We did it!

Last week we held our first Training of Trainers workshop for the new Voluntary Savings and Lending Group program.

We were joined by Terry Isert, ARC Microenterprise Development Senior Technical Advisor from Minneapolis, our three IGP Coordinators, and fifteen refugees who have been recruited as community animators and trainers for this program.

The training lasted five days and was a big success.

Implementation will take a little bit longer--about three months of intensive work and a year or so of follow up--and we are eager to get started.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who made this training possible.

Locally grown.

The agriculture terraces in Gihembe Camp—more than seven acres of them—have been a valuable resource for our Income Generation Program groups and for the people in the camp who benefit from a convenient supply of fresh vegetables.

This year we have been fortunate to have in our program a young refugee, Fidele, trained in agronomy, who along with our IGP Coordinator, Raymond, has done a terrific job of mobilizing the agriculture groups to rehabilitate the terraces and take steps to increase their productivity.

The groups have gotten the camp population involved in composting; set up a regular schedule of community work to keep the terraces weed free; and planted acres and acres of beautiful Irish potato plants that will be harvested in December.

After the harvest we will install a water catching system to stem erosion on the hillside and provide water for our vegetable gardens during the dry season.

Next on the menu, crop rotation.