Recently, I spent a week as an Advisor with Caplor Horizons helping to facilitate the Effective Humanitarian Leadership programme for the International Centre for Humanitarian Affairs in Kenya. 18 Red Cross Leaders from across East and West Africa came together for this programme which was a great success.
However, there were a lot of fruit trees in those areas that were producing fruit which the farmers were discarding or giving away because they did not perceive it had any value. So Stella and her husband began to think about a juice processing plant that would take the fruit and use it more effectively. They also began to run a training centre to train the farmers to plant more trees (a great example of green enterprise) which would provide additional income in future rather than cutting down the trees to use the wood for cooking. The business also introduced the farmers to charcoal stoves, which are more efficient, so they can use any discarded tree pruning to cook and heat their houses. Not content to stop here, they also introduced the farmers an innovative method of growing vegetables which mean they can use their waste grey water to grow chard and other green vegetables, and use their water more efficiently.