A journey of a thousand miles starts with a first step. That was the message resonating the air as the Nakechichok Womens Group first task of setting up their multistorey garden began with the clearing out of the field
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that would soon become the nursery where they would plant the seedlings that they will later transplant to gunny bags to provide food for their families.
With the support from Friends of Turkana and Turkana Basin Institute, Nakechichok Women’s Group have now prepared the nursery, mulching and watering the soil,to make it suitable for them to plant the seeds. There is both uncertainty and excitement, the uncertainty brought about by engaging in an activity very unfamiliar to them, and the excitement of a possible good harvest, a sense of food security for their families.
One week after clearing the field and putting up a fence, and a day after mulching the nursery, the women have planted onions, water melons, spinach, kale and tomatoes. With the understanding that it would not be easy, they realize that it would be worth it.
While we await them to transplant the vegetables to the gunny bags, we enjoy the entertaining voices as the women walk to and from the river in the early morning fetching water for their crops and reeds to strengthen the fence after all even the longest journey must begin where you stand.
