Furrows in Desert: A young Kenyan lady identified as Raychelle Ngina has won hearts after taking steps to solve the perennial food problem in Turkana. Ms. Ngina has been partnering with local communities to set up vegetable and fruit farms in Turkana region. Here is her story as she shared it:
My name is Raychelle Ngina. In 2018-2019, I got an internship in Israel, Arava Desert, I was so surprised to see the Israelis producing food and even exporting the excess, yet their land is too dry, actually not even the wild shrubs survives because of the hot climate they even import soil, my first weeks was so bad, it felt like am being roasted, I frequently had headaches,
I got experience in production of onions, pumpkins, garlic, dates, grapes, pomelos, mangoes and the like.
If Israelis could produce in such a harsh environment, Why were our own Turkana people dying of hunger yet their climatic conditions were not as bad as compared to Israel,
When I came back home I was so determined to go to Turkana and bring the change, I learned the only way to deal with food insecurity was not to give them ready made food, but teach them how to produce their own food,.
I took the challenge and volunteered at Furrows In the Desert-Turkana for 6 months as a trainer, I trained the people of Turkana about drip irrigation, most of my trainees had never seen anything growing. It was their first time to see seeds, and planting anything.
Today, I am proud that after 6 months, they were fully equipped with skills on production of their own food from nursery establishments, land preparation, transplanting, Pest control, harvesting, and post harvest handling. Today those in Lobur, Kibish, Lodwar, Maisa, Katangon, Nariakotome, etc are healthy and happy, their kids have access to fresh fruit, vegetables and cereals.