Report from BHW Kenya Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

Key Person: Bob Abdalla

We met Bob and his son Joab at 10am on 11 August at the petrol station not far from Kisumu International Airport. Bob’s church was running a women’s conference in Nairobi but Bob had left the conference early and taken the overnight bus to be in Kisumu to meet us.

Bob and Joab got into the car with us and directed us down the main road before we pulled off onto a dirt road. A few turns later and we were pulling into the property on which Bob lives with his wife Lillian – the church is located on the same property. We arrived after church had started. Loud, passionate and joyful worship was in full swing and continued for some time after we had found our seats at the front of the congregation. Over the next three hours we heard several testimonies of how God had changed lives. More worship and then we were invited to introduce ourselves and share an encouragement.  

Recent Events

Chickens

The chickens are based where Bob’s family is from, about 1 hour south west of Kisumu. They have fenced the area to keep dogs and other predators out, and have built a large coop for the chickens. The chickens they got are the local variety which are better at surviving but do not lay eggs without a cock and even then they do not lay constantly. Bob has 36 chickens left. It sounds like the answer is to buy more of the other variety of chicken which lay constantly even without a cock. 

We picked up Bob and his son Joab early on 12 August near their home in Kisumu and drove out to his rural home near Kendu Bay. His extended family live near each other with lots of land around them. They collect water from a nearby river. 

Bob’s brother Samuel is in charge of the chickens. He has no experience in agriculture or chickens but is passionate about them and keen to learn more.

Unfortunately there are not enough chickens to produce enough eggs to make it economic. Also, they are using local chickens which are not as productive. The feed is expensive. The chickens lay well if they are fed well but because they are rationing the feed, the chickens are not laying well. I wonder if they are focussing on the expenses but not pushing the income – the only way the project will succeed is for the chickens to produce eggs which means they need to invest in feed and feed the chickens regularly. 

Personal Stories

One of the people who shared his testimony was called Ben. He talked about how he had been a mechanic but the work had run out. He tried working selling spare parts for cars but that hadn’t worked out either. He explained how he then took a step of faith and started his own business selling hardware. His business is now going well. There are lots of houses being built in the area at the moment so demand for his products is good. He buys products (e.g. cement) in bulk and then sells it. Because of his success some people started charging him more but he said he continues to trust God.

The Community

Bob and Lillian have three children. In addition, Lillian’s sister died leaving her children as orphans so some of them live with Bob and Lillian. Bob said eight people live in their house. 

Bob explained how their community suffered greatly from the post-election violence in 2008. He said that the church was large before that but due to the violence many of his congregation were killed or fled. Also as a result of that violence, his church community was left with widows and orphans to care for. Some of the orphans were placed into other homes. It is very challenging for the widows as they aspire to put food on the table and send their children to school. 

I asked him what he thought was the greatest need of his community and his response was that the greatest need is to help the widows (who seem to be the most vulnerable people in their community) start and sustain small businesses. He said that species of fish have been introduced to Lake Victoria from China but people prefer local fish. Some of the women buy fish from Lake Victoria and then sell it at the markets making a profit. Other women sell second hand clothes. He explained that these businesses have two barriers – capital (to start) and skills.

Ideas for the Future

They have done the hard yards of fencing the area and building the coop. I suggested that Bob and Samuel put together a proposal showing the cost to purchase more chickens of the other variety and forecasting income. The focus needs to be on getting a steady and sustainable income stream. If there is no income stream the costs just build up meaning that the project goes backward.