The University of Nairobi (UoN) visited Kiangwachi on 30 July 2009 and met with the Karia farmer self-help group and teachers at Kiine Primary School.

The farmers have requested additional training in organic farming practices, and in computer skills such as MS Word and internet use. The group recruited two teachers for ICT training. Some farmers have already received training in Word and Excel, and will go on to train in Internet and email.

Due to persistent problems connecting to the mobile phone networks, the farmers have requested a fiber optic connection. As an interim they will be trained by the university to use mobile phones to access the internet at locations where the network is available, and the team will explore the purchase of WAP phones

Dr Kahiu Ngugi of University of Nairobi sends the following report:

We met the Karia Self-help group and Kiine Primary school 9(headteacher, plus 2 teachers) on 4th, 5th and 6th July. We spent the first day discussing where they are at the moment and the problems that they have encountered. The ennthusiasm is still there - close to 20 members turned up - and the group has a full-time worker - Jane at their 'resource centre'. But they have had a couple of problems. Here are some of my own observations:

1. Network access-is still a big problem, they spend days trying to access internet to no avail, despite having changed the modem to Celtel. In fact during all the time we were there we did not acceess intenet at all. Our students Peter and James could only demonstrate their project on french beans on the mobile phone only!

2. Very little internet activities; on the PC- some emails sent locally; printing and typing not a problem

VeSeL member Souleymane Camara worked with the Karia farmers group, and Kiine School. "Farmers are very busy at this time of the year. It's the rainy season so they are in shambas." In addition, the school was on break, but the head teacher managed to bring some teachers in for training on the new computers.

Electricity was sporadic, and he had to move around the area to get a good signal from the Celtel mobile network in order to connect to the Internet. "The connection speed," he said, "is not very encouraging." The limited Internet connectivity seemed to especially affect the Macbook laptop - without a connection, the farmers had difficulty in seeing the value of it, in comparison with a fixed PC linked to a printer, for example. But Souleymane tried a door-to-door campaign, showing that with the laptop they could bring the Internet into their own homes.

INFONET-BioVision being demonstrated during delivery and training of the VeSeL laptop in Kiangwachi

VeSeL is partnering with INFONET-BioVision which provides content about organic farming practices, with the aim to strengthen sustainable development of farmers and rural communities in Africa. Members of the INFONET-BioVision team are scheduled to visit the VeSeL partner community of Kambu during the first week of April, coordinating with VeSeL local partner the University of Nairobi.

The University of Nairobi sent the following report:

Through training and familiarization with equipment during the launch, members were able to perform simple tasks using the laptop, digital camera, iPod, desktop and printer. The large group of 20 members in the workshop were subdivided into groups of five each so as to effectively reach each individuals and have them actively participate in the training and hands on demonstration.

The trainers quickly concluded that the local Kikuyu language would best serve for training purposes. Despite the fact that a number were comfortable with English and several even better with Kiswahili, in order to accommodate all present, especially the very elderly, we found it necessary to switch to the Kikuyu language. The training was then conducted in Kikuyu since all the trainers were from Central Kenya area and spoke Kikuyu. This was very challenging for the trainers but exciting at the same time.

The University of Nairobi visited Kiangwachi, and the hardware was delivered in a meeting attended by 32 people, including the Assistant Chief, Kiine Primary Head Teacher and Agriculture Officers.

Dr. Kahiu Ngugi of the University gave feedback about previous visits and research progress, plus intended future progress, and every member was pleased. Key personalities from the community shared their joy with workshop attendants about the work being done to empower the community.

The group identified George Waweru who was to be trained, be placed in day to day operations of the office. The school head promised to identify two motivated teachers to be custodians of the facility under his guidance. The Assistant Chief assured the community of security of the area and mobilisation of other members and groups in the area to participate in effort to empower the community.

Kiini school in Kiangwachi

Kiangwachi is a fertile land and any crop seems to do well. Probably if farmers are encouraged to grow a certain crop, then VeSeL could look into ways of finding suitable markets. The average size of land per farmer is 1.75 acres. If a value crop is planted on this 1.75 acre, the farmers would greatly benefit. It would then be crucial to obtain a market link for this value crop. This crop would need to be Euro certified (assuming the market is European). There is an expert on Euro certification in the community

One of the Agricultural students from the University of Nairobi will produce French beans seeds as part of his MSc project

It is only the second day, and the VeSeL researchers have already interviewed 20 people in Kiangwachi.

"The visits started at 10am after rehearsal on use of the equipment to collect data," writes Souleymane Camara. "I set out to visit the fields, the household settings, capturing anything that seems to convey some cultural meaning." He interviews one of the farmers, walking through the house, asking him the how and why of things of interest.

Among the things he notices is the ingenious design of a chicken barn, the top for storing crops and the bottom at ground level for the chicken to live in. "This way," he relates, "the crop falling from bags stored above are not wasted."

Both pairs of researchers gathered many findings of interest:

• The village governance structure is not clear to farmers, who tend to go with whichever authority they feel will help with their issues.