Kennedy describes his experience at the farm

Dear friends in Ripple Effect Project and in the state of Maine as a whole, greetings with love from Kenya!

My name is Kennedy Ochieng Omollo and I am 22 years old. I came to Korando in February 2014 in eighth grade. I’m a partial orphan, I lost my mother but my father is alive but I’m like a total orphan. The day I was joining Korando it was my father who brought me and he lied to Mama Dolfine that I was not his son. It was that same Month that he brought me to Korando that he was arrested, (and) until now he is in jail.

I thank God that helped Mama Dolfine through Ripple Effect Project to acquire the farmland which has become a home to many of us. I can say that many of us enjoy so much while at the farm because here we eat a lot of fish and we have plenty of vegetables and we feel comfortable. Many of us here have a lot of challenges with their relatives, so they always prefer to be allowed to be at the farm than going to their relatives.

It has always been very good for us that Mama Dolfine has never turned away anybody’s request to go the farm, so life has always been very comfortable at the farm. Even though the sleeping places are not conducive enough, but we know God will one day help Mama with money to make our sleeping places look comfortable. Right now as there is too much rain and of course it has always happened whenever it is raining that the floor becomes all wet, but Mama puts for us black plastic (sheets) to cover the whole floor when we put the mattresses down.

I started coming to the farm by the time I joined eighth grade when Baba Patrick Oliech was still alive. As always the government with are never wanted at the school site during the holidays, so we used to come first with Baba then Mama would follow later. So the farm became a permanent and lovely home to many of us, as government officers never drop in to disturb us as they always do while at school (at the) Korando Center.

I said I joined eighth grade in February 2014. A former colleague to Mama when she was still a teacher seeked the chance for me from Mama when as she saw the way I was suffering and I really salute her for the kind heart. Mama has become more than a mother to me since I came in 2014.

After eighth grade I joined Kisian Secondary School and I was there for four years of high school. After I completed my high school I joined a government college and I’m right now doing Electrical and Electronic Engineering, we are three of us there doing the same training and two students are in a different university. One is doing Bachelor of Education and the other one taking Criminology and Security Studies. We also have two other students doing plumbing in a government college, and we all enjoy staying at the farm as our home. Here we also have high school students. Primary pupils fall in the same category as us. 

We are a total of 58 students and we feel very happy here and we are praying (for) God to provide us with electricity also for our studies because at college every one of us is (needs to have) a laptop but we cannot use them while at the farm because of electricity.

The challenge that we have here at the farm is only the floods as now the lake is much full and the wayer is out and therefore there is also too much mosquitos infecting us also with a lot of malaria but Mama gives us malaria drugs. Another challenge is the effect of coronavirus which is really affecting many people but we thank God that in the entire Korando Fraternity no one has ever been affected.

Thank you friends in Ripple! Thank you friends in Maine! I love you. Bye,

Kennedy Ochieng Omollo