This month, we celebrate our member, Mr. Elijah Gatimu.
Elijah was born blind and lost his parents at a young age. However, he never lost hope of a full life. After the death of his parents, Elijah decided to start a small business selling oranges and cakes at a market center near his home. This business kept him going, but was still not enough to cater for his basic needs.
Elijah always fancied poultry farming. He decided to get a few chickens, which he multiplied. He slowly exceled and was renowned for supplying eggs to nearby towns and shopping centers. Once married, Elijah decided to incorporate food farming to earn more revenue to feed his family. His farming initiative however, has often been affected by unreliable weather patterns.
“I am happy. I never thought I could rely on farming to cater for my family’s needs. And now with a reliable source of water for irrigation this is possible. Growing up, I didn’t have water at home. We used pond water, sometimes we bought the water. But it was expensive to buy.”
Elijah’s story is a story shared by many farmers in his village. After putting too much effort on their farms and spending too much money on farm inputs, the success of their hard work is still dependent on favorable weather patterns. Elijah grew up to recognize his potential and knew he needed safe water to unlock it.
In partnership with Light for the World, a not-for-profit organization that supports people living with disabilities in the Country, Emu Sacco enabled Elijah to acquire a 500,000 liters water pan. Now Elijah and his family have access to irrigation water in their farm. “I have more time to work. I know I will produce more food crops and be able to sell more, and do what I dreamed to do because I have water and I won’t spend my time collecting it. My children won’t have to collect it either. They can just go to school in the morning.”
We give on-farm water harvesting and Elijah’s character credit for unlocking his potential as a farmer, and for empowering him to change his family’s world.
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