifer in years and had never met her husband and children. They are now living in Boston and doing well. By noon we were back at the airport for a quick meal and at 3:10 p.m. Barbara and I were on the plane headed to Amsterdam. The flight was fine, but I got little sleep, arriving in Amsterdam at 5:30 in the morning. The flight for Nairobi took off at 10:15 a.m. and both of us were soundly off to sleep for the next 5 hours. Our entire luggage made it and by 9:00 p.m. we were having dinner at the hotel.

On Tuesday morning Steve Cowell, our managing director, and I began meetings in Nairobi, first with the pest control board and then with a foundation. We have had consistently bad experiences with accessing the herbicides needed to control weeds in our rice fields. We have tried every supplier in the country, but they either have the wrong products or no product at all, as the approval process for importing chemicals is bureaucratic and tedious. As a result, we have applied to become an importer/distributor of agricultural chemicals and this meeting was the first step in getting the necessary approvals. It will take 1 ½ years of research and testing to prove up the safety of what we need, but after that we will be able to control weeds and pests effectively as well as provide these products to local farmers so they may greatly enhance their yields.

Our second meeting was at noon with representatives of an international foundation offering a nearly US$1 million repayable grant to fund the initial phase of our commercial aquaculture operation. Not only will raising tilapia fish on such a massive scale add a significant line to our product mix, it will create tremendous income possibilities for thousands of our neighbors. We will need approximately 2,500 out-growers to supply us with raw products for making fish food and will also contract with hundreds of small growers for high quality tilapia fish from their own ponds. We will start full-scale construction on this project by July 1^st and plan to harvest our first marketable tilapia crop by the middle of next year. We will first supply the Kenyan market and as the quantity increases will move on to the Middle East and Europe with fresh fish flown out of Kisumu daily. Our ultimate goal is to provide 20,000 tons annually – obviously a few years away.

We departed Nairobi for the flight to Kisumu and arrived at the farm after dark. Dinner was ready for us and then it was time to visit with some of the college students staying with us. Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has sent five business majors and International Community Development students to work with us for a month this summer. Five additional ORU students are working with the Disciples of Mercy orphanage in Kisumu. They are doing research projects on food production quantities and qualities, water quality testing and business planning. It is a great experience for them and we really enjoy them being here. They are seeing the real world of business in Africa and having a good time as well. One of the girls was just getting over a bout with malaria, but was doing fine. We are in the middle of the rainy season and the mosquitoes are definitely a problem along with other tropical diseases, especially typhoid. I have already been bit a few times and that is always a worry.

Wednesday there was much to get caught up on. Our crop duster pilot was about to leave for his vacation and was going to the Ukraine for a week. His family has roots there and he has been corresponding with a young Ukrainian lady, so perhaps there is some romance in the air as well. Barbara went off to see the rest of our management guys and learn their concerns while Steve and I spent the day on detailed planning for the start of the fish farm construction. Considerable planning is required, as it is a major project utilizing high tech methods. Our aquaculture operation has been preparing for this event for years as we have painstakingly bred a super fish. Fresh water flowing from the river is the catalyst that renders all of this possible, but the remaining conditions are now in place, including sources of fish feed and rampant market demand. Lake Victoria in Kenya is virtually fished-out, such that now all of the processors in Kisumu have closed their operations. The cull fish from our breeding are highly sought after when they are available. By summer 2010, Dominion’s whole and filleted tilapia should be in supermarkets in Kisumu and in the coolers of selected small vendors in Siaya and Bondo Districts.

Our heavy equipment is getting into shape waiting for the long rains to be over in a few weeks, and the workers are waiting to begin development of more land. Doug Conner, our director of engineering and maintenance, is to be commended for getting everything ready to roll. Our swamp buggy is now running from daylight to dark digging drainage canals across the property to allow things to drain more quickly. Rice harvesting is ongoing with around 1,500 acres of planted fields – most of which are producing exceptionally good yields. Ronald Boone (our rice farmer/land developer) has done a great job of simultaneously bringing in good crops and preparing new land for initial planting.

Each night was spent with ORU students and they are a great bunch of young people – full of desire to understand more of Africa and our operations there. They all have serious assignments to help us refine our work from the tracking of crop yields, to the productivity of our chickens to testing for dissolved oxygen levels in various bodies of water around the farm. I expect their reports will be very useful going forward. Some of the student would like to make their lifes’ work in Kenya. The five students who were assigned to Disciples of Mercy in Kisumu also came to the farm for the weekend, arriving on Friday afternoon. Ronald joined all of us for dinner and told the kids of the wild times at the beginning of farm construction back in 2004. Lots of laughs now but very serious back then. We have come a long way in just a few years.

Saturday morning I awoke early but did not feel well. But I had much to do. Soon we were on the road to meet with groups of people in Siaya. Ronald and Barbara came along and we ate breakfast at a new place just beyond the town. The owner is a Boeing 777 Captain for Kenya Airlines, so we got to talking about airplanes and the pending freight operations for the fish farm. He will be a good resource for us. After that we met up with our Siaya rice distributors and then a meeting with the president of the new bank in town. The two principals of the Siaya rice distribution company are very energetic and last month sold 45 tons of our rice. I gave them shirts that Sue had embroidered with the Prime Harvest logo and they were ecstatic.

By noon we were back at the farm when suddenly I broke out in a sweat and realized I likely had malaria. So we were off to the local clinic. Their lab tech was gone so it was back to a clinic in Siaya to confirm what I already suspected. I had malaria again. The rest of the day was at a slower pace. The ORU team from Disciples of Mercy had arrived from Kisumu to spend the weekend with us and I felt bad about not being accessible, but by evening the medicine was starting to work and we had a good dinner together.

I slept well and Sunday morning I was back out in the fields with Ronald and wrapping up things with Doug, as he was ready to depart for 2 weeks vacation in the US. Barbara was getting with all of the ORU students to go to a small church in the area, where some of them spoke and led in the service. Barbara represented Dominion Farms and spoke on my behalf, since I had to leave on a trip to Uganda with Steve. It is a six hour drive to Kampala and we picked up Dereck in Jinga along the way. Dereck is our new sales representative in Uganda where we are planning export operations. The market there appears to be good with a high potential for growth. We have contracted with a company there to distribute the product. They supply approximately 1,000 retail outlets with a variety of products, which now includes rice. There is an excitement in the air with this deal and a couple of their other clients are coming on board to do cross promotions with us.

By the time I got back to the farm only five of the ORU students remained and they were getting ready to go on assignment to south Nyanza to do a market study for us. Josh and Delana would stay behind to complete their studies on projects assigned to them. Josh is an interesting young man – born in the US but had lived most of his life in Zambia with his missionary parents. His heart is truly in Africa where he wants to give the rest of his life. Although he is young (22) he is African smart, and wants to make his mark there. We would like for him to join us as a management trainee and offered him that position. He is enthused and we will just have to wait to see what his decision will be. Zoe, another ORU student, was born in Liberia and grew up in the US. I believe she had her eyes opened by the poverty of Africa, as she had not been back to the continent since she was a very small child. Anastasia was born in Russia and had never been to Africa before. She fell in love with the place, being especially taken with our fish operations. Delana is a young lady that went to South Africa a couple of years ago but never understood the depth of the problems in Africa until this trip. Sergio was born in Moldavia and could relate to the poverty which surrounds us, as his home town was almost as poor as our neighboring villages. This past month on our farm has changed these young people forever and all want to return – some promising to be back next year. These kids are at the top of their class and are now responding to the pull that Africa has on people who come and experience it, not as tourists, but as people committed to actually making a difference.

Most of Wednesday was spent on fish farm details and design solutions for this program. So many things must be accomplished in the next few months. Construction will begin in early July for 20 concrete ponds approximately 6 feet deep by 120 feet in diameter, along with drainage canals, water piping, feces collection systems and the food processing plant. Much equipment will need to be purchased and sent to Kenya over the next few weeks to allow the process to be fully operational when the fish are transferred from their existing earthen ponds. This facility will earn profits for the farm, but will also allow local smallholders a ready market for their agricultural products used in the milling of fish feed. This will incentivize them to learn how to grow crops efficiently for sale to a guaranteed buyer.

We have now employed Chris Abir. He and his wife will begin the training of the local youth for these purposes. This program will begin in earnest within a few weeks and the first class is already formed. There will be equal emphasis on body, mind and spirit. Vocational emphasis will initially be on farm practices, with practical emphasis on irrigation, fertilization, and planting practices. Crops grown in dedicated training fields will include fruit trees, maize, tomatoes, vegetables, grains, and bananas. The courses will include fish farming, dairy operations, and poultry – the facilities for which are now under construction. The curriculum will include emphasis on health, HIV/AIDS prevention, family life responsibilities and relationships. A strong emphasis will be placed on the spiritual so as these young people begin to prosper, their grounding will be strong and their roots will be deep. As the farm prospers, more facilities will be constructed and more programs developed to broaden the scope of available courses.

On Thursday morning it was time to wrap things up and begin the long trip home. One more meeting was scheduled for that afternoon in Kisumu with the electrical power company. Our power supply is terrible. The lines leading to our farm were paid for by Dominion and they serve the local community as well. However, from the point where our new lines hook to the existing grid back to the substation, they are awful, resulting in an average of 6 power outages per day. Kenya’s electrical production system is grossly deficient relative to demand and its delivery is unreliable, leaving us in a real mess. The solution is multifold but is possible if everyone cooperates. We appear to be on the right track. Dominion has figured out how to produce approximately 2 megawatts of electrical power from our dam on the river. This new plant, along with a secondary power feed scheduled to come from another direction to connect to our existing lines, will provide adequate and reliable power for our operations. This system will be cost effective for us and our neighbors. We have reached an agreement to proceed forward and within a couple of years it should all be done.

By 6 p.m. Barbara and I were on the plane for Nairobi and then on the flight to Amsterdam at 10:00 p.m. We were exhausted, as usual, and slept until an hour out of Amsterdam where we had only a 2 hour wait for the flight to Detroit. I got a quick shower and a change of clothes before boarding and it felt good. We are now 3 hours out of Detroit and anxious to be home again. Barbara has a new home to go to and Mark has done nearly all of the moving, so she is excited to get home and enjoy their new place. I’m equally eager to be back with Sue and the family.

These trips are hard on the body – going from early in the morning to nearly midnight every day, and always there is the risk of coming down with Malaria, typhoid or some other strange disease. But they are also rewarding, as we see the land and so many lives being changed. Each day we are able to see progress and the hand of God at work. It’s not easy, but nothing good ever is.

Calvin Burgess

Dominion Farms Limited

2008 Year End Summary

2008-12-26T14:20:00.001-06:00

As 2008 comes to a close, we at Dominion Farms look back with a better understanding of human nature and a realization of what it takes to do business in Kenya.

The year 2007 ended with a presidential election and high hopes by the people of Kenya for meaningful change. Previous terms had been marked by unfulfilled promises, political strife, corruption and lost hope, but the Kenyan people labored on in their poverty with the hope of change from this election. New political parties were energized by the fast-paced nomination process and emotions ran high. Voter turnout was tremendous with much fanfare and expectation on all sides. Millions lined up to mark their paper ballots on the 27th day of December – the majority confident that their opposition candidate would soon be their new president.

The count was slow and tedious for a couple of days and international poll observers were present. Suddenly the Election Commission ordered the observers to leave. The incumbent President was declared the winner and was sworn into office within an hour of the announcement. Irregularities appeared everywhere and the opposition cried foul, with almost universal support from around the world. That the election had been stolen was obvious to everyone.

All hell broke loose. Gangs of youth were encouraged by political operatives on both sides to loot and burn the properties of members of the other party. Then the violence escalated from political activism to ancient tribalism. Tribalism has remained a festering problem in Kenya with tribal rivalries going back for centuries. Upon independence from Britain in 1963 the method of warfare turned to politics and old emotions had been repressed for 45 years. But the political process had failed the majority of voters and those old animosities surfaced again. People were hacked to death simply because of their tribal affiliation – often by their neighbors. Refugee camps sprang up for those fleeing their homes and swelled to over 500,000.

For weeks the country was shut down. The worst atrocities were in the Kisumu area south of Dominion Farms. The city was on fire and nobody seemed to really care. Where was reason? Where was compassion? Where was the heart of God in his people? How could a people destroy their own workplaces and homes? The cry was for justice but few were listening. As video of the destruction flashed across the TV screens of the world, attention began to build and mediators began to arrive. Weeks of negotiation would take place with dignitaries such as Kofi Annan and Secretary Rice, but progress was slow. The killing and burning continued. In some places ethnic minorities fled to churches to be burned alive inside by rival tribal members. Scores long unsettled were brought to the forefront and justice was dispensed on the spot. Traffic to the western part of the country was cut off by gangs of thugs on the roads. No food or support could get through. The railway lines were torn up and the airports were closed.

In the midst of this our farm still had to operate. We were just beginning to recover from the flood of 2007, with most of our dikes back in operation and our irrigation systems repaired. Now this tragedy. Our farm shut down on Dec. 20th for the elections and for Christmas, with senior staff scheduled to return on Jan. 3rd. That became impossible. Our Managing Director was in South Africa; our rice manager was in the US along with our director of maintenance. The rice mill operator and the field manager were both Kikuyu men and would have been killed if they returned. Only a skeleton crew of mechanics remained near the farm. Crops needed attending with nobody to do the work and none of the skilled people there to help. We were precariously low on fuel and were out of fertilizer and herbicides.

Emergency plans were made to stretch everything as far as possible and use the staff we had. Over the phone from 8,000 miles away the American managers and I had to explain how to operate the combines, how to run the mill, and how to plant a crop. We allocated fuel to the milling operation as priority #1 so food would be available for the local people and we opened an outlet for them to buy it directly. This was a life saver for many near the farm. Food prices had tripled but we sold for less than the supermarkets had charged prior to the election. These are our neighbors and they needed our help. The weather was good and dry but we had no fuel to develop new fields or even replant those harvested, so hundreds of acres sat idle.

