Coops and Co-ops today....

This morning we were met with beautiful birds at breakfast; surrounded by NGO groups from around the world. From there, we loaded up in the 4x4 vans and headed into the Mukuru slum on the east side of Nairobi for a second day.

Today, the mission was simple - Help build a chicken coop to support the children and faculty of the Mennonite Academy in the Mukuru slum, and to make the process more efficient for the Ladies of Hope in their sewing co-op.

For the chicken coop project, there is presently a coop that holds 240 chickens whose eggs are collected, prepared, and served to the children and faculty. With the remaining eggs, they are sold at market to provide revenue for the school. The new coop is almost twice as big as the current one and is designed with better ventilation for the proportional increase in chickens. Upon arrival at the job site, the Hope Without Borders team was immediately assigned tasks. 

This first task was the attaching of wire to the wooden structure to improve the structural integrity of the building while also creating a structure upon which chicken wire can be attached to keep the chickens in and predators out.

The second task was using the pickaxe, shovel, and wheelbarrow to move the rocky soil to the gaps in the building walls and ground to bury the wooden frame. This is to prevent the chickens from escaping through the gaps.

The third task was to build the roost inside the coop. This involved placement of wooden beams and nailing them into place under the local construction management team.

The fun final portion of this project was giving lollipops to the school children! They were so excited to have these candies that they almost mobbed the team! Lots of smiles and gratitude for these simple “sweets”.

The sewing co-op Hope Without Borders team went to the Ladies of Hope headquarters to aid the women with preparing fabrics to be cut and sewn into beautiful purses and bags as well as Red Elephant packs. The amount of brilliant colors and intricate designs on the fabrics are astounding! These ladies will take these fabrics and stitch them together for Red Elephant packs which will be given to the children to help them stay in school while they are menstruating. The bags and purses will be sold and the money goes to support the families of the members of the Ladies of Hope, to buy new equipment for the co-op, and to buy more materials to make more items.

Overall, today was a blessing to the Hope Without Borders team and spread to the people of the Mukuru slum.