The work done by Better Globe is recognized by the World Bank and their bloggers!
Published 9:e August, 2011 by Jan BolmesonIt’s hard not to notice the Horn of Africa disaster, with all the reports even in Swedish news. However, this is no news for us at Better Globe, 3 years ago; the Red Cross warned that we were heading towards a situation just like this.
The rain seasons are no longer following the usual patterns and during the last 3 years, the amount of rain has decreased while the rain that do fall, fall in significantly shorter and more powerful downpours. That increases the demands on the ability to handle the water and we at Better Globe are working hard to solve the huge problems caused by this change.
The way it rains now causes damage to the ground, and much of the rain and large amounts of dirt is swept away, without providing any of the benefits you expect from the rain. Our challenge is to collect and distribute the water that does fall every now and then.
Better Globe is recognized by the World Bank’s bloggers
Better Globe have been able to help ourselves and many others who live nearby where we operate. We are getting better and better at handling and managing water, collecting and distributing it. We were, for example, able to provide 40 000 liters of water to poor farmers in Sosomo, in an area called Mboti. In addition, due to the current situation there, we also donated extra food rations to our staff and their families in Kiambere.
Better Globe is without doubt the largest employer in the Kiambere region and we have, in a relative short period of time, been able to make a significant difference for those living in this dry place. A while ago, World Bank journalists were visiting there and conducted interviews. Fleur De Préneuf got a lot of material to write about and is, among other things, writing for the World Bank’s blog.
Our bulldozer has arrived
We can report from our operation that our bulldozer arrived already on July 4th to Mombasa Port. For various reasons the paperwork was held up since the Kenyan authorities didn’t qualify the bulldozer as an agricultural machine. We decided to tackle the bureaucracy and request to import it anyway and it yielded unexpectedly positive results. We were able to avoid any extra fees or charges and were able to import the bulldozer as agricultural equipment for one reason alone.
The justification was that all our paperwork was done properly, we had agreements with all forest related authorities in Kenya and had in addition all the proper paperwork done with the landowners. Nothing was missing and we got the permit after they checked that all taxes and fees and everything else company related were handled impeccable.
We are now happy to have a bulldozer and plenty of papers on how seriously and proper we operate and manage our operations and handle our relationships. We got this as an extra bonus after a few weeks of hard work answering questions and submitting paperwork, etc.
The bulldozer in question will now be transported to Nyongoro to continue the work that has been started manually. They had already cleared off a significant area when the group from Sweden, Norway, and Cypress was down there, and the construction for the garage for the bulldozer was well underway.
Progress Report from Nyongoro
The delegation of customers buying donation packages and trees met with leading representatives of the local population and local authorities, and planted their own Mukau trees on site. This was the first delegation to visit Nyongoro. It is located far from our other locations and far away from the nearest city. Read more about the visit here ».
Despite that, we believe that Nyongoro will be appreciated by our customers, since it’s the place that is most likely to become the largest and grow the most with the highest short term profitability.
We are also working hard in the Sosoma area, but for various reason it’s significantly more challenging in regards to water. The water situation is very complicated in this area, but we are making progress even if it’s slow.
Progress Report from Sosoma and Mboti
We are very happy and proud that we have been able to help the locals with a school. The delegation visited Mboti and the school we have been supporting there. Many of the visitors were touched by what they experienced and decided to collect money to buy two donkeys for the school.
Sosoma and Mboti are located in an area where the livestock is literally dying right in front of those living there. It’s extremely dry here and many people have a daylong trek to the nearest water. Those who teach at the school walk for almost 3 hours to get there and several hundred children are attending the school consisting of only two small buildings. They have no tools at all for teaching and their need is great.
We are working on a fairly extensive out-grower project in this area and are currently working on a financing solution. We are also working on the water problem and are preparing for farming, but right now, the school is our concrete contribution.
Until next time,
Lennart Göthe