Finally the airports opened back up for incoming flights and I was on the first plane going into Nairobi. Steve got back and most others filtered in, but not the Kikuyu employees. Most departments had no leadership and only a handful of workers in each, but work had to get done. When I arrived in Nairobi I met with the US Embassy but they were still trying to figure out what to do. The business community had big meetings to find a solution but nothing seemed viable and dire predictions abounded. Finally I made it to Kisumu and then on to the farm during a lull in the fighting. It was good to be back but a strange mood persisted. The strain was visible on every face and there was a feeling of hopelessness and anger - with no solution in sight.

I met with the church leadership of Nyanza Province who were just wringing their hands as their towns went up in smoke. They sang of how great it was to be in the Army of the Lord, and how they would rather die in the Army of the Lord than anything else. They spoke of the scripture which states, “Who can defy the army of the living God” and I challenged them with “who can find the army of the Living God.” They had told all of their people to remain hunkered down in their houses while children were destroying their cities. In Kisumu a group of churches representing over 100,000 members was held hostage by as few as 100 unruly youths. Very sad. The churches of the world today (not just in Africa) have lost much of their power and authority and have become wimps in the eyes of many. They say they will not let it happen again?

The farm operations returned to as normal as possible and we prayed for fuel and fertilizer, but supplies were short and far away. Fuel on the black market climbed to as high as US$20.00 per gallon and our own employees schemed how to steal it from us. Some were caught but how much got away is anyone’s guess. Character is tested in times of opportunity where greed can easily overtake one’s judgment.

Crude roadblocks were regularly encountered at bridges and along roads, with money demanded for passage and threats made along the way. I was always able to get through by talking to the people and made a few friends in the process. We were not there to take their freedom from them but only to be a source of food in a trying and hungry time.

During this time I received a request to meet with a member of the County Council with which we have a lease for our land. He came in demanding a bribe for the new council of around $30,000 and this was summarily rejected. The stupid thing was he did so in writing, and saying that if we did not pay there would be trouble for us. I had seen this sort of thing before so many times but never had taken them seriously.

Violence erupted again after two opposition Members of Parliament were killed. The first murder rekindled the rioting and all hell broke out again. The wife of our Managing Director tried to make it to the airport to send her children off to South Africa but got caught between two violent road blocks and had to spend the day at a police post there. They made a run for the farm that night with two police officers along as escorts. After laying as low as they could while the police fired their weapons out the windows, they made it back without injury.

Upon the death of the second MP from the opposition party, I knew it was time to get out of Kenya, but the sixty miles of roadblocks and rioting between the farm and the Kisumu airport would have been too dangerous for one vehicle. We arranged with the police department in Siaya for five officers armed with automatic weapons, three security guards and two 5 ton trucks for the trip to the airport. We had space for a few Kikuyu refugees who were fleeing their homes in predominately Luo western Kenya. The Dominion Farms van filled with the officers and refugees led the way, I was next with a senior officer and the two trucks brought up the rear. We were traveling as fast as we could go until we hit roadblocks, whereupon the officers bounded from the van to secure the areas, while the drivers and others proceeded to clear the area for passage of the vehicles. We stopped seven times before reaching Luanda. Once the police got out of the van the crowds scattered, and we would resume our journey. In Luanda there was a major traffic problem involving fuel trucks bound for Uganda. The main roads were blocked so a convoy was being formed to try to get through on the back roads. The President of Uganda had been a supporter of President Kibaki, and according to some a co-conspirator in the election rigging, so the opposition was determined to prevent anything from reaching Uganda.

Further down the road at Maseno it was the same scene except there were fires burning on the road, telephone poles pulled down and general mayhem. The greatest challenge became apparent as we approached Kisumu. Shipping containers and burned-out cars and trucks littered the road. Signs, rocks, poles and burning tires blocked the lanes and at one point it did not look like we would make it. Then a remarkable thing happened. The rebels who were stopping everyone saw the Dominion sign on the front of the van and began to clear the way and to lead us through the smoke to the other side. Cheers went up as we passed by and God had surely solved the problem. The police could hardly believe their eyes.

Shortly we were at the airport where two executives from Total Fuel met us to accept a very large check for fuel but admitted to us they did not know when they could deliver it. I got off at the airport and thanked the officers, shook their hands and then they and our driver left to take the Kikuyu to safety. I flew back to Nairobi with a plane loaded with bodies from the war. In all about 1,500 people were killed in the crisis, hundreds of thousands left homeless and 6,000 businesses destroyed. Eventually a peace accord was reached for a coalition government and peace returned. March, April, May, and June were filled with rain and rice could not be planted until July, which pushed our first real production of the year to October. It was a very long period with little revenue. The disturbance cost Dominion around 1 million dollars in destroyed or lost crops in unplanted fields, setting us back once again.

On my next trip back to Kenya the county council made their bribery threat more persuasive. On my first day at the farm one council member attempted to incite the local people to take over our farm. I could not understand his logic, as I had worked hard to entice a major investor to come and invest in the community. He was coming in a few days to check out the opportunities and I was trying to get things ready for him. The crowd grew and the shouting became louder and I was getting mad. It dawned on me that the councilman’s threat was real. The pieces finally fit together in my mind. We had paid an annual ground lease payment of 600,000 Kenya shillings (US$95,000.00) and it had been diverted to a private bank account in Kisumu and was secretly distributed to members of the council. They subsequently realized that the county’s largest source of revenue would be missed and that Dominion had the records to prove it was paid. Because their initial attempt to extort a second payment was rebuffed and because they had issued us a written receipt for the lease payment, they were compelled to finish off Dominion for good, as we had the records to prove their misdeeds. Where was that extortion letter? Soon I was on the television and radio with the evidence and the noise abated. Although we were assured that the councilmen would be prosecuted, nine months later no arrests or charges have been made. While typical, this behavior is a shame as many investors in the world are waiting to see the rule of law routinely and universally applied before considering investment in Africa.

The rural people of Sub-Saharan Africa still live in poverty and despite all of the promises made by world leaders for change, little has improved. Corruption runs so deep and poverty is so widespread that it seems overwhelming, but we have hope that our programs of pooling small acreages for large scale out-grower production will find wide-spread acceptance and success. But while Dominion can show the way, we cannot do it all.

The last few months at the farm have been uneventful as we’ve concentrated on improving our production, advancing our community out-grower program with local smallholders and building the youth camp. The farm is again a peaceful place full of optimism. Our missions to build a sustainable business, to help bring food security to Kenya and to introduce the next generation to a better way of life are unchanged. We continue to avoid the trap of enabling rural people to live in poverty in favor of helping them understand and implement those activities that will lead them out of poverty.

The report of December trip is attached below.

Kenya Trip No. 62
November 28 through Dec. 11, 2008

This trip began the day after Thanksgiving and my flight from Oklahoma City to Chicago was spent sitting beside Larry Jones of Feed the Children. Larry and I have become friends over the past few months and I admire all he is doing across the world. In Kenya Feed the Children feeds 120,000 children every day. He continues to undertake this and so many other good causes in the world, with so many lives depending on the organization in emergencies, disasters, and for feeding the most impoverished people.

In Chicago we met up with Barbara Waterston and after a few minutes of chatting we parted for our flights. I did not sleep very much so arrived in London tired, which made for a great sleep on the next flight to Nairobi. It is always good to be back but it does not take long to remember we are in Africa. Approaching the city center we were met with a pile of scattered rocks in the road trying to make oncoming traffic keep out of one lane. As we passed a man’s crushed body lay in the street as people sailed on by. There was enough concern for someone to scatter some rocks but no action to help the person or remove the body. Our driver was not concerned and explained that eventually the police would have the body collected.

Sunday morning we were met by Ronald Boone and his father. Ronald is our land leveler and our temporary rice crop manager. His father, a retired rice farmer came to visit and was returning home to the US. We said good bye, and the three of us headed for the plane to Kisumu. Ben met us at the airport and we headed for the Disciples of Mercy campus, a project which Ben and Jenny Ochieng built which now includes a school for around 600 kids from the slums, a medical clinic, a church, vocational school, and outreach to the community. This was a special day for the church as their pastor of 12 years was leaving the Church and it was a going away party. The message was great and he and his wife spoke telling his story of recent years. They were both certified teachers and have worked their way up through the various positions of administration, education, planning, and Senior Pastor. As I sat there and listened to them speak I could not help but think about what a good Camp Director team they would be. So experienced in so many aspects of our program; Barbara was squirming all over her seat just feeling that these people would be so good for us. The night before we had prayed that we would find the right people to help us and that Ben and Jenny would be involved; our prayers seamed to be right in front of us. A husband and wife team perhaps made for us.

Lunch was at Ben’s house where we asked questions about the pastor. He had given his resignation only knowing that it was time for them to move on. He did not want to pastor another church, but felt he was to move on to training others and was waiting on God to lead him to the next assignment. Ben and Jenny said they would be perfect for us, and wanted to know if we would like them to approach the pastor about his interest. Obviously we did, and we would wait to see the reply.

The farm looked beautiful as we came over the hill. It had been dry for the past week and new land was being cleared. Ronald is performing the double duty of leveling new fields and managing rice fields as we search for a permanent replacement for our rice crops manager. Due to a brief period without technical talent, we lost a few fields to disease and weeds but salvaged others and the crops generally look good. Thankfully Ronald has picked up the slack, and the new fields are coming on strong. The spray plane is back in action after a bad accident with a large crane (bird) and is working good. Land leveling is about to begin in earnest as the ground dries out from the short rainy season.

Monday began in Steve’s office reviewing the farm operations and the camp situation. The farm is finally coming out of the effects of the civil disturbance related to election violence earlier this year. After lunch we had a staff meeting with department heads and things are progressing well. The attitude is upbeat and they are planning for the future. Ronald, Steve and I then went for a tour of the land under development, and what a change has happened in the seven weeks since I was there! I believe we have now cleared an additional 800 to 1,000 acres of land and I drove and walked where few had dreamed possible. Water from the rainy season is pouring off the land and it is beginning to dry out. To clear the land the grass or papyrus is first cut or knocked down where it is allowed to dry for about a week, after which it is burned - followed by several passes with a disc. It sometimes takes weeks to dry out from the sun and wind before leveling can begin. As we move deeper into the swamp it is more level and will be easier to build fields in. We will hire locals to hand clear the wettest areas and hopefully by the end of January we will be up to perhaps1000 acres of cleared and drying new ground, on top of what we now have. We have allowed hundreds of local people to come into the recently cleared land ahead of us at their risk to plant crops. It has been well received by them and probably 1,000 acres are now in their crops. Their harvests are coordinated with the progress of our land leveling crews.

Jenny called to say that the pastor and wife team is really interested in our camp. They will be here on Wednesday for an interview. We are hopeful!

Tuesday morning began with a fish farming update with Enos and Steve. We are now in our fourth generation of breeding and we are very pleased with the results. Our current fish generation is yielding around 35% meat as opposed to 24% in the wild fish of the area. A yield of 1.0 grams of fish is now grown for every 1.50 grams of food consumed by the fish is fantastic and is a tribute to Enos and his wife’s hard work. It is now time to move from the research lab into commercial-scale operations. Now we just need to find the funds in these troubled financial times to get infrastructure underway. There is a demand for the supply of fingerlings to the locals for their small scale aquaculture operations. We sell some now to the commercial operators for bait to use in Lake Victoria. We may be able to start construction without any electrical power and I will work on the engineering of this system.

Steve and I then went for a tour of the farm and the recently-cleared lands. Ronald came along to show off his new work. What a difference has taken place. Deep into the land we found huge areas if grass fields which were being cut, burned, and plowed. One driver with the curious nickname of Squirrel supervises the work and knows every bit of the land. He knows where it is high ground, low ground, and what is in between. We recently constructed a major drainage ditch and associated dyke across the farm. It was overseen by Doug Conner (our head mechanic and infrastructure engineer) so is now known as “Doug’s Ditch”. This will stop any water from backing up on the developed land during rainy seasons. The area protected now totals around 4,800 acres of land, of which about 800 acres are now ready to be developed and leveled. Squirrel says it will take him 2 months to get the area protected by Doug’s Ditch cleared, but time will tell. Squirrel is a young man who raised himself after his parents died and nobody would have him after about age 12. He taught himself English and now is one of our best workers and drivers. He can not thank us enough for giving him a chance and we appreciate his good attitude. We will continue to press on and plant everything we can before the long rains come in April. The rice mill looks good and the installation of the second line is complete except for the electrical installations which will not be completed until we get all of the switch gear and wire from the containers in transit from the US.

Our hanger is finally being built and the roof should be on in a couple of weeks. At least the plane will be protected in the worst of storms. Chicken coops are about finished for the first 1000 chickens and the chicks are now 30 days old. Of the 1021 chicks purchased, we now have 1018 good looking birds. Egg production will begin in a month.

Finally we had a meeting with the Siaya county council. Same story, they are out of funds and looking for how Dominion can support them. They left empty handed but are always seeking new ways to get funds from us. Part of the process of change is to have the local government bodies understand how proper business relations exist within the bounds of contracts and agreements. Over time an understanding is being established within the framework of the documents, and that is good.

Thursday morning, all morning, was spent building and going over budgets for next year. In the afternoon, Chris and Florence arrived with Ben and Jenny for a long job interview. They are definitely interested in operating the Camp and have great qualifications, but this is a matter for much prayer and consideration. They can clearly do the job. The evening was spent at Steve’s home with the other managers for snacks, which ended up being enough for a meal. I was tired and left a little earlier than the rest for a good night’s sleep.

