Peter Edington, a Piye supporter & Lillian Owinyo at the project site. She is a committee member of the Ongeche Primary Health Care and Community Development Group.

ONGECHE VILLAGE BACKGROUND

Location
Ongeche is situated in North West Kano, Kisumu East District, Nyanza Province in Kenya. It is approximately 20 kilometres south of the city of Kisumu. Ongeche village is roughly 6 kilometeres west of Ahero and 3 kilometers from Korowe market along the Korowe-Nyang’ande dirt road. The community has approximately 5000 people.

Overview of the community
Ongeche village is endowed with black cotton soil which receives fertile silt during annual seasonal flooding. Land consolidation has not been effected. Consequently, individuals own a number of economically unviable small plots of land. The land is tilled seasonally in December and January each year. The community grows sorghum, finger millet, maize and rice. Through the Kenya Government Work for Food Programme the community has dug a canal connecting river Nyando to Lake Victoria. The canal cuts across the proposed project area. The canal has huge potential for irrigation during the dry season. However, there is a need for clean, safe drinking water.

There is an alarmingly high percentage of single and double orphaned children at Ongeche. The percentage of orphans attending Ongeche Primary and Secondary Schools are  66% and 34% respectively. Many grand-parents have lost their children to HIV/AIDS and other epidemics and therefore have the huge burden of caring for their orphaned grandchildren. These grandmothers who are often in their 70’s, do not have the resources, strength or knowledge to successfully consolidate their land for massive food production. They therefore remain extremely poor.

The community’s greatest natural resource is manpower. The people of Ongeche have clearly demonstrated their zeal to be the key driving force behind all projects. This resource only needs to be refined through appropriate education and grassroots technology vocational training.

The Ongeche community has traditionally raised cattle, goats, sheep and chicken. However, livestock suffers high annual motality due to seasonal weather fluctuations.  Environmental protection and improvement is of concern within the community. The community members aim to undertake reforestation with the vigor it deserves. The challenge lies in redesigning the landscape through planting of indigenous as well as exotic trees. In this era of high energy cost, reforestation is vital for communities such as Ongeche who are reliant on firewood.

Ongeche Community Group
The Ongeche Community Group is registered with the Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services of the Kenya Government. The group consists of local village members, some of whom form the Board of Governors overseeing the day to day planning and running of programs.

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