Kibera Day 3 A seed is sown.
Today the children of our organic farm had their first lesson in planting as the adults watched and learned through their childrens mistakes. We planted quite a variety of crops, some of those we had seen growing in the site as opportunistic plants, pumpkin, aubergine, amaranthus and others, cabbage, kales.
The kids were great. We had them demonstrate what they knew. One little fellow poured half a pack of seed into a hole whilst another made a row of holes and poured slightly less into each. It was interesting watching the swift changes in behaviour that came about with a little instruction from Zak.
The seed beds were prepared in blue crates, recycled from a Dutch importer of strawberry plants. Mohamed and Zak had selected the most appropriate soil from the location, finding red soil where most of the earth is grey black cotton like clay. The soil was alive with earth worms which is always a good sign!
We had 6 crates lined up very smartly, with children decorating the fringes, sticks in hand drawing drill lines for the seed.
As the earth in the crates was a little too damp thus clumpy and sticky, it wasn’t long before the kids found their fingers worked better than the sticks. They were so cute, working ever so diligently as they sprinkled the seed along their drill lines, often ending up with a mass of seed stuck to the end of their fingers.
The children were told to look after thier seeds and to check in on them every so often to make sure they didn’t dry out. They were buzzing with excitement which Joshua (My 15yr old nephew……..le journalist extrodinaire) managed to capture on tape as they giggled, sang, rapped and took over the show.
We were quite a contingent, Paula my sister, Joshua her son,Wakio our friend, Claire the special girl who brought us to this project, Dino -Kenyas David Attenborough and Zak my eyes and ears in the field. Dino spent the entire time scounting the site for insects, coming up with an incredible assortment ranging from butterflies to dragon flies, both good indicators of a balancing ecosystem. Joshua spent his time interviewing everyone like a true professional, hopefully we will have some of these recordings posted as a podcast in the near future……………………..when I figure out how to do it!! Both Paula and Dino took many photographs that we will have to post in an online album too…..again, when I figure out how to do it.
Technorati : Africas largest slum, David Attenborough, Dino, Kibera, Organic, Paula, Seed, butterflies, dragon flies, garbage site reclamation, organic farming