Thursday morning Austin was at the farm to discuss the-out grower program and our progress with the community. He has many people ready to get on board with the program and we need expand our search no further. We will concentrate on around 2500 acres of jatropha and amaranth grain. The cotton program we earlier proposed is dead as the Government decreed the price of raw cotton to be 30ksh per Kg, which would result in a loss on each Kg purchased, as the world price of cotton has fallen around 40% in the past few weeks.

Our fish food growing area will include the planting of banana trees to shade the duckweed from excessive sunlight. This will ultimately result in about 1000 acres of bananas when we are complete, yielding up to 100,000 bananas each day. I hope the campers like bananas and there is a great market for them in Kisumu since most are imported from Uganda.

The afternoon began with discussions about the Kenya Youth Camp. Much has changed here. The foundation that has funded most of the camp’s Phase I construction costs has elected to concentrate on its existing camp projects in the US. Dominion Farms is grateful for the extraordinary contribution the Eagle Sky Foundation has made to the project and the company is committed to pay for the necessary costs for its completion and operation. Phase I will contain 1000 beds, requiring some redesign of the project, now underway. This training camp will have tremendous impact on thousands of young lives. It will train the next generation to become self sufficient, responsible people. It will be operated by Dominion Children’s Foundation (a 501C3 not-for-profit US corporation) with help from contributions of money and in-kind work from those who will help transform the lives of the next generation. We plan to be in full operation by January of 2010 and run at least ten 3-week sessions annually, touching the lives of ten thousand young Kenyans each year. The camp will emphasize body, mind, and spirit and will include the following vocational training venues:

1. Dairy operations (for which Feed the Children has graciously donated the seed capitol to make this happen)
2. Poultry operations (we already have 1000 chickens and will expand to 15,000 chickens).
3. Gardening and farming which will include up to 150 acres in a variety of crops. Farm training will include courses in rice, amaranth grain, sorghum, sugar cane, vegetables and other crops.
4. Fish Farming and fish food crops and feed production.
5. Fish processing for which a local processing plant has agreed to assist.
6. Baking which a local bakery has agreed to assist.
7. Sewing operations where we need donations of equipment and expertise
8. Hair dressing and make-up application to help build self-esteem and develop job skills
9. Cooking and food preparation which will be taught in the camp kitchen.
10. Equipment maintenance for both camp and farm equipment.
11. Carpentry for making of furniture, cabinets, and construction purposes.
12. Paper, mattress, and craft making for camp purposes and for sale to the local markets.
13. Building maintenance with emphasis on preventive procedures.
14. Building construction of new buildings, roads, and infrastructure.
15. Bio-digester construction and operation for sanitary disposal of waste products and energy production from same.
16. Soap making from bio-diesel waste products.
17. Landscape installation and maintenance for farm and camp facilities
18. Bio diesel crops and production from jatropha, castor, fish oil and various other products including the transesterfication of these products.
19. Computer and communications skills for the modern world.
20. Water and waste water treatment programs utilizing the camp facilities as training facilities.

These programs will be supported by Oklahoma State University and Oral Roberts University from their schools of Agriculture, Veterinary, Business, Communications, and various other disciplines. Both schools hope to have international degrees for which credit will be given for time spent on our farm and working in the camp and community settings. Many training venues will be integrated into the farm operations and be as self-supporting as possible. To reduce the net cost of operations as much as possible, most courses will produce items for sale to the public through retail distribution centers now being established by Dominion Farms. The sales proceeds from this practical vocational training will offset costs to the camp, making it possible to operate with less dependence on donations

The camp will emphasize training in health-related issues including HIV/Aids education and prevention, much needed in an area of 30% infection rates for the general population. For many of those attending this will be their first experience with using a toilet or a shower, or even turning on a light switch. Treated running water will be a new experience for most. The HIV/AIDS problem will be tackled head-on with a no holds barred approach to the problem. Abstinence will be the emphasis for the program along with other prevention methods. A Godly emphasis will be placed on the sanctity of life and international organizations will be involved in the support and delivery of this program.

The spiritual portion of the camp will be done in conjunction with the local churches, including all denominations. Hopefully each of the youth attending will leave with a firm foundation in their relationship to God and a strong moral base with which to move forward in life.

Dominion Children’s Foundation will be looking for more outside partners to assist us in the planning, development and operation of this project and will appreciate any help offered.

This foundation has been offered a long term leasehold interest in 800 acres of land near Guthrie, Oklahoma to construct and operate a training center for Americans who will be deployed to mission and community development assignments in emerging countries. It will be leased by Jones International Ministries (Feed the Children) to Dominion Children’s Foundation for the purpose of preparing people to function efficiently in the developing world. It will be operated by the foundation in conjunction with Oklahoma State University and ORU. The program will prepare graduates to meet the challenges facing them in isolated rural villages that lack the conveniences and support common to Americans. The center will feature housing with no electricity, running water, indoor toilets, and modern communications, allowing students to gain confidence in their ability to be self-reliant in primitive settings. Many of the same courses to be developed for the Kenya Youth Camp will be included in the program. Dairy, gardening, poultry, bio-fuel, bio-digesters, cooking, equipment maintenance, and construction will all be part of the daily life at the facility. To equip this facility we will need used equipment including tractors, disc, trucks, trailers, etc. as well as animal handling equipment. Here it will actually be beneficial for items of equipment to break down – so we can train students how to deal with such contingencies and to rely on the resources at hand. If the students do well here, they will thrive in the developing world. More about this will be announced in the near future.

On both Friday and Saturday, Barbara was on the road checking on many of the schoolchildren that are supported by Dominion Children’s Foundation in the Siaya and Bondo areas. She visited as many of their homes as possible to ascertain living conditions and visited with teachers about their performance in school. All but one is orphaned- unable to provide for their school fees and physical needs. Living in mud huts with relatives or friends, these kids simply need a helping hand to get them through a tough period of their lives, and Dominion provides tuition scholarships, supplies and uniforms to as many as we can. Much more is needed, however, as young parents continue to die from the ravages of HIV/AIDS and malaria. As a former teacher, Barbara is a natural at getting to the core issues with each child and evaluating their needs and aspirations.

On Friday morning bright and early, Steve and I were off to Nairobi for several meetings. First was with a foundation interested in supporting our efforts to develop our fish farm quicker than otherwise possible. They want to put emphasis on the outreach of their supported programs to the local communities which we will be doing by creating out-grower programs whereby local farmers will supply materials for making fish feed and we will in turn supply budding fish farmers with fingerlings and aquaculture technology. We will be doing this through both the camp and specialized training for the community farmers. We do not know if the grant will be approved but are hopeful.

Next we met with Teresa, a young lady from near our farm who is an aspiring model. She would like to represent Dominion as the face of our Prime Harvest brand rice. Teresa is around 6 ft 4 inches tall and has a commanding presence about her. Soon the conversation came around to the camp and she volunteered to get involved with our hair dressing and make-up programs for the girls. It just seems that everyone has a heart to help the impoverished kids of Kenya.

The final meeting was with the largest engineering firm in Kenya to explain the structural steel system and roofing systems we have imported into the country. I believe the entire engineering staff was present as I explained the benefit of the systems we are now able to manufacturer. I am hopeful this can work out as a great system and provide continued support for the camp. There was great interest. By 9:00 we were back at the farm.

Saturday morning we finalized our 2009 farm budget – the first year in which revenue will exceed expenses (assuming that the rains don’t come to hard and that there will be no civil disruptions or other events that could occur only in Africa). Saturday afternoon was time to meet with the community of Bar Olengo located about 6 KM (4 miles) from our office. They had been calling several times a day for a week. When I got there a group of elders had gathered and wanted to make sure I had not forgotten them. They have gathered over 2000 acres together to be part of our jatropha bio-fuel project. I assured them the program was on the way, with the best of hybrid seeds coming next year from the top research university in India. These new varieties yield fruit in just 8 months as compared to 3 years from the old varieties, so they are well worth waiting for. Their major concern now was for snake bites when they cleared the land. I assured them we always have anti-venom on hand, and it is administered free of charge to anyone who needs it. At $150.00 per dose this stuff is not cheap but we have saved around 15 lives in the past two years. Cobras, black mambas’, green mambas’, puff adders, and pythons make for tough neighbors, but somehow these people have learned to live among them with. The community wants to build the chairs and tables for the camp and will provide samples of their product when I return in a few weeks. This contract will provide work for many. I would rather pay for primitive but sturdy wooden chairs and tables ($10,000.00 +-) than plastic ones made in China. I really hope this works out and helps build an industry. This meeting gave me a chance to just sit and talk one-on-one with the men of the area who really loosened up to speak about their situations and relationships with their wives and children. I hope I had an influence.

Sunday was spent at the farm reinforcing relationships with the farm managers outside of the work settings. I helped clear and burn off the land for the fish farm, and did some re-design work for the project to enable an earlier start. One of our local rice retailers came by to thank us for giving him a chance and trying to figure out how to be more involved. He is a fine young man who once protested our farm but now has a business selling our rice and providing support for his family and community.

Doug Connor and Dan Yenner (our crop duster pilot) had dinner with us that night and then we needed to get packed for a 6:00 AM departure on Monday morning. It was lots of fun, and good food.

Monday in Nairobi Steve and I met with the leaders of FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN) to describe the community farm program we have been expounding. A few weeks back in Washington, DC I met with Jacque Douff, Director General of FAO, and he loved the idea. He has been expounding a similar idea as the solution to poverty for the subcontinent for some time now but has been unable to get such a program underway. He stated that FAO would soundly support our program and this was the beginning of the process. It was a great meeting, with knowledgeable people and enthusiastic support. An hour later we were in the office of the Minister for Regional Development, Hon. Fred Gumo. For months now he has known of our community farm program and now believes we may actually be able to get it done. When we first described it to him, he responded that it would solve the problems of Africa if only it could be done, but thought it would be too tough to accomplish. He now is a great supporter, and we will get the prototypes underway soon. While Steve and I were in meetings Barbara spent the day a Nakumatt, a store comparable to a Super Wal-Mart in the US. There she obtained prices for about everything which will be needed at the camp, encompassing 15 pages of items. The final meeting was with a freelance writer from the US doing stories on the Church in Africa who wanted an interview from us. At 11:30 the plane left for London and I slept for the first 6 hours of the trip.

Arriving at 5:20 in the morning we were picked up by Vitalis Ndeda and his wife Tanya, and commenced a whirlwind of events over the next few days. The first part of the day was regarding truck parts and interviewing carbon credit firms, with the evening being a reception at KPMG regarding the Millennium Initiative of the Earth Institute and the United Nations. Leaders from all over Africa and the developed world were there and new acquaintances were made. We made it back to the hotel by midnight, after riding the tube, trains, and walking a series of places. It was cold and we really did not have the right clothes for the weather.

Wednesday was an all-day conference to encourage African investment, and 6 countries were represented. Some were hopeless in their quest to hide their problems and ignite a spark of interest. In the Kenya presentation there were 2 businesses represented, one being Dominion. When I told our story the mood of the audience seemed to change from one of despair to hope. Everyone appeared to admire the Dominion plan and from there forward everyone used Dominion as an example. Many requests for business cards and appointments and any officials of organizations like the UN and UNIDO wanted to know more. The Millennium brochures were full of pictures of our farm to show a success story in the area. When the questions came I addressed corruption for the blight that it is and the crowd applauded while some government officials cringed. One new direction of the Millennium organization will be to act as an intermediary between business and Governments where corruption is getting in the way. This could be a major breakthrough for investors.

After explaining the training centers in Kenya and in Oklahoma the leaders began to realize that Dominion’s integrated plan may be the most pragmatic, effective and achievable approach to poverty reduction that has yet been advanced. Some of our harshest critics were also present but after a few hours began the process of coming forward to make peace, explaining they really had no idea of what we were really doing in Kenya. Before the day was over the strongest of them had become a friend and had offered his help. A freelance writer for several papers asked for an interview and I agreed to do so on Thursday evening.

Thursday was a slow day and Barbara and I got in a little Christmas shopping and a lot of work on documents before going to the home of Vitalis and Tanya for dinner. After dinner the reporters came by for an interview. They were amazed with what has been accomplished and could not understand why we have stayed through such trying times of corruption, war, and difficulties. By 11:30 PM we were on the road towards Heathrow Airport and a few hours sleep before leaving for home. We left through Terminal 5, which is a new $1.5 billion facility. With all of the recent bailouts of the financial industry, it put that amount of money into perspective.

Kenya is improving and there is high hope for Africa, but it will take time. We have been at this for 8 years now and have had the land for over 5 years. We never thought it would be so hard or take so long. But this is Africa and it will still be Africa tomorrow, so patience is in order and perhaps always will be.

The past 12 months in Kenya have brought war, crop failures, torrential rain and local unrest to Dominion, but with the help of God we have overcome them all.

May God shed his light and his blessing on the people of Africa so they may learn to live and prosper, held securely in his hand.

The year 2009 is set to be a great year full of challenges and we cannot wait.

Dominion Farms Ltd.

Trip Number 59

2008-06-09T10:41:00.001-05:00

This trip began on Saturday May 10th in Oklahoma with a flight to Dallas and then 9 hours to London. I slept a little but was tired by the time I got to Europe. 1 ½ hours on the ground and we were off to Nairobi for 8 more hours of flight. This time I slept for about half the time which was good. I met a man from Canada that was working on medical intervention for the people of East Africa and wants to talk further about working together. My entire luggage arrived and I was at the hotel by 11:00 pm, and in bed by 12:00 but sleep was short. Up at 6:00 am it was time to get some work done for the meetings of the day.

