The month of May was a busy one for ITDP! We had a team of 14 people come from San Diego Christian College to serve alongside the staff and villagers. The team was in the village a total of 19 days. This is the longest any team has stayed in a village. We had an assortment of projects lined up for them, all of which focused on the Agriculture and education projects of ITDP.
The projects entailed:
I. Completing a new teachers house, kitchen, and bathroom. The new house will room two of the male teachers. One of them just started teaching at Ma Oh Jo this year. The other had been teaching at Ma Oh Jo for 2 years. This new house is to hopefully encourage teachers to stay long term at Ma Oh Jo. They live at the school the entire school year, so our goal was to give them a place of their own that they could call home. Both teachers moved in this last weekend, and have quickly made it into their own.
II. Completing a new storage unit for ITDP. This will be used to store tools and items used for agriculture. The team helped cut the wood, put up walls, and lay the cement.
III. Making over 600 bricks, most of which were used to build the teachers new kitchen. We hand press our bricks, so the team learned the recipe and process of making each brick.
IV. Clearing the land for the school’s kitchen garden. We will be planting Bok Choy, Melons, onions, and lettuce.
V. Cleaned the Education and Agriculture rooms at the staff house.
VI. Planted over 500 Saplings by the Water source. The trees are planted for water retention. When grown, these trees will retain the water, so in the dry seasons they can release it back to the water supply.
VII. Built a fence around the perimeter of the school. The goal of the fence is to keep the cows out of the school area. The cows are dirty and this will help keep the area around the school clean for the students.
VIII. Held VBS for the kids during the week, grades K-6. They taught the kids many stories… From David and Goliath, to being fishers of men.
IX. Traveled to a different village called Mo-Gro to start the digging of a fish pond. The team traveled and worked a total of 2 full days in Mo-Gro.
X. Started building a chicken farm for the hostel. Eggs are in high demand here in the villages, so the goal is to raise enough chickens for the hostel to use and sell.
XI. Helped clear the land for the Agriculture demonstration area. This area is used to help demonstrate to villagers how to grow their own gardens. In an effort to help the villagers grow their own sustainable produce- chemical free.
The trip overall went exceedingly well. The team remained healthy and persevered through the hot, dry, and rainy days. They worked really well with the villagers and staff and connected with them very quickly. Its always a good sign when the children, villagers, and staff are sad to see the team return to America. We hope to see SDCC again next year and be able to build even more relationships with them.
Enjoy the pictures!
