What’s in our July 2021 Newsletter: Notes from the Field ~ Meet P4P’s New Development Coordinator ~ Cards That Touch Your Heart ~ Lights, Camera, AUCTION! ~ Covid Continues to Ravage Kenya ~  We ❤️ Numerica

Food is an important part of a balanced diet. ~ Fran Lebowitz, author, public speaker, commentator

Notes from the Field 

By Nereah Obura, P4P Kenya Program Coordinator

Dear P4P Friend,

For the past year, P4P has worked with Limafrica Agrisolutions to build a poultry raising project in Kenya. The name Limafrica comes from the word “lima,” which is Kiswahili for farm and Africa, indicating its locality. I would like to introduce you to Collins Odhiambo Aswan, the organization’s founder and director.  

In 2012, Collins graduated from Moi University with an agriculture degree and went on to attend Maseno University where he attained a master of arts in project planning and management.

“By 2050, 2.4 billion people will live on the African continent,” Collins says. Food insecurity is already a clear and present challenge and a looming catastrophe for the continent.

To address this challenge, Collins founded Limafrica in 2016 with the mission of working with small farmers to reduce poverty and food insecurity through agricultural interventions and environmental restoration.  Limafrica aims to empower partner farmers through education and training and supports them with developed agricultural systems, agri-audits and agricultural research innovations. 

Collins believes that African entrepreneurs and citizens must drive the transformation of the landscape and ensure that the African Continent will be able to feed itself as well as becoming a net exporter of food.

The organization is currently undertaking buy-back contract farming, intervening in the value chains of poultry (hatching chicken), horticulture (certified seedlings productions for high value crops) and staples (maize, sorghum and sunflower for use in poultry feed manufacture). They currently produce certified seedlings for high value crops such as tomatoes, brassicas, sweet yellow passion fruits, pawpaws and fruit/tree seedlings.

Limafrica’s poultry outreach program has been critical to the success of P4P’s chicken farming project. Ten families are now raising chickens, which gives them the opportunity to consume and sell eggs.

Meet P4P’s New Development Coordinator

By Reneé Sandee, Communications Committee

Peggy Gallinger joined P4P’s staff as part time Development Coordinator in May. She quickly got involved with P4Ps fundraiser Spring Forward, and she now serves on the Into Africa Auction and the Fundraising committees. She joins us with a wealth of experience in the technology industry and previously was development director for Second Harvest Food Bank.

Peggy was born in Norfolk, Virginia, grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, and moved to Santa Clara, California, where she attended high school. She went on to the University of Colorado, eventually landing at Eastern Washington University.

Peggy has lived in Spokane on and off for 46 years and has been married to Rick for 36 of those years. They have two sons, three wonderful grandchildren, and two Spangolds (Springer Spaniel/Golden Retriever mix). 

In her spare time, Peggy enjoys travel-trailer camping and has covered hundreds of miles in the Pacific Northwest, Nevada and California. International travel has taken her and Rick to Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Grand Cayman, Japan and Canada. Bora Bora, Tahiti, and Kenya are on her bucket list. She’s eager to delve deeper into P4P’s work in Kenya.

She’s a bit of a puzzle master and likes the challenge of Sudoku and Jan Van Haasteren comic jigsaw puzzles. In between conquering brainteasers, Peggy usually manages to read two or three books a month and favors historical fiction, thrillers, dystopian and sci-fi genres. 

“The mere fact that all P4P employees are part time and it runs on a very small budget amazes me,” Peggy says. “I have such deep respect for all that P4P has accomplished with the people of Kenya.”

Cards That Touch Your Heart – Greetings from Kenya

There is nothing quite like receiving a handwritten card. Now you can send your own special message on a beautiful, handmade greeting card created by P4P staff and volunteers. Photos of smiling children, successful farmers and proud students are represented on each 5” x 7” card. A packet of eight cards costs $25. 

Your card set purchase can help students continue their education, supply nutritional supplements for infants, provide safe drinking water and assist the chicken and farming projects. What a great way to share your thoughts, love and best wishes with family and friends while you Make a World of Difference, a World Away.

Lights, Camera, AUCTION!

P4P’s 2021 Into Africa Auction (IAA) will again be virtual in this second year of COVID-19 fundraising. As much as we love getting together, sharing food, wine, conversation and P4P’s mission with you in person, we are taking a conservative approach to large gatherings for one more year. 

We will still have dozens of wonderful packages, baskets, getaways, art items and other treasures for your bidding pleasure, but this year, Into Africa is going Semi-Virtual.  

What, exactly, does that mean? It means this year you can attend, participate, bid, listen, learn and enjoy time with P4P in the comfort of your own home – and you can invite vaccinated friends and family to join you. P4P is partnering with a local specialty restaurant to offer charcuterie boards for purchase for your small group gathering. Wine pairings will also be available. Or gather your group to attend a party at a local restaurant.  

Into Africa’s two auction activities will be a weeklong silent bidding event and a one-night livestreaming gala. Our multi-day silent bidding frenzy starts October 4 and ends October 10. You and your friends will be able to watch and participate in the October 7 livestreaming event in the comfort of your home on your television, laptops and smart phones. Bidding in real time is surprisingly exciting, especially with professional auctioneer Rose Backs keeping the enthusiasm high and the bidding competitive and fun.

Mark your calendar now (details on how to register will be coming soon). Registration begins September 1. 

9:00 AM, October 4 – 5:00 PM, October 10: online bidding on silent auction items.
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM, October 7: P4P program and livestreaming bidding on unique experiences and items

We are seeking sponsors for this years’ event, as well as items to auction. Please contact peggy.gallinger.p4p@gmail.com if you are interested in these opportunities.

Covid Continues to Ravage Kenya    

Covid infections have spiked again in Kenya, and Migori township has become a covid hot spot with positivity rates of 21% (when and if you can get a test). The country is still under covid restrictions, including curfews from 7:00pm to 4:00am, limited size of gatherings and burial deadlines.

Unlike the United States, most citizens in sub-Saharan Africa have little hope of being vaccinated in the near future. The damage has been extensive in the last fifteen months. 

While we here in the U.S. struggled to adapt to home schooling, our partners in Kopanga and Giribe didn’t even have that opportunity because most do not have stable electricity or home computers. Thousands of young people have missed a year or more of education.

The United Nations predicts that 11 million girls worldwide may not return to school after the pandemic. A generation of girls are at risk of being left behind from the socioeconomic benefits of education access. A UNESCO report released last year found that increased dropout rates among girls not only deepens gender gaps but also increases risk for sexual exploitation and forced marriage. An educated girl is the best predictor of success for their children and for generations to come.

Because of you, P4P is able to pay school fees for 23 high school students who are now back in school and tuition for 7 college students (plus laptops). 

Covid shut down jobs. Families didn’t have money for food, let alone school fees. Thanks to your help, P4P has distributed 976 emergency food baskets and 66 new handwashing stations throughout the villages, in schools and clinics. P4P’s pilot poultry project has provided better nutrition for families and helps parents pay school fee thanks to our hardworking Kenyan P4P staff, resilient farmers and our partnership with Limafrica. 

“We will vaccinate the ENTIRE adult population of 26 million Kenyans by 2022,” President Uhura Kenyatta says. “By Christmas this year, we intend to have vaccinated over 10 million adults. According to our experts, we will have built a capacity to vaccinate 150,000 people every day from August 2021.”

We ❤️ Numerica 

A great big Asante Sana to Numerica Credit Union for sharing one of their refurbished laptop computers with P4P’s Treasurer, Byron Gega. Thanks to Numerica, P4P will be able to run accounting software - anywhere.