The day began with a meeting between Steve, our managing director, and me to discuss the issues at hand. Next we were off to the cardboard box company to work on packaging materials for the fish shipment, and other products we sell. They will make up samples and come up with prices over the next few weeks. It looks like, for the fresh fish, their product will have problems. This will require other vendors or us to make a workable product. Lunch was with the Managing Director of the Lake Basin Development Authority. They would like to team up with us in our programs, to bring agricultural development to the impoverished land owners around our farm. We will provide the market for the product, the processing plants, training and expertise, while they provide the extension agents, the legislative support, and the funding for their part. We meet tomorrow to go to the next level of approval with the Minister and Permanent Secretary of Regional Development, to outline and start the process to implement the programs envisioned. This partnership should make for better government support of the programs and the passing of laws to make the programs work more efficiently. The main emphasis for now will be on cotton and Jatropha Curcus (oil-bearing tree).

Next we were off to meet with the Railway executives and try to negotiate better rates and schedules. The railway is now a private entity and the manager is a friend of Steve’s. This was a very good visit and for the materials coming for the camp, will result in a large saving. If we can keep our containers down to a maximum of 48,400 pounds (22 tons) each, they will load two on a single railway car.. A deal was worked out to utilize empty back haul trains to send our products to Mombasa. At around 60% of normal rates, when we get to where we have need of this service, it will be especially valuable to transport excess fuels for export.

Two hours of e-mail catch-up and we were off to a 2 hour meeting with the irrigation specialist. The best meeting of the day! We were there at the right time as some programs are about to end and others are to begin. It appears that we will qualify for grants on some large irrigation projects, and we fit the model very well. There is a new program coming, which will allow us to have our community farms programs partially underwritten if we purchase the products and build the processing plants. I will be spending a lot more time on this. I will need favor on all of this and ask for God’s help here as it could really break things loose, much of it requiring minimum payments. Time to get some sleep!

Tuesday, began with a little extra waiting to get some meetings set up and then we were off to the Tata truck and bus dealer. We need a couple of new vehicles to replace some old and fuel thirsty ones, and our Tata vehicles have held up well. While there, I was able to check out a new super cheap truck which looks very intriguing. The Ace is a 2 cylinder diesel and can carry ¾ of a ton at slow speeds. It can not go over 65 kph (40mph) which is fast enough for the farm. It gets 18 km/liter or around 42 mpg on diesel. The busses look great as well but take up to 6 months for delivery.

Next in line was a long meeting with the Minister of Regional Development, the Permanent Secretary of Development, and the Managing Director of Lake Basin Development Authority. The new government is trying to put their best foot forward and offering to smooth our path in obtaining approvals such as the enterprise processing zone for our fish farm. They wanted to hear all about our proposals for the Jatropha and cotton out grower program. They want to be a team member and do their part. Much enthusiasm was there and proposal papers will be made soon, for a way forward. When I explained the community farm program to them, they loved it but doubted we could ever find people willing to join the program. I explained we had numerous locations ready to go and they encouraged us to begin the program, as this would be the thing that changes Kenya from poverty to prosperity. It was a very good meeting. I am hopeful.

Next was a meeting with a research company that was involved with studying the effects of the removal of trees in the watersheds and the effect on the rivers of the area. There was particular emphasis on the Mara River. The representative was very knowledgeable and will put us in contact with others involved and provide much information. He is now working on projects in Somalia. We were off to the airport and on to Kisumu, then a drive to the farm, arriving at around 9:20 pm. A couple more hours of catching up on e-mail and I slept till dawn.

Wednesday morning began with an early trip around the farm to see the work on the spillway and then to review the recently repaired dykes. It had rained during the night and all was muddy. The dam looks great and the new gates will perform well as soon as the hydraulic unit is able to be hooked up. The materials just arrived in the last container. The spillway is being filled up and compacted but it is not yet finished due to the rains. Another 1-2 weeks and it will be done. After reviewing the work I decided to relocate the emergency spillway to another area which will be in a current rock formation so no concrete work will be required; a substantial savings in both money and time. At the dyke repair area we have began the process of digging a drainage ditch across the swamp. This was the first test of our marsh buggy, and what a machine it is. At 38 feet long, 15 feet wide, and sitting about 20 ft. high, it floats on water, runs thru deep mud and digs like mad. To move it to the other side of the swamp to start the canal, they just went straight across. The whole community on the other side was there to see what kind of a machine could travel across this mess. In four days time they had dug about ½ mile of canal. I believe it will take about 3 passes to complete the excavation and build up a reasonable dyke. I walked thru the swamp to the work area on mushy but drained land, something that perhaps nobody has ever been able to do before we got there. What a place, with papyrus over 20 feet tall and rotten vegetation everywhere. An interesting fact recently discovered about swamps is that they emit enormous amounts of methane gas from the rotting and decaying vegetation. Methane is 21 times stronger than CO2 in damaging the atmosphere and contributing to global warming, so our work not only creates producing land in a country lacking food, but it helps the atmosphere as well. Soon it will dry once and for all, and be prepared as farm land. After I got back out of there, I was told of a worker that lay in a hospital bed recovering from a snake bite. He had been working in the area where I had walked. This is another life, among several, which has been spared with the anti-venom we keep on hand at all times. I also now realize that the swamp has something in common with Oklahoma; no-see-ums, or some kind of similar bug.

Soon we were in a meeting with Austin, a very astute retired gentleman that works for us on a consulting basis. He has been our representative to the community regarding our out grower program and the community farms. We worked thru the model and assumptions to be made in order to present the Jatropha proposal to the locals and the youth, as well as financial partners. Obviously there will be opposition as we once again come against the powers of poverty which so often rules over these people, but the outcome will be worth all the effort. Millions of schillings will be put into the hands of the people and thousands will be employed, changing life for generations to come. The Kenya Youth Camp will be an integral part of the changing of the mindset of many, to allow them to move from poverty into prosperity. A bit of lunch and then I was off to a video interview with a young American graduate student doing a documentary on the business climate in Kenya. People are always amazed at what it takes to do business in Kenya.

A couple more meetings and a good meal, followed by a few hours of answering e-mails and it is late again. Goodnight.

Thursday morning! Well, it was not a good night for sleeping. Our new cook was not there on Thursday because she was very ill; her HIV had progressed to AIDS and she was going downhill fast. The house boy did the cooking and left the doors open while doing so. The house was full of mosquitoes and I had to go on a killing spree. I got about 20 of them but more were there. At 2:00 am I was killing them with insecticide INSIDE my netting. In about 10 days I will find out who won; if I get malaria, they got the upper hand. The cook is beginning a regiment of drugs and we all hope she makes it, but as I left the camp she had slipped into a coma. She is a 45 year old woman infected just like so many others.

The morning began with a comprehensive review of our farm production. The war prevented us from finishing so many fields and planting them before the rains came, and then there was the bad fertilizer problem which has held down our yields, but the latest harvest is coming back closer to normal. Next I was off to Siaya for a meeting requested by the youth leaders of the area. About 60 of them were there, and it was arranged by them. Politicians and older people were not there. These young people were great, but their plight is so desperate, and they need so much help.

The latest statistics indicate the following:
· Currently 67% unemployment for ages 15-30 years
· 45% of the population below age 24
· 75% of the population below age 30
· 32% of the population between age 16 and 25
· 65% of population HIV positive between age 16 and 25 years
· Siaya district has a population of 500,000 of which 374,000 are considered to be the youth
· 69% of the youth have only a single parent

About ten of the leaders told of the needs of the community as they relate to the youth. These people are desperate. They have no marketable skills, no property, no money and no jobs. They want the youth camp so badly to train them for the future. They are tired of the traditions, the corruption, and the poverty. Simply put, they are depressed, idle, sick, and without hope. Many are now forced to be beggars and there is nobody left to beg from in the area. Yet they have ambition, and want to have goals and dreams just like the rest of the world. Because so many are not married, they cannot own land which means that they can’t even grow their own food unless they squat on other’s land. On the surface it looks hopeless but there is hope and we can help them find that hope. They have nobody else to turn to.

I spoke to them for 2 ½ hours and they hung on every word. As I explained the economic situation of the area, they understood what lay before them, and they know they must make things work. I spoke to them about their sex habits and the death that lay before so many; they said they would change. They asked for training in poultry, dairy, sewing, vegetable farming, cereal farming, horticulture, baking, and various other vocations. They begged to have us purchase products which they might grow. They want to learn, yet nobody will teach them; they know not which way to go, and every path leads to nowhere. They need loans to start businesses yet they have no land or goods for collateral, and no training to do the business. The politicians and elders they have put their trust in have failed them, and oppress them from moving forward, so all they can turn to is begging, theft, prostitution, and extortion. That is not the way they want to go, so they are crying out in desperation to Dominion for help. Please be our mentor was their cry; let us partner with you; you lead and we will follow, but please do not abandon us. It was heart wrenching, to see such passion and so much desperation at the same time.

I explained the community farms program, the Jatropha, the camp, the cotton program, and told of our limitations, and our priorities and assured them we would be there; I do not know how but we will be there, and we will be a solution they can count on. Only God knows how it will be done but we will be there, and there will be hope restored once again.

They have asked for another meeting on Saturday closer to the farm with more youth so I will be there. This will be a tougher group with less hope, more despair, more anger, and less understanding so I will need the wisdom of God to get thru to them, to try to bring hope, and build trust that they will follow to a new destiny free from traditions, and touching a new and better life.
Well it is almost midnight again so time for bed.

Friday was a planning day for the farm, with the department heads. It is time to start interjecting rotational crops, and rebuild some of our soil. We are looking at legumes like cow peas, and vetch, or red clover which are almost forgotten crops in a modern world of chemical fertilizers, but in the early part of last century were essential elements to good farming. These were never introduced too much of Africa as chemicals were available. As the price of chemicals soar, these will again be needed to fill the gap. We hope to teach the people how to use them as well.
Saturday we planned out the marketing strategy for the rice. Soon we will begin direct marketing to the communities thru the use of our own outlets, contracted to youthful leaders to operate. We have the first one ready to go in about 2 weeks and hope to have 10 by the end of the year. The supermarkets are very important in the cities but in the rural areas direct marketing is the way to go; we are simply copying the model of Coca-Cola. Our real problem is we just do not have enough rice to sell yet. With another year of production we hope to be up to 50 outlets.

The afternoon was a meeting with the local community to explain the Jatropha project and the cotton project. It was very hot. The meeting was well received but it was hard to understand if they really know what is being said, as the education levels are extremely low. As soon as the session was over the people from south of the farm requested a meeting for their area. It was to be on Monday. I took a long walk and watched the sunset, ate a good meal and then after a couple of hours of proposal writing for financial institutions I went to sleep.

On Sunday I was tired and was slow to get out of bed, but about 8:30 decided to drive towards Siaya, and ended up in Kisumu around 10:30, so I went to church with Bishop Zephaniah. This was a surprise to the church as I had spoken there before. I said a little but I needed to be sitting in the pew that day instead of being in the pulpit. I took the long way home, and then checked on the progress of the dyke building across the swamp. We were about 1/3 the way across or around a kilometer. Steve and I had a meal and I then I finished the report I needed for Monday. At midnight it was time to sleep.

Monday started with a trip to the local medical clinic. This is very close to our facilities and recently we extended the electrical service to them. We wired the facility and provided water to them some time back, as well as constructing a lab. We utilize their services regularly for malaria testing, taking care of injuries, utilizing the snake anti-venom and checking out the workers. With our help and funds they have greatly upgraded over the past couple of years and now have 24 hour medical coverage. There are 4 nurses and one clinical officer, one lab tech, and one public health person on duty now. Anti-retrovirals are available, malaria testing, birthing and a host of other things going on. They were very thankful for the help we have given. They have much empty space and need a few more items of medical equipment to qualify as a full hospital, and be assigned doctors. I enquired as to their abilities to help with sick kids at the camp and they were eager to do so with minimal costs. Filling more beds would give them more capabilities, and a better quality of service. We will look into this. Next was a work planning session for the next 3 months utilizing our construction equipment. Much of the heavy lifting is now done and we will need to sell a couple of pieces and replace them with more farm friendly equipment. The second line of the rice mill is currently being installed.

A late afternoon meeting was held with the leaders from the Bondo side of the farm. They are very anxious to find a way out of the poverty cycle they are now in. Most people in the area are now down to one meal a day, as food and money are in short supply. I explained the jatropha and cotton programs to them and then the community farm program. The loved the jatropha and cotton and were at first skeptical about the community farm plan, but after detailed explanations most are seriously considering the plan. They trust Dominion here more than perhaps the other side and there is no opposition, only people trying to figure out what to do. The average income for an owner of 2 acres of land according to them is 3000 KSH ($50.00) annually, which would increase 6-10 folds for getting with it on our programs. The meeting lasted for about 2 ½ hours and was extremely good. They are now anxious to get to the next stage of the process, and presented a couple of petitions to seek our help and give their support.

Back to the farm and we worked on the sales operation plans for opening our own outlets and the site license application for site no. 1 is now sent in.

Tuesday morning I was up at dawn and a drove to Kisumu to catch the plane to Nairobi, where we met with financiers regarding partnership with them to accomplish our goals with the local people. So many hoops to go thru and so much delay but who knows, it might be possible to make it happen.

Next we were in a meeting with the Minister of Water, and explained our program to her. She was really supportive and very excited and will start the ball rolling to get her and the cabinet up to speed to assist us to move things along. She called the Prime Minister, and he as well was not aware of the program. She will be working with Steve during the next few weeks and promoting our program to qualify

By 4:00 pm we were in the airport and getting ready to go to India. The trip to Bombay was uneventful and we both got a lot of work done, arriving at around 2:30 am. We made it to the hotel within the hour and were quickly off to sleep. At 9:00 am we had a meeting with the steel supplier for the Youth Camp. They seem to be good to work with but we needed to straighten out a few things about the freight to Kenya, so we can economize on the shipping. We were able to do some checking on TATA trucks and busses here and it might save some money to purchase here and ship to Kenya rather than buying there. At 12:30 pm the plane left for Coimbatore and it was a good flight. A hot curry mutton lunch and about 30 minutes sleep, and we arrived at our destination. A quick ride to the hotel and here I am now, a bit tired but somewhat excited about spending time tomorrow with the research institute.

