David Kipkorir's newly built home adjacent to the community center.
If you look closely, you can see Faith crawling in front of the kitchen on the right.

The Kipkorir Home
David sold his half-acre property last October to help pay for the community center property and now resides on a half acre adjacent to the community center property. This is more convenient than living down the road but his family had to build a new house to live in. This is a traditional house in Kenya made of mud and dung. It is semi-permanent as the mud/dung dries out and a new layer must be reapplied every few years. The kitchens are often built separate, but some homes have them attached. Here is a link to a photo of the inside of a typical kitchen belonging to Angelina, one of the workers of the Empowering Lives International training camp, where I stayed when I visited Africa in 2005.

The History of Harvest Grove
For those of you who have not been with us from the beginning, here is a little history. David Kipkorir and I, Jayne Hayes met in Kenya in 2005. For the first six months after we met, we stayed in touch through email and shared the vision we had to plant fruit trees in the Uasin Gishu District of Kenya . Looking back on the past two years, we have come a long way in realizing our dream. Building the Harvest Grove Community Center was not without obstacles, but look at what we have accomplished so far.

David found a 2-acre parcel at a very good selling price near his home. The owner allowed us to use the land while we raised the funds to purchase it. We established the Harvest Grove Self-Help Group as a Community Based Organization (CBO), which allows us to act as a non-profit entity limited to the Uasin Gishu District. Community members joined forces, established a board of directors, cleared the land and our first series of workshops on intensive gardening were well received. There were 35 small plot gardens established the first year. Members have planted their gardens on their own properties this year and Harvest Grove staff are monitoring their progress. We now have put in a well, a latrine and a fence along the perimeter of the property. David and his family have moved onto 1/2 acre of the 2 acre land with his family of seven and a kind soul from the US donated a dairy cow to him shortly after his baby girl was born. Banana trees were planted last year and recently we have planted 350 passion fruit seedlings. We expect to see our first fruit in December. We are presently raising funds to build the lecture hall and office building. We have plans to plant papaya, avocado and citrus fruits. We will have workshops on harvesting seeds and preserving fruit and eventually will build a kiosk to sell fruit harvested at the center.

Because we have had such great response from people outside the community coming to learn about our services, our Board of Directors have voted to change the name of the Harvest Grove Community Center to the Harvest Grove Training and Development Center.

We sincerely thank all of you who have played a role in supporting Harvest Grove. It has been an amazing journey.

Wish List/Prayer Requests In Kenya - We are preparing to apply for non-profit status in Kenya to increase the ability to apply for grants directly to the center. The water tanks that we recently purchased need to be installed. Now that we are finished planting the passion fruitseedlings and the red beans, we need to build trellises to support the vines when they are heavy with fruit.

In the United States - We are having a fundraiser. The Hafif (pronounced "Half") Family Foundation puts on a series of summer concerts every summer and allows non-profit organizations to sell tickets to these events. The Hafif Family Foundation covers the costs of the food, tables, linens, service and entertainment. Organizations who sell tickets get to keep 100% of the profits. Cornerstone Church has enabled me to sell tickets for these events by collaborating with me and allowing me to use their non-profit status. Please feel free to share the Concert Under the Stars flyers with friends and coworkers. Jayne Hayes will be presenting the Harvest Grove Project to a local Rotary Club. It is her hope to sell tickets for the Concert Under the Stars event, but also to possibly open doors for collaboration with some folks who have more experience with fundraising. Jayne is learning how to apply for grants and welcomes the collaboration of those who have mastered these skills. If you would like to pledge funds to the Harvest Grove Community Center, please contact Jayne Hayes at the following email jayneGAV@gmail.com or call at 626-643-0331.  

If you do not feel moved to donate at this time, that is fine. We also can use your encouragement, and your prayers. Asante Sana!  

"In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal.
In every heart, there is the power to do it. " ~ Marianne Williamson