In late April the Wilhelmsen family represented by family business owners Emily and Agnes served The Wilstar Company on the slopes of Nyanza at Kakamega Agricultural District.  North West shore of  Lake Victoria we were addressed social labour policies for the disempowered women threatened by delinquency at an early age.  The Ministry of Agriculture is funded b VisionFund a financial aid program under the auspicious guidance of OneAcreFund and RootCapital.  The latter is organized by the Ministry of Finance with direct foreign aid programmed supervised by Michael Fisher KickStart Brand.

The labour force has supervision by Young Empowerment Institute (YEI) organized by the Minster of Social Affairs.   The age group 11 – 18 years of age youth that leave school in search of paid work in the suburbs of Nairobi is a vulnerable age group.  A potential future employee at a garden centre tending to legumes, fruits, pulses and beans they are paid a low salary and enter into traditional female positions.  At age 16 – 24 the labour force has an increasing number of female labour contracts listed with YEI.  However, age group beyond 22 the male labour force takes the majority of the vacancies offered in town of Nairobi.

The KickStart Brand offers a MoneyMaker sales program for male workers to learn to handle manual “treadmill” water pump.  The task force is speialized in translating the American user manual into their own Kikuyu language, travel to county districts and sell treadmill water pumps to middle size farming households and less wealthy smallholders.   The KickStart water aid has been enforced by philanthropic organizations.  Number one  in the world is Carer International.  Their Norwegian Branch Office has approved of a mandate managed by Marcus Bleasdale.  The A Wilhelmsen Company has funded Michael Fisher´s blue painted water pump sales with NOK3Mill.   Blue Venture has fulfilled the first philanthropic milestone at the outskirt of Nairobi and on the slopes of Nyanza at Kakamega, one of East Africa´s most populated areas.

Steps are taken by The Skoll Foundation, the Wilstar philanthropic backbone to overcome exhaustion when working the “treadmill” water pump.  ILO has raised the issue regarding child labour.  Smallholder families raise on average 5-6 children per household.  The 1-2 of the farmer´s children are required to take part in powering the water pump.  Their body weight is insufficient to meet the minimum of water flow over the manifold.  One acre of land is hard to moisten in case there is an environmental shock and the draught hits hard on their small patch of land.   The water pump is designed to suite farmer´s brothers and sisters.  They take their turn pumping in tandem.  Two at a time jump on the water mill and kicks off with their 45-55kg body weight.  However, solar panels are offered to the families able to save more than US$200 over the course of a planting and harvest season.

In the picture there is the parentes at a smallholder farm in the outskirt of West Nairobi.  The workman puts all his weight on the levers.  The water hose pulls water out of the water well just 10 meters to his right.   The manifold is mounted in the shaft by the steering stick.  The water manifold circulates water through a oneway vent and pushes the water out 40-60 meters out into the one acre farm field.   A brand new pump has a market value of US$40-60+ and has a minimum of movable parts, easy to dismantle and put together again.  The market for garden water drip systems has increased as the water supply has significantly increased.   The 10-15m tube end of the hose is pierced and let water percolate onto the ground.  The women and male farmers find their salad heads, spinach plants and green cabbage easily targeted with a drip.

The popular “treadmill” brand from KickStart has literary kickstarted a work force of smallholders capable of overcoming the water shortage.  The short rain season March – July has short-rain season prolonged into the long-rain season.  This environmental shock caused by a lack of daytime long-rain occurring 1-2 months in late summer, is prevented.  The KickStart pump replaces the rain that failed them.   Hence the risk of draught on their one acre is reduced and and the greens can be harvest as usual twice a or even three times a year in places.

The green growth of the vegetable garden has plummeted for the farmers we visited and their purchase power increased.  If the farming family withholds family expansion plans, harvest and sell legume to the market place, saves money through the long rain season in the fall and should make them ready to purchase Michael Fisher´s solar pump.  A solar panel purchase saves their living children from standing turns by the water pump.  The solar panel work hours save them sweating  under the scorching tropical sun.  They could go to the market place, buy themselves GreenPlanet Lamp and extend some of their home work hours under the light powered by their new solar panel.  A panel yields sufficient electric power to set off 10 40Watt lanps.  The electric energy storage releases electric current during the evening.  The remaining power on the battery is stored over the night and drains in the morning hours when the sun rises and powers the panel again.

In the picture a farmer next door to Charles is Lillian.  She sold 150 non-hatching chickens in the market.  The sale of poultry earned her a fortune.  She spent 4/5 of the sales to purchase a solar pump from Alan Spybey, marketing and sales director at KickStart Workshop in Nairobi.  The solar panel is visible behind the family secretary standing with her back to the camera man.

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