I have not been to India for several years now and it has really improved, even in rural areas. The slums still remain and many simply sleep on the streets but things are getting better. The younger generation is aggressive, the education level is much improved, and the dress has changed, especially with the younger women, many of whom dress in western styles. As I listen to the news I hear that the price of oil has just passed $130.00 per barrel.

Thursday we met Sagun Saxena and after a brief breakfast headed to the Tamil Nadu University to meet Dr. Paramathma, perhaps the world’s best expert on breeding oil bearing trees like jatropha. The day was spent learning the latest on these plants. This state of the art research program has moved along fast over the past few years. So much has happened to develop better trees with better yields and faster crops; it is imperative that the right seeds are planted. The hybrids look very promising and eventually clones will take over as the preferred plants. Yields of 1500 liters per acre are just a few years around the corner, but for now the select breeds will have to do, and under irrigated conditions around 1000 liters are possible, still not bad. Unfortunately, with no irrigation the yields can be as low as 1/3 that amount. Some trees are yielding fruit within 9 months of transplanting.

It was a long day of going through labs, fields, processing development experiments, and the like. We returned to the hotel, had a good but hot meal and then worked on e-mails until late that night.

Friday we were off about 6:30 am for a commercial jatropha operation about 100 km (60 miles) away. We left early and avoided the major traffic, as we drove through the countryside from village to village. There are people everywhere in India, but somehow they get along with each other. The roads were paved and constructed fairly well. When we first arrived we met with the Managing Director and then we were on a tour of the processing plant, the plantations, and the research farms. The yields were impressive for some of the materials and not so good for others. No pictures were to be taken for security purposes. This research is considered proprietary property with patents being sought for development work. We had a traditional hot Indian breakfast served on palm leaves, which was nice but you needed a fire hose to put out the fire. Next we went to the countryside to see two plantations. The people at the first were very happy with the crop but at the second, which was not irrigated, they were not sure yet and will make their decisions after the third year. They were all hard working common people, and were very nice to us. We left for a meeting in Coimbatore at 2:00 pm and were running late.

The driver took a different route back and it was driving in India again as I remembered it. The system does work but what a ride! The cars talk to each other, with hoots, honks, toots, beeps and sometimes a blast of desperation. The drivers are the orchestra leaders, as well as the players; they are so used to doing their job that even when nobody is near they still just keep up the act. Drive as fast as possible, up behind the trucks, and get on the horn as requested by the signs on the back of the trucks. Hooting and honking, then out into the traffic, just enough to get by, and back in most of the time. Lights flashing and horns blowing, the vehicles face each other at highway speeds and then someone must be the chicken and get to the dirt. Twice we about met but each time the other was the chicken. It is very nerve wracking and Steve just closed his eyes to try to ignore the situation and try for some sleep. About 2 ½ hours later we were back at the hotel. Next we were at a Chemical and Biological company which makes many natural substances for farm operation and some may work for us, but I am a skeptical about others.

The evening was spent working on e-mails and catching up on things back home. Skype is a wonderful tool to keep in touch with home when on the road. Even my granddaughters get in on things, looking into the camera and telling of their days activities. The pictures are not always the best but we are at least able to see each other live, and it is virtually free.

Saturday was the time for all to head back to their homes. Sagun and Steve have a 3:00 pm flight while mine is not until 8:00 pm tonight, so we reviewed and planned our way forward with this poverty alleviation project up until 1:00 pm when they had to leave for the airport. There are no quick answers to areas of the world where education is so low, superstitions so high, traditions so repressive and poverty so prevalent; but it must begin somehow, and it may as well be with us. Our plan will never make anyone rich or famous, but if it can keep people from being forever poor and desperate then it will be a success, at least in God’s eyes and those who we help.

As I sit here in my hotel I wonder again why God sent me to such an impoverished area of the world full of every problem imaginable. Was it to change that area or was it to begin to touch the world through business and a caring heart of Godly people. Who are those Godly people that will lay aside their ambitions and take up the cause of changing the world, seeing only thru the eyes of Christ at a hurting people? It is not just my little corner of Kenya that needs the help but so many areas; India, Liberia, Cameroon, Uganda, Sudan, Somalia, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia, Burundi, Botswana, Rwanda. These are all needing help and have asked Dominion to come. The challenge is there for the taking; I believe there is a way, but it will not be easy.

Africa is appropriately described as the land of drought, flood and pestilence, but God still hears the prayers of his people. It is not easy to do business as has been proven to me over the years, but the satisfaction is there when the lives are changed, and hope is restored. This year started off with a flawed election which resulted in a war, which was followed by now 10 weeks of rain, so moving forward in the development of the farm has been severely hampered, but it will go on, as the situations allow.

If the caring people of the world do not take action, not by sending another missionary to teach people how to die, but by giving of themselves and committing the resources God has given them to the lives of these people, they will only be remembered for their greed and self centered lives.

As I get ready to leave for a 28 hour trip home I wonder if history will remember so many of us for our power, our wealth, or for our hearts; the real question however is, what will God remember us for?

Please pray for Kenya, and Dominion Farms.

Calvin

Enviromental Reports

2008-04-28T12:47:00.004-05:00

NEMA CERTIFICATE

March 4th, 2008 Blog Update

2008-03-07T08:22:00.001-06:00

Kenya is coming out of its darkest hour in History. The Nation is entering into a time of healing and rebuilding after the post-election crisis. With 1500 people dead and around 600,000 displaced or homeless there will be a very long period of rebuilding and learning how to trust one another. I have the highest of respect for President Kibaki and Opposition Leader, Hon. Raila Odinga for being able to lay aside their personal feelings, and coming together to form a grand coalition government for the sake of the people of the country. It is not going to be easy, and I have to admit that I seriously wondered if it could really happen, but I truly am pleased to see both sides come together in a spirit of co-operation. I congratulate both of these leaders for doing so. Other world leaders including the representatives of the UN, EU, Britton, US, and the African Union who came together to help, including the former head of he UN, Mr. Kofi Annan, were all very instrumental and are to be commended for their efforts.

Now will be the time for the world to put forth their goodwill and their capitol to have faith in this nation and begin to invest funds to develop a land of prosperity and peace from the ashes which only exist in so many areas. The displaced persons need shelter, and the food shortages will soon be coming on the land, so the outside world will be called upon to help, and will be judged for the generosity they need to have at a time like this. Dominion is already there and doing all we can to provide jobs and help to the local community. We will continue to expand our operations to provide food security to the country as rapidly as possible. With rising fuel and fertilizer prices it has become increasingly a challenge. The crisis placed us months behind in our development but with God’s help and the good will of the people we can overcome the setbacks.

We thank all of the local people for their unwavering support of Dominion Farms throughout the crisis time. We all met a lot of new friends as we worked together with the community to be a food supply during this time of crisis.

As soon as possible we hope to resume construction of the Youth Training Center, and the development of the surrounding area for a better future for the lives of the next generation of Kenyans.

May God bless the lives of the people of Kenya and their leaders!

Calvin

Calvins Blog Report Jan. 20th, thru Feb 2nd 2008

2008-02-04T08:19:00.000-06:00

Since my return from Kenya in December of 2007 much has happened in the country. Kenya has lost some of its innocence, trading peacefulness for war like activities. The elections for Parliament were held on Dec. 27th with a massive turnout by all sides. It was a tightly fought battle on all fronts but especially by President Kibaki with his PNU party and by Raila Odinga with his ODM party. Many lesser parties fielded candidates for parliament and some won, however this was definitely a year for change. The past parliamentary members filled their pockets, tripled their salaries, and got almost nothing accomplished during their term except to fight with each other. The population at large had a “throw them out attitude” and they did just that for the most part. Eighty percent of the parliament was to be new blood, 18 out of 20 cabinet ministers were not re-elected, and the ODM party took 99 of the seats as opposed to the president’s party returning only 43 members, a crushing defeat. As the results started to come in things were not looking well for the president and the results showed a resounding defeat for him. Suddenly the counting had to stop, the international observers were required to leave, and somehow the next morning Mr. Kivutu of the electoral commission declared President Kibaki the winner by 230,000 votes. The opposition cried foul and the crisis began in earnest. Roads were blocked, riots broke out businesses were looted, homes burned down and the country went into tribal warfare. The president, a Kikuyu and his vice president a Kamba set the tone for the rest of the tribes as having stolen the election and their democracy. Raila, a Lou and most of the other tribes aligned themselves together to strike back at everything owned by a Kikuyu or Kamba

The ensuing three weeks have wrecked havoc on the Nation. The fuel pipeline was shut down and neighboring countries which rely heavily on Kenya for fuel and transportation of there commodities have also now come to standstills for their economies. President Musiveni of Uganda has been generally known as a dictator in his style of rule, supported Kibaki and reportedly many of the killings in the Lou community were by Ugandan soldiers wearing Kenyan uniforms. If this is true or not I do not know but much evidence points to it. The international community has declared the election as flawed, and the EU has cut off all aid the Kibaki government with the US and Britton seemingly going to follow suit. The people have torn up the railway tracks leading to Uganda to punish their President, and stopped commerce as much as possible. After 3 weeks of uprising approximately 1000 people are dead, 250,000 are homeless and 500,000 are displaced and can not return home. The tourist industry is all but finished for some time. As return to Kenya , I sit on a Boeing 777 about 2 hours out of Nairobi and we have 69 passengers on board, instead of the usual 250.
The food supply is in a crisis mode and beside me sits a relief worker from a French organization going there to try to source food for their relief efforts.

Well now it is Thursday afternoon and I am at the farm. Tuesday was spent going too and from meetings all day long then a flight to Kisumu and finally a drive to the farm. We are located in the territory of much of the riots and destruction of property. I believe that around 70 people were killed in the Kisumu and in Siaya just 16 km (12 mi.) away 6 gave their lives. It appears that The opposition leader, Raila Odinga, is going to hold fast to his position that he won and Kibaki stole the presidency. He firmly says this is a fight for the democracy of Kenya. At 11:00 there was a meeting at the US Embassy to see the Commercial Attaché. Jim Sullivan is a new man on the job, but very willing to assist if we have needs. His opinion of the mess in Kenya was it would not be solved soon or easily but it must be done. He had to leave by noon to go to a business leader’s luncheon, which I was also attending. The luncheon was very informative with speakers from the banking industry, insurance industry, and the manufacturing sector. Some of the highlights are as follows:
· Money supply has been reduced by 30%
· 6000 businesses have been destroyed
· The tourist industry in virtually wiped out for now
· Banks do not have enough capitol to fulfill their loan commitments
· Banks do not expect to receive many payments for loans outstanding and are trying to arrange for a grace period of 1 year to their business customers
· Almost no insurance coverage is provided for the type of damage done, however I believe ours does cover it by special request
· Government revenues are down by 50%
· Capitol is fleeing the country and foreign capitol is hard to come by
· Uganda, Burundi, and others in the area are very hard hit.
· A food shortage is looming
· Manufacturing is off by 20%, trucking by over 50%
· The port of Mombasa is stuck with 21 ships now in the harbor waiting for off-loading

After these presentations the US Ambassador spoke and gave the official view of the US. The US gives in one form or another around $2 billion to Kenya each year while the EU gives around $600,000.00. They plan on using the carrot and stick approach to a solution. The problems are very complex and hard to resolve in a short period of time. This will take some time, perhaps up to 5 years to return to normal. After the presentation he requested a private meeting with me to get my take on the current status and discuss possible solutions. It was a pleasant meeting which I believe was helpful to both of us. Soon I was on to the airport and then Kisumu. I slept soundly on the plane for the 30 minute flight. From the airport I went direct to the farm with a new driver. Our old one was a Kamba and can not return to the area as his life may be taken. As I went down the road, the driver proceeded to tell me the situation, and describing the killing as just a matter fact thing. If a Kikuyu or Kamba come to the area they will simply kill them, no thinking or remorse, just kill them. In his small world he also thought everything was totally back to normal since the fighting in our area had stopped for 2 days. Everyone should just go back to as they were before, unless they were from one of the two tribes, and they were just to be killed. Simplistic, irrational, and explosive thinking is the order of the day. I slept like a log that night.

Wednesday was a busy day at the farm. The other Americans finally returned after being at home for Christmas, and then being unable to return; little had been done for the month they had been gone. Our mechanics had tried to plant fields and keep things going but did not know exactly what they were doing. I was trying to explain to them what to do over the phone from the US during this time and for a few mechanics they were able to get some fields planted, some crops harvested, and kept the place going. I am thankful for their efforts. The locals began to trickle back to their jobs and we had enough fuel to proceed with some operations again. A few of our most talented people may never return since they are Kikuyu and Kamba. Our rice mill has been operated by a mechanic and electrician for a week now and we actually have milled 50 tons of rice. During the month of problems about 300 acres were left unplanted and another 300 became infested with weeds.

Thursday and Friday, Steve Cowell and I went over about every department to see what could be trimmed back to meet the current level of production and figure out our way forward. We will need to send home a number of people at the end of the month. This is the same condition as most companies in the country are in. An estimated 500,000 will loose their jobs. The rebuilding of the dykes was back underway a few days before I arrived and the people had done about ½ mile of it wrong so a re-do was in order, costing us about a week of time. The spillway had to be fixed immediately while the river flows were low, so an emergency approach was put into action. The repairs to the dam had not yet been started so it is also a flat out effort before the rains come to raise the water levels again. The fields looked awful, weeds had taken over so much and so many fields remained unplanted for the month so planting began, and the crop duster was back into the air, for both herbicides and fertilizer. It was a tough time to restart the farm. The rice mill manager is a Kikuyu, so he is history for now at least, so Rick and the mechanics have found out how to make the systems work, but not as well as they should. Our generator needed some more engineering fixes so these were done and more power is now available. The power company is supposed to start up permanent power soon but who knows when this might happen now. In Kisumu the government rice mill was over-run by a mob of approximately 4000 people angry with the government, so the mill is effectively closed for repairs, which will result in more food shortages.

