Day 4: Giraffes!

I woke up this morning and giraffes were wandering in the fields just beyond Luis’s fence.  I went out beyond the fence and tried to get as close as possible. 

I spent most of the day walking around the yards and the area around the house, so I want to highlight all that Jambo Volunteers has to offer to volunteers who travel here. Luis has built a 4-bedroom house here for volunteers and each room sleeps 2-3.  It has a nice living room with Internet access, a kitchen with a gas stove and 2 toilets and showers. They use water sparingly and recycle all of the water they use.

Most of the water is used for the plants- there are many varieties of trees he has planted and also a fairly large field of corn, carrots, onions, potatoes and a spinach-like vegetable.  Everything is being grown 100% organically using mulch, compost and this water to keep it growing. They also have 2 large chicken coops and the chickens roam the yard each day.  They get enough eggs from here to both eat and sell. There is a rabbit cage, which started as a fun experiment and now has over 20 rabbits.  All vegetable table scraps go to the rabbits and all meat scraps go to the dogs. On the grounds there is a small house for the groundskeeper/security guard that has a eco-toilet next to it.

These three living spaces use solar and wind power for electricity.  When there is not enough sun or wind to power the houses through the night, sometimes they use a generator.  The new system that has just been installed and is not yet operational is called a biogas system.  It uses cow dung, as well as any other biodegradable materials to produce methane gas in a large bag sealed inside of a portable greenhouse.  This methane gas can be used to run the stoves inside of both houses and can power the generator using only 20% of the diesel it currently uses.  The system also produces a pure fertilizer very rapidly. Luis is very excited about this prospect and hopes his system will be running later this week.  I was lucky enough to go this evening to the home of this system’s inventor, a man named Dominic, and he showed me many of the projects he is working on in Kenya and East Africa and explained to me how some of this technology works and what the potential is, especially here in Kenya where so many of the poor people are dependent on firewood and charcoal for cooking.  If you are interested in learning more about these systems and his work, please visit http://www.biogas.co.ke/.

As for security, there is a locked gate with fencing surrounding the property. Luis has 7 guard dogs- a bit excessive for my tastes, if you know how I feel about dogs J On the weekends, he has a special security guard come at night when the groundskeeper is away. He has not had any incidents here, but he is very careful to always ensure that the area is a safe as possible for his family and the volunteers staying here.

It is a very pleasant place surrounded by gorgeous scenery and is located very close to most of the projects Jambo is currently involved with.