Busia area

Recently I traveled with Josephine to her village near Busia, a border town with Kenya. She and her family have a large amount of land there and hope to find ways to develop it to benefit the community.

Only Josephine, her nephew and his wife spoke English,so I spent much of my time journaling observations and learning from them about life in this village area, Tiika.

The land has a bed rock of lava and sedimentary stone just below the surface. In some places the soil is only 6” thick, while in other places it may be as much as 4'. The soil is fertile and grows good crops of maize, groundnuts, sorghum, cassava, sweet potatoes, as well as other crops. Here, as around the world, the seasons and weather are changing. Many of the farmers are trying out crops that have not been grown previously.

The experimental plot behind the family compound now has seedlings for
mango,

orange,

and matooke trees,

along with starts for pineapple.





Because of the termites and moles, there are also kinds of trees planted to keep these pests at bay.

Paul, her nephew, has planted a kind of mango which produces fruits about 8” in diameter and are very sweet. The crops begin at the third year. He is hoping the revenue from these will cover school fees for his children for the remainder of their primary and secondary classes.