Saturday was interesting. Before leaving the US I requested a meeting with the Pastors and spiritual leaders of Nyanza, and it was arranged for Saturday morning. The trip to Kisumu was uneventful with almost nobody on the roads, and very few people around. The large numbers of police usually present were not there; being called away to so many hot spots around the nation. The road was damaged in many areas due to the protesting people burning tires in the middle of the road to disrupt things; the places will shortly deteriorate leading to large areas of bad roads again. I hope they can be fixed rapidly. The meeting was long, as I spoke for two hours, then we went into questions and finally a plan of action was arrived at. The only thing that will fix the current situation is a move of God in the hearts and minds of the people. The situation has gone far beyond politics, and into long term grievances, resulting in true tribal warfare. People, including children, are being hacked to death with machetes simply because of their tribal affiliation. First it was the Luo after the Kikuyu and Kambe, then the Kalengin and Masai joined in and then the Kikuyu decide to retaliate, so the war is on. In Nakuru over 50 were killed on Saturday, last night another 15 burned to death, and today 43 died in Naivasha. When will this end? The Christian community is usually hunkered down and out of sight but not anymore. On Saturday they will start coming together in mass to pray in the stadiums, and in the parks and show another side of Kisumu to the world. They are going to begin to love their city and to protect it as much as possible and to become the agents of reconciliation for the people.

On Sunday morning I preached the message to Redemption Church, and it was well received. After the service Ben and went to find something to eat and not one place in Kisumu was open to feed us, that we could find, so I headed to Siaya for a meeting there with the pastors of the area. Three hours later they we also set up to come together and protect their city, bringing it together in a time of public prayer, and reaching out to the business leaders, government officials and the people of the city. The preparations begin in earnest this week for the first major rally on Saturday. It was a good day here but in other places the fighting rages on. Revenge is the order of the day; three killings to offset one, is what they are saying. When will it end, can Kofi Annan make a difference where genocide is practiced. I really doubt it; when he was Sec. General we had Darfur, Burundi, Rwanda, Somali, and Zimbabwe, and nothing was stopped. Will Kenya go this way? Not if I can have anything to do with it!

Saturday and Sunday were tough days for Kenya as more rioting broke out in many areas of the country. Approximately 90 people were killed over the weekend, mostly in the rife valley, in a form of ethnic cleansing. People were hacked to death with machete, burned alive or simply shot just because of their ethnic background. Gangs were going house to house to search out people of different blood lines and then just simply killing them. Retribution in the form of three killing for each one was being promised upon the parties, and more killings were on. Kisumu and Siaya were relatively calm but there was a feeling of something in the air. It was a very foreboding to just be there; people huddled together as if plotting their next move. Fires burning along the road and a ladies body stretched out in the dirt with people peering over her as I left Siaya. Should I stop or should I keep going; I did not stop, was that right or was it wrong, I do not know, but I kept on going, looking back in the mirror and feeling somewhat disappointed in myself for not stopping. A few minutes later a young man was begging to have a ride. I made him run for a bit to see he was not armed then let him in. He wanted to let me know how much the people needed Dominion and that they were praying for us. I felt good as I dropped him at his humble village, shaking the hand of a poor humble man, hopefully just like me.

On Monday we woke up to the news that Kisumu had gone back to rioting, looting and attacking those thing owned by Kikuyu. A store and hotel were destroyed, tires set on fire in the roads, and schools forcefully closed. All the roads from the farm to there were blocked but somehow an electrical supplier had made it to the farm for a meeting by leaving early in the morning. Joyce had been caught between two gangs on the road and was trapped for the day and tonight Steve’s wife and children were headed to the airport and got trapped, and are still holed up on the road for the night. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. The meeting with the electrical supplier went well and after my redesign of the system the price was reduced to one half. He left to try to get home and 6 hours later arrived with broken windows and injuries. Our fuel supplies are down to 14,000 liters, or about 2 days for normal operations, so tomorrow we start shutting down, and securing things. All diesel trucks will be parked, large tractors pulled back in and only essential repair items continued along with field preparation for planting. The land clearing and leveling will have to wait. We are desperate for spare parts held up at the ports, unable to be released. 21 Ships are evidently sitting at anchor off Mombasa, so who knows how long it will take. It is now almost 10:30 here at night and Joyce and Steve’s wife Sharon arrived at the farm. Steve was able to hire an armed escort form the Police and I guess that did the trick. Tomorrow will be another day, what will it hold?

Well it is now Wednesday evening and Tuesday was another rough day in some parts of the country but relatively calm around the farm and in Kisumu. On Monday night when Sharon came home our van had police officers in it with them and at the roadblocks put up by the locals the police had to get out clearing the road. During the time of clearing it was a modern day shootout from the Wild West days, or perhaps like in the 20’s with Bonnie and Clyde. Guns were blazing and everyone was lying on the seats as low as they could get. Nobody on our side was hurt; who knows about the other side? The day at the farm was full of meetings with our department heads strategizing on the way forward and which people to terminate. We were desperately trying to get essential things finished before the fuel is gone. The bicycles and four wheelers were brought out to save on fuel and on a river dyke an operator made a mistake which cost us precious fuel and frankly I did loose my cool for a few minutes. This piece must be finished before any large rains get there or we could have severe damage.

The roads were blocked around the farm as a show of solidarity for the ODM and Raila, with people shouting “No Raila, No Peace”. I had to go thru one and was confronted by a mob, but after a couple of minutes of talking we were shaking hands and I was allowed to pass. I drove on saying the same slogan out the window until out of their listening distance. Someone at the farm saw I was in the middle of this and a call came out to come and rescue me. Police were called and many people were headed to the bridge, but it was a non event. These people were just trying to make a show of support for their candidate whom they believe was getting a raw deal, and to help save their democracy in their simple way. It petered out pretty quickly in a couple of hours, as I was probably the only vehicle that wanted to pass for the whole day anyway.

Overnight on Monday in Nairobi a newly elected ODM Member of Parliament was killed by a shot thru the head, at close range as he entered his driveway. This triggered more problems but also made the powers to understand the severity of the problem. It was no longer just the people but now some of the elite were involved. On Tuesday the top officials began to talk, which resulted in relative peace coming on Wednesday, today. The road to Kisumu became open to convoys of vehicles, and I understand Kisumu was at peace. I believe the people are just worn out and hungry. The fighting leads to nowhere, and perhaps they are beginning to understand that.

Today we finalized our lay-off and implemented it for 83 people. It went fairly well with a couple people mad but most just sad. The rice mill is still running and we have been stocking up on milled rice because nobody has the courage to come down the roads. I believe it will be calm for the next few days so tomorrow I will most likely try to make a run for Kisumu and on to Nairobi for the night. I hope and pray the roads are passable. If there is any question I will take armed police with me or stay behind.

Kofie Annan announced today he thought the hostilities would continue for another month and the political solution was at least 1 year away. I believe he may be right, but the economy will not recover for many years. At the coast, 80,000 people have been laid off in the tourism industry. 400,000 people are being terminated in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors and 25,000 have lost their jobs in Kisumu alone. This has created a very big hole for the country to dig out of. The services of Dominion Farms and the youth camp will be needed more now than ever.

Thursday; what a day! The morning began in peace but a laid off rice mill worker broke in to sabotage the mill. He was caught before he could do much damage. Everyone else understood the situation and some even came to thank me for the work they had been given, and say they understood. One more round was made to the main projects; detailed specification on work to be finished was gone over once more and around 2:00 pm I began to pack things up for the trip home. At 2:30 all hell broke loose. Another opposition MP was executed, along with a police officer, and the people were incensed. I knew that if I were going to get out of there it was then or who knows when. Arrangements were immediately made with the local police for protection and off we went to Siaya with 2 officers to Police headquarters, where final plans were put in place. Five men armed with automatic weapons, three security guards, three refugee Kikuyu, two 5 ton trucks and a few more people was what we had. The Dominion van filled with the officers and refugees led the way, I was next with a senior officer and the two trucks brought up the rear. We were traveling as fast as all could do until we hit roadblocks, whereupon the officers bounded from the van to secure the areas, and the drivers and others proceeded to clear the area for passage of the vehicles. We stopped seven times before reaching Luanda. Once the police got out of the van the crowds scattered, and we would resume our journey. In Luanda there was a major traffic problem with the Fuel trucks bound for Uganda. The roads were blocked going there so it looked like a convoy was being formed to try to get thru on the back roads. The President of Uganda has been a supporter of Kibaki, and according to some a co-conspirator in the election rigging so the opposition is determined to stop anything from going to Uganda. The rail lines have been torn up, the roads blocked and the fuel severely restricted.

Farther down the road at Maseno it was the same scene except there were fires burning on the road, telephone poles pulled down and general mayhem, but we got thru. As we approached Kisumu the real problem lay ahead. Containers in the road and burned out cars and trucks along the way; signs, rocks, poles and burning tires covered the road and at one point it did not look like we would make it, then things changed. Those rebels that were stopping everyone saw the Dominion sign on the front of the van and became our friends; they cleared the way and on foot lead us thru the smoke to the other side. Cheers went up as we passed by and God surely took care of the problem. The police could hardly believe their eyes. Shortly we were at the airport where to executives from Total Fuel met us to take a very large check for fuel but then told us they did not know when it would get there. I got off at the airport and thanked the officers, shook their hands and then they and our driver left taking the Kikuyu to safe quarters.

The airplane was 11/2 hours late so much was happening as the planes came and went. Many people were trying to get out. The airport was complete with riot police, and army personal, and fairly secure. I was exhausted and sat down outside to call Sue and let her know I was fine, and then gunfire rang out so I decided it was safer inside a building. One thing I noticed was a hearse and large truck parked near the aircraft area. When our plane did finally arrive it was parked near the vehicles. As we loaded ourselves they were loading on bodies in coffins into the bottom of the plane. A very high up government official sat next to me on the plane and spoke openly about his disgust for what the President had done. As we left the plane a pretty young lady was standing behind me in near tears. She was coming to burry her husband to be, instead of her wedding. I tried to consol her but her reply was simply “life stinks”.

It is 24 hours from now, midnight that I get on the plane for London, I can’t wait.

Friday, the last day here, and so far it has been good. The day started of with a visit to an investment banker to discuss new ventures in Africa and in particular Kenya and Tanzania. It was a very good meeting, and although real large projects do not have a capitol base here smaller ones are possible for good firms willing to take the risks. This could work well with our proposed future programs. We will start building models from which to work on, so that when the timing is right we will be ready to move on. Next was a lunch meeting with our attorney here in Kenya, Mr. Nigel Shaw. We had a pleasant lunch catching up on things and bantering about what was the best solution to the crisis in Kenya. Neither one of us really knew what would happen but we are both very hopeful it will soon return to normal.

My final meeting was with the Managing director of Nakumatt, which is the Wal-Mart equivalent in Kenya. We had hoped to sell rice to them for retail distribution in their stores and in that regard I visited with him about three years ago. He remembered and within 30 minutes we had struck a deal. We will ship the product to the Kisumu store and they will back haul it to Nairobi for distribution in their supermarkets. This is a real blessing to be immediately sold in the largest chain of stores in the country. I am very thankful. They will take delivery of 24 tons next week and all the guys at the farm are excited.

The trip is about to come to a close except for the long ride home. I will be taking a young Kenyan girl with me so she can get medical treatment in Oklahoma City from the University of Oklahoma. She has severe sickle cell anemia and not much can be done for her in Kenya. Her sister Beatrice lives in Oklahoma City and has arranged for her to be treated for no cost, except for getting her their. Dominion was able to provide her transportation and as we cross the Atlantic she is sleeping in First Class while I am in Coach. She has lived in the bush all her life and knows little English so the trip is a real adventure. I pray the medical profession can make a difference for this girl, before she must return home again.

Overall the trip was good with some very harried times in between. I know that Kenya will survive this crisis in time. Perhaps in a month the violence will be over, and in a year there may be a political solution, but it may take years to get the finances of the country back on track. The ethnic issues are a different story. These problems go back for generations and are deeply rooted. The hearts and minds of these people must be changes from the inside and not just a superficial fix on the outside. I believe that a spirit of reconciliation must begin and only God has the ability to bring such a change to pass. Transformation from the old ways to one of understanding God’s love and direction in a person’s life will take time, and can not happen by the changing of a political leader. The events happening here now may be exactly what are needed to effectively make this process begin.

As for Dominion Farms we are an agent of change in the area, and we are here to stay. So many investors and companies have left or are going to leave, but we will stay. As Dominion has taken on the task of supplying clean water, roads, schools, medical clinics and jobs to the area, we have become a sign of stability in the area, a source of hope for so many people, and now we are their life line in a time of food shortages.

For such a time as this Dominion Farms was born. I hope we are up to the task!

Calvin

Overview of Dominion Farms

2008-01-07T09:43:00.000-06:00

DOMINION FARMS LIMITED

Agriculture in Kenya

In Kenya, most business and agriculture are synonymous. The agricultural sector is the dominant sector in the Kenyan economy, accounting for approximately 25% of the Gross Domestic Product. The sector is the largest contributor of foreign exchange through exports earnings from tea, coffee and horticulture and an estimated 75% of the population depends on it. What’s wrong with this picture? Seventy-five percent of Kenyans depend on a failed industry that produces only 25% of the GDP. Any change in the sector, due to its dominance, translates to changes in the whole economy. Efforts to revive the economy and reduce poverty must begin with agriculture.

For the majority of Kenyans farming exists mainly for subsistence. The level and scale of crop production is geared towards meeting household requirements. Most of the cultivated land is under food crops such as maize, sorghum, beans, cassava, finger millet and sweet potatoes that are consumed by the farmers’ family. Maize (field corn to Americans) is the main food crop in Kenya. The nation experiences an annual deficit in maize production as it is only able to meet about 65% of its requirement. This can be attributed to poor husbandry practices and low input use. Most plant inferior seed and fertilizer is considered too expensive for regular use. Weeding and use of chemicals is uncommon. The major commercial crops are sugarcane, coffee, tea, sisal and horticulture (cut flowers for European and Middle Eastern markets).

There is inadequate milk and beef production because 99% of total livestock is Zebu. Zebu cattle are indigenous to Africa and produce almost no milk, grow extremely slowly and produce extremely tough meat. These animals are used for trading purposes and for dowries – a longstanding African tradition. Goats, chickens and eggs are the generally recognized protein sources for the people; however their quality and quantity are both low. Fish is a common source of protein in the Lake Victoria region and on the Indian Ocean coast, but fish harvests are down over 50% in the past decade and no effective steps have been undertaken to reverse that trend.

Since independence in 1964, the agricultural sector in Kenya has heavily relied on the Government for its development. Yet the sector has recorded negative growth rates since the early nineties. The current Kibaki administration encourages and supports investment in the agricultural sector, but investment capital geared toward agriculture within Kenya is virtually nonexistent and foreign capital for agriculture (other than for horticulture) has been insignificant.

The agricultural sector is plagued by inadequate rural infrastructure, low investment and absence of developed markets. The most notable deficiencies are the pitiful road system, the lack of irrigation (only 4% of cropland is irrigated), lack of electricity and the obvious absence of modern agricultural practices and equipment. These problems are so extensive and the cures are so expensive that an attitude of hopelessness pervades the sector. Those with a global perspective can recognize that many areas of Kenya are the modern day equivalent of the Garden of Eden. Particularly in the lakes region of western Kenya, water is plentiful, the climate is cool and the fields produce at least two crops per annum. Add the components of low-cost labor and reasonable land rentals and the area is very nearly the perfect farming scenario. The impact of two plus crops per annum cannot be overstated in a large-scale application. It is the financial equivalent of doubling the size of an American farm at zero added cost.

The Local Environment

When Calvin Burgess first visited the Yala Swamp in 2002, it was accessible only via all-terrain vehicle and many of its young people had never seen a white person. The swamp is located in western Kenya within the flood plain of the Yala River and about five miles east of Lake Victoria. The leased land covers a total area of 17,050 acres. The equator runs through the farm, as it lies between latitude 00o 02’N, 00o 02’S at longitude 34o IE’ 7’S. It is contained within two local authority and administrative districts (Siaya and Bondo in Nyanza Province). According to the 1999 National Population Census Report, Siaya District had a population of 480,184 with a population density of 316 per square kilometer while Bondo District population was 238,780 with a population density of 242 per square km. Siaya is the birthplace of the father of Presidential hopeful Barack Obama and its grinding poverty contributed to the Senator being born a U.S. citizen.

Siaya and Bondo are among the poorest districts in Kenya, based on total expenditure on food and non-food requirements. The percentage of people living below the poverty level in Siaya district currently stands at 69% while Bondo is at 70% (Poverty Index 2006). However, since 2003 over 50,000 local residents have emerged from official poverty due to the circulation and turnover of new currency from the Dominion payroll of US$1.6 million annually. Such relative prosperity is manifested in the proliferation of corrugated metal roofs on huts (to replace thatched grass roofs), new bicycles and a marked improvement in nutrition and general health.

Local schools lack proper educational facilities and there is a high dropout rate among primary school students, particularly among girls. Few qualify for secondary school and when they do, schools fees are often too high for the parents to pay. Schools lack such basics as running water, restrooms, electricity, doors, windows and floors, other than dirt or cow dung. Often children simply meet under a tree for their teaching session. Books are almost non-existent with most teaching by rote, where the students simply repeat what the teacher says. To excel under these conditions is difficult; however some do succeed even under the worst of conditions. Dominion has been able to help with construction of several classrooms at local schools and has provided teaching aids to many classrooms.

An important indicator of the health conditions in an area are infant mortality rates and distribution of health facilities. The infant mortality rate in these two districts and especially around Yala Swamp is high, at 102 per 1,000 during the first year and close to 20% by the age of five. This is due to the prevalence of malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea and deficiencies in protein. These factors notwithstanding, HIV/Aids related diseases are the highest contributors to infant mortality.

There is a shortage of health workers in the two districts - especially around the project area. The doctor/patient ratio in Siaya and Bondo Districts is 1 per 96,000 and 1 per 120,000, respectively. As a result, there are a number of rural health facilities that are understaffed with some clinics around Yala Swamp being served only by one nurse. Recently Dominion has supplied running water to the Ratuoro Health Center and electrical power is being extended to the facility from the farm’s housing compound. In 2004 Dominion constructed a new laboratory building for the clinic and supplied medical equipment such as wheelchairs and walkers. Dominion has also supplied dental and x-ray equipment to local hospitals as such equipment has been given by U.S. donors.

The Yala River is the main source of water for local communities and their cattle (people and cattle bathe in it and drink from it). Provision of water to communities surrounding the swamp has proved to be difficult due to the absence of water in the geological formations within 1,000 feet of the surface. However, rainwater runoff has unlimited potential for exploitation through roof catchment and surface dams and ponds. Dominion is planning water distribution systems from the Yala River for the Kenya Youth Camp and the Dominion Community Farms program, including basic water treatment facilities. Dominion has drilled several water supply wells (boreholes) and built privacy shower stalls along the river near the farm compound. For the first time for many locals there are supplies of clean drinking water within short distances.

The most important source of energy in Siaya and Bondo Districts is fuel wood. Dominion has relied on diesel-powered generators for its electricity to date but has paid Kenya Power and Lighting Company to serve the farm and its environs from the national grid. In addition, an electrical generating turbine will be installed at the new dam to produce back-up electrical power. The company’s generators will remain in place as back-up for the national grid, in those inevitable events of brownouts and power outages. A major steam powered plant for processing is planned for the rice drying, processing and packaging utilizing waste products from the rice production.

Origins of the Farm

Reclamation of Yala Swamp has been of interest to the government since the colonial days. In the early 1950’s there was a proposal to reclaim the Yala Swamp and exploit it for agricultural purposes. In 1972 the Ministry of Agriculture commissioned a Dutch consulting firm to investigate the development options of the Yala swamp. The study proposed development of the swamp using a weir to be constructed on the Yala River and the construction of feeder canals. In 1982 a design for a pumped irrigation system for rice and maize was produced. A small pumping system was installed in the river but high pumping costs and vandalism rendered it non-operational. A detailed study commissioned by the Kenya government in 1986 and supported by the Netherlands government recommended construction of a weir and the improvement and conservation of Lake Kanyaboli by constructing a feeder canal. Ultimately, much donor money was wasted and a few hundred acres were cleared, drained and put under dry-land farming under the auspices of the Lake Basin Drainage Authority. LBDA oversaw limited production of cereals and horticultural crops for a few years until the cleared land was once again inundated when a dike was washed out and repair costs were not funded.

By the time Dominion came into the picture, the situation at the Yala Swamp had deteriorated to dangerous levels. The primitive dikes were eroded and broken by heavy rains, the dike across Lake Kanyaboli had completely washed away and the feeder canal to Kanyaboli had been completely silted in. Roads around the swamp were impassable, the improvements at the compound were in a deplorable shape with bats overtaking the buildings; there was no running water, no electricity; grass had grown to the rooftops and snakes were a menace to the local community. Locals who had worked for LBDA had not been paid and there was general despair within the community. Poverty was rampant with high crime levels and prostitution was a principal source of survival for many families.

Dominion’s Objectives and Progress

This is a major agricultural project involving conversion of 17,050 acres of swampland into a modern, irrigated farm capable of producing rice, rotation crops, tilapia fish and a number of byproducts inherent to those crops in a vertically-integrated, independent operation. The heavy lifting is over. The weir has been completed and the river has been diverted back into its original channel – creating a 1,100-acre reservoir behind the dam. Over ten kilometers of reinforced dikes downstream of the weir are now completed and dikes along the northern boundary of the farm are under construction. Main canals and their headwork have been built. Land leveling and construction of the irrigation system is underway at a pace of ten to fifteen acres per day. Typical rice fields are virtually flat with small dikes and surrounded by tertiary canals and roads. The average field contains from 60 to 80 acres.

Large-scale crop production began in 2004 with rain-fed crops and moved to irrigated agriculture in 2006 as the irrigation infrastructure was extended. As the irrigation system is completed and the fields are prepared, they are being planted with rice. Most of the operations involve heavy mechanized equipment for tilling, planting and harvesting. It is anticipated that rice fields totaling 2,000 acres will be completed and planted by the end of 2007. Some of the major improvements are described in greater detail as follows:

Weir and New Intake
When Dominion acquired the property it had a partial built weir located on the Yala River, which was completed, resulting in a new reservoir for flood control purposes, irrigation water supply and a fishing ground for the local people. The resultant water reservoir area is now the same size as originally contemplated by the Kenyan Government when they designed the original project.
The weir is a concrete structure with a 25 meter long weir crest at an elevation of 1,150 meters above sea level and featuring two sluice gates to allow the silt bed load to pass through. The structure is designed to carry the Yala River at a 100 year storm flow (over 300 cubic meters per second). Its purpose is to create a new consistent water level upstream of the structure which facilitates the diversion of the water into the feeder canal. The intake gates are designed to enable diversion of five cubic meters per second of water into the farm. The weir construction was completed in 2006, except for the installation of the turbine which is scheduled for delivery in 2008.

Spillway
With the current design, the height of water above the weir crest during a flow of 3003/sec is 3.63m. With a crest level of 1,150.60m the water level will be at 1,154.23 meters above sea level. The incorporation of a spillway is designed to take care of excess flow and will reduce the height of water above the crest. This has the following advantages:
a) The height of the protection dyke upstream of the weir can be reduced, thus saving on fill material.
b) The height of the weir wing walls can be reduced thus saving on reinforced concrete.
c) The area submerged by water during floods can be reduced thus saving on land compensation.
d) Forces on the weir structure and the dykes can be reduced ensuring more stability and durability.
e) The negative environmental impacts are reduced due to less submerged area.

Diversion Canal and Protection Dike
Original efforts to build a diversion canal and protection dyke along the south edge of the farm resulted in deterioration due to improper design, construction and maintenance. The canal was heavily silted and overgrown downstream impeding the flow of water. Though the dike was designed to protect the farm from the high waters of the Yala River, it was heavily eroded and broken in several sections. These conditions contributed to the flow of water into the reclaimed area thus submerging and reverting some of the area back into swamp. The canal has now been cleared and the dike rebuilt to new design standards.

Upstream of the new intake, a 3.5 Km protection dike has been built and acts not only as a dike but is incorporated into the dam to help restrain the water in the new irrigation reservoir. The construction of the canal and repairs to the dike now include the construction of silt traps. These ensure that heavy silt loads cannot travel downstream or into the diversion canal to block or clog the waterways and cause a hazard in the paddy fields and downstream of the project.

Feeder Canal
The purpose of this 8.8 Km feeder canal is to supply water to Lake Kanyaboli, which prior to the reclamation was fed by the Yala River through the swamp. Earlier efforts had produced a semblance of a canal, but the old intake was high and the river water could enter only during high flows. The invert level of the old intake was at 1,148.9 meters above sea level. During normal flows, the water level in Yala River falls below 1,148.7 m.a.s.l., meaning no water could flow through the canal. The flow capacity was estimated at 1.145 m3 per second. The largest monthly water deficit of Lake Kanyaboli was calculated at 1.83 x 10om3, which is 0.69m3/s. The feeder canal has been redesigned and constructed to accommodate a flow of 5m3/s, ensuring that the flow of water is gentle and erosion is minimized. The system now is complete, including over 12 Km of canals, control gates, watering areas for cattle, sedimentation ponds and local clean water sources for the local population. A revitalized lake is the result, and clean water supply for the locals is now available, including the domestic water for Dominion Farms.
Preventive measures have been taken to guard against future damage to the feeder canal. These include cut-off drains to prevent surface run-off from entering the feeder canal and provision of watering points both for human and for animal use. At certain intervals, siphons will be constructed to direct the water from the cut-off drain into the drainage system of the farm. The entire length of the feeder canal has now been fenced to protect the local population and animals from inadvertent drowning.

Lake Kanyaboli Retention Dike

The Lake Kanyaboli retention dyke (2.3km) runs from Gendro village to Kombo beach. It was built decades ago but was severely eroded and washed out for almost its entire length. A large portion of the swamp became submerged by Lake Kanyaboli waters. The retention dike has been reconstructed, now connecting the two communities together. In addition to flood control the dike provides access for the local population as they travel between work areas, schools, clinics, churches, etc., and their homes. Prior to the completion of this dike the locals had to travel approximately sixteen kilometers or pay for a boat ride across the flooded area to reach the same destination. When this piece was reconnected, the local population had a celebration and feast on the dike to celebrate the event which means so much to their daily lives. This dike has allowed the water level of Lake Kanyaboli to be raised by approximately 3 meters, providing a reservoir for irrigation purposes and increased quality of the water. The outflow of Lake Kanyaboli now is controlled by an outflow structure which can be utilized to control the level of the lake water.

Hwiro River Diversion Canal
The Hwiro River is a seasonal river that enters the swamp form the north. It flows for about 2 to 4 months per year with a peak discharge of 5m3/s. In order to reclaim the center section of the swamp, this river will be drained through a defined course along the northern boundary of the swamp. The water will then be safely discharged into the un-reclaimed part of the swamp through the main drains. The length of the diversion will depend on the area to be reclaimed, however it appears to be a total of around 13 km, with about 1 km now complete. This new river canal will also be utilized to circulate water through Lake Kanyaboli to assure water quality. Local communities along the new channel will have access to quality water for both domestic and irrigation purposes.

Other Construction Activities
These include land leveling and irrigation infrastructure, building and maintenance of infrastructure such as access roads, storage facilities, drying facilities, warehouses, and rehabilitation of canals, repairs of staff houses and the construction of an airstrip, among others. Much of this work is now complete and future emphasis will be on construction of the fish farm, fish food processing facilities, fish processing plant, and additional staff housing.

Electrical Power

The project area is not yet served with electricity from the national grid, although the $165,000 extension costs have been advanced by Dominion to the power company and poles have recently been erected. Upon connection with the national grid in late 2007, power will be supplied to the neighborhood health clinic and to other local facilities. The farm will also produce its own electricity to serve the grain silos, fish hatchery and processing plants during power outages and to reduce utility costs. Approximately .3 MW can be generated at the irrigation dam.

PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING

The farm produces rice under irrigation, rotated with other crops. Other crops will be included in rotation such as cotton, sunflower, Artemisia annua, sorghum, soybean maize and duckweed. Most of these crops are targeted towards fulfilling food security of the country. Upon completion, the farm will be capable of producing 100,000 tons of rice annually. Dominion also encourages smallholders in the area to earn extra income by providing raw material that will go into our fish food. To supplement the food grown by Dominion, local farmers will be contracted to produce additional crops. This provides tremendous self-empowerment for local farmers and will be a major source of income for elimination of the rampant poverty in the area. Dominion, through its Community Farms initiative will provide the capital for the local farmers, technical training, and will make the market for crops produced by these co-operatives.

Fish will be produced at the farm on a commercial basis, processed and sold in both local and export markets. Selection of tilapia breeding stock commenced in 2004 and Dominion scientists expect to have a commercially viable fish in 2008. In addition to producing fish for the fish farm, the hatchery has the capacity to produce an excess that can be used to restock local lakes and rivers to benefit the local population. It is anticipated that the fish farm will have an initial capacity of 10,000 tons per year, increasing to 20,000 tons annually in approximately 5 years. Fish will be marketed locally by women to help stem the “sex for fish” trade now prevalent in the area. Initially the fish will be processed by existing processing plants, but as the program exceeds their capacity a fish processing plant will be built adjacent to the production facility.

An additional benefit of the fish program is the production of high-value organic fertilizers from fish feces. It is estimated that enough natural fish fertilizer will be produced to grow approximately 7,000 acres of organic crops annually.

Fish byproducts include both oil and fish meal. Fish oil makes excellent feedstock for biodiesel to offset the rising cost of fuel and help in the reduction of CO2 emissions. Fishmeal will be utilized in the manufacture of animal feeds for chickens, dairy, and beef cattle operations in the local community.

Rice Production and Milling

Irrigation water for the farm emanates from the Yala River, of which flow Dominion has been allocated 70% of volume under a 45-year lease with the local councils. Paddy fields are constructed to an average size of approximately 60 acres each. These fields are constructed utilizing straight levies to minimize water consumption. Production will be staggered to ensure sustained rice milling throughout the year. Initial crops indicate that between 2 and 2.3 crops will be possible on each acre of land annually. Rice and other grains will be dried at the farm in drying silos, already constructed and now being utilized. Large-scale production with exceptional economics of scale will ensure reasonably priced rice in the market to compete and lessen the dependence on importation of poor quality rice into the country.

The milling, processing and packaging of rice is accomplished in the newly constructed rice mill located next to the grain drying/storage facilities. Storage facilities for approximately 5,000 tons are now complete. Rice milling capacity is now at 4.5 tons per hour and will increase to 9 tons per hour early next year.
Byproducts of rice include rice bran, broken rice, rice hulls, and rice straw. All of these products have a commercial purpose and will provide much needed raw materials for the Kenyan economy.

Rice bran is sometimes described as the perfect food, rich in essential nutrients, and a good source of protein. Bran will be used in the production of nutrient supplements for the local population and for fish food production. Approximately 6,000 tons of bran will be available when the farm reaches maturity. Rice brokens account for approximately 10% of the content of milled rice. Nutritionally the product is the same as whole rice; however it is not the visually-preferred product for human consumption. It makes high-value animal feed and therefore will be used in the production of both fish feed and chicken feed for the local population.

Rice hulls have traditionally been a disposal problem in rice growing areas. Recent developments have changed this by converting the product to a viable energy source through gasification and conversion to heat energy, or by direct burning of the product as a substitute for fossil fuels. After the rice is harvested it is transported to the drying and storage silos. Commercial drying is accomplished by the use of large fans blowing hot air thru perforates grating to remove the excess moisture from the paddy rice. This process consumes large quantities of energy in the form of both electricity and fossil fuels. Utilizing conventional methods, upon reaching full production Dominion would consume approximately $5 million dollars worth of these products on an annual basis, however thru the use of innovative technology Dominion is in the design stage, and will soon begin construction of a facility to eliminate these needs. Dominion will build a steam powered turbine to produce the electrical power to operate the entire rice drying and processing facility. The residual heat from the turbine will then be utilized in the grain drying process, totally eliminating the need for fossil fuels in the process, and reducing the carbon emissions. The fuel for the process is the rice hulls commonly burned in piles to dispose of them. A byproduct of this process is the ash which can be utilized as a cement replacement, insulator or as a very good fertilizer.

Rice straw has traditionally been burned in the fields as a means of disposal. Dominion will utilize the product in other ways. The straw will be cut and dried in the fields, then baled with a high compaction baler. The bales will be gathered and transported to a holding area and then incorporated into structural components for construction of affordable housing. Highly compacted rice straw is structurally sound for use as a wall building material, which is then plastered on both sides to provide a load bearing wall with exceptional insulation properties.

Rice Breeding

Dominion Farms is registered by Kenya Plant Health Services (KEPHIS) as a seed merchant and for rice seed production and processing. To build up the gene bank, several germplasm were taken from KARI and LBDA and other rice growing zones of Kenya. Some varieties are sourced through IRRI from various parts of the world. These varieties came through KEPHIS where they were inspected before being released to Dominion Farm’s quarantine station for further testing and are being used strictly for breeding purposes. The rice gene bank at Dominion Farms is comprised mainly of several NERICA (New Rice for African) varieties from KARI and LBDA and also from aromatic varieties (Basmati and Pishori) from Mwea and Ahero, Kenya. The company has grown several varieties from the Philippines and Brazil. These varieties produce higher yields, higher milling percentage, better taste and earliness than others which Dominion evaluated. The breeding program incorporates these desirable traits in new varieties produced by Dominion Farms. The new varieties are then coded and tested in different ecological zones and agronomic conditions before being recommended for large scale production. This is done in line with the proposed material transfer agreement for plant genetics resources (MTA) that governs the use of such materials.

Dominion’s rice enjoys cool temperatures due to its elevation and perfect photosynthesis due to the equatorial sun, this coupled with the services of the best rice breeders. This has enabled the company to combine and select the desired traits within a relatively short period of time.

Rice Processing

Dominion Farms has completed the first phase of its rice milling plant at the farm. The capacity of the mill is currently 41/2 tons per shift hour and will increase to 18 tons per hour as the farm is developed. It will run two shifts at full operation. The finished product, approximately 100,000 tones of rice per annum, will be sold in local markets to reduce a nationwide production deficiency of 220,000 tons per annum. The rice mill will also be employed in the milling and packaging of other cereal grains produced from the project. Drying, packaging and shipping capabilities are already installed to handle the projected volume of production.
The rice mill is considered to be a food processing facility and therefore is operated as a clean environment. All persons entering this area must wear approved clothing, hairnets and appropriate footwear.

Aquaculture Development

The contribution of the fisheries sub-sector to the GDP is about 5%. This sub-sector employs over 60,000 people directly and over 1 million people are dependent on the fish industry indirectly. Local fish catches depend on small boats and fish nets. Today there are 6,229 active boats in Lake Victoria. About 3% are motorized while the rest are propelled manually. Lake Victoria produces over 90% of the fish in Kenya and earns over Ksh. 7 billion in exports alone.

Historically tilapia was the dominant fish in the lake; however around 1960 Nile perch were introduced into the lake and are now the dominant species. This species now accounts for over 60% of the total catch by weight. Unfortunately, Nile perch thrive on tilapia and therefore tilapia are being depleted. This is having a serious effect on the ecology of the lake. Tilapias are filter feeders which consume vast quantities of algae. Lake Victoria is a tropical lake which grows algae profusely. Because of the elimination of tilapia, the lake is becoming overcome by algae and water hyacinth. Additionally, due to over fishing, the fish catch in Lake Victoria has been reduced to historically low levels for all types of fish. It is now necessary to find other ways of producing fish.

Aquaculture will be the farm’s second most important product line. It will initially produce about 10 million kilograms of tilapia fish per annum for local consumption and for export, increasing to 20 million kilograms when the food and other resources become available. Main inputs to aquaculture include large quantities of water, feed (32% crude protein), and electricity for intensive farming. The water will re-circulate through the fish ponds and then be utilized as irrigation water, thus taking advantage of the high ammonia content for fertilization of crops.

The production of fish in intensive systems consumes large amounts of electrical energy. For a partial contribution to that demand, Dominion has added hydro electrical capability to its dam on the Yala River and driven by pressure from its storage reservoir. Additional power generation from both hydro and burning of rice hulls and other renewable waste products will be incorporated as necessary.

As the fish production reaches the range of 10,000 tones of whole fish annually, a modern fish processing plant will be built on site. This plant will feature energy efficient materials and its electrical power will be produced from renewable resources from a second steam turbine. The waste heat from the turbine will fuel an absorber to produce chilled water and assist in the making of high volumes of ice.

A byproduct of a fish processing plant is the oil that may be separated and recovered from the first press liquor. The result is dried to produce a fish meal containing substantially all of the solids originally present in the fish, minus the water. Such processing requires large amounts of heat, which again will be the residual product from the turbine. Approximately 10% of this off-fall is fish oil which will be collected and utilized as food a valuable product and as a fuel oil. As the fish farm and rice farm mature, it may be possible to completely eliminate the need to purchase fossil fuels, except for use as lubricants.

Processing facilities
Dominion Farms has completed the construction of the fish hatchery and it is now operational. Dominion intends to construct various facilities for the fish farm; including a fish food feed mill and a fish processing plant. The processing facilities are expected to add value to the raw material produced on the farm and to process some of the by-products as inputs for other enterprises hence an efficient ecological disposal of same. They will also enhance the market entry for the products from the farm for export and local consumption. Whole tilapia will be sold mainly to the domestic market.

Fish Feed Mill and Hatchery

Other structures associated with aquaculture include feed mill (with the capacity to produce 10 tons of feed per hour), and the now completed hatchery that is capable of producing 21/2 million fry monthly when full production is reached. Fish processing off-all will be dried and made into fishmeal which will be sold to other fish farmers. Fishmeal from tilapia will form feed component for high protein animal feeds. The major component of fish feed will be duckweed, rice, rice bran, and algae, with minor components constituted by cotton seed cake, mineral and vitamin premixes.
RECENT HUMANITARIAN INITIATIVES
Kenya Youth Camp
On the south bank of the Yala River, construction will soon commence on a year-round camp for Kenyan children and youth. It is designed for 2,500 campers and 500 counselors, although the first phase will be limited to 1,000 beds. The camp’s principal sponsor is the EagleSky Foundation of Oklahoma City, which has committed to fund the construction costs and a significant percentage of initial operating costs. Kenya Youth Camp will operate eleven months per year under a schedule of three weeks per session with one week off between sessions. The off week will allow for long-distance transportation of campers and R&R for counselors and staff. Unlike most camp scenarios, Kenya Youth Camp will encourage attendance by entire schools and their teachers for the full three-week session. This will provide a more comfortable and familiar setting for young kids and will qualify for full educational credits from the Ministry of Education. The curriculum will introduce the campers to the modern world with the intent of causing them to be more proactive in the affairs of their families and communities. High among the priorities will be sex education and counseling with a focus on curbing the transmission of sexual diseases. Venues will include modern agricultural operations and practices, including chicken and egg production, dairy production, and farm equipment operation, and general introductions to all phases of the Dominion Farm. The camp will include those traditional features of swimming pools, athletic fields, challenge courses and entertainment – all currently beyond the access of the attendees. It is the intent of Eagle Sky Foundation that campers will return to their homes with a new vision of the world and with determination to make their lives more secure, healthier and happier.
Dominion Community Farms
In 2008, Dominion will select from 1 to 2 groups of small landholders in close proximity of the Yala Swamp to participate in a new initiative. Through the formation and operation of co-operative organizations, ten or more families per co-operative will combine their land, demolish their huts and hedgerows and commence medium-scale farming with modern equipment, inputs and practices. Dominion will provide all funding, seed, fertilizers, equipment and technical supervision and will contract to purchase the crops at prevailing market rates. The company will also loan funds for construction of new homes under intermediate-term mortgage notes. All land ownership will stay with the current land owners in accordance with the Co-operative Societies Act of Kenya. Land ownership WILL NOT be by Dominion for the Community Farms Program. This program is strictly voluntary by the land owners, and their surrounding neighbors.
The intent of this program is to move smallholders from their inefficient 1 to 5 acre parcels with no equipment and no modern practices into 100 to 500-acre commercial farms using state-of-art agricultural methods and equipment. It is anticipated that these co-operatives will be fully independent within six to eight years. As additional co-operatives are identified and prepared for operation, Dominion will solicit help from other organizations to fund and help monitor this important work.
Dominion believes that thru the community farm program true wealth will become available to the local land owners, bringing prosperity to otherwise desperate people. It will require hard work, dedication, co-operation, and honesty for these to prosper. We have numerous anxious people ready to join the program and better their lives and those of their children. Thru the education of the camp and the demonstration of the Community Farms Program we believe there is a very bright future for the next generations.