PK22 is not just a Danish leather lounge chair

PK-22

PK22 Danish Lounge Chair

 Today was our first day to visit ICDI's new land called PK-22.  This land is under contract from the CAR government to ICDI to develop agricultural and development projects that will impact the people of the CAR. 

 It was our joy to receive the grand tour of the 360 acres from Nanga Kaye, ICDI's chief agronomist.  It does not take long to hear the excitement that Nanga has for the potential of this land.  The passion is infectuous and we are excited to join him in developing ICDI's fields of dreams.  Nanga was excited to show us all sides of the land which also helped us with our excercise program because we walked and walked and walked as Nanga shared his dream for each area of the land.

PK-22: Land provided by CAR government

Oh, did I mention it was around 100 degrees and very sunny!  It was hot but it was awesome to see  all the land has to offer.  Some of the dreams include: developing fields of corn, soybeans, peanuts, and other crops that will provide seeds for a seed bank as well food to eat.  Other plans are for an orchard with fruit trees.  Ponds to grow and harvest fish will also be dug too.  The new land will also provide another base camp for the water well drilling teams.  Shipping containers are already here and are going to be used to store equipment and much needed parts.  A tractor and farming equipment as well as a barn and well drilling equipment is on its way across the ocean from Ohio and will end up here at PK-22.

Our projects while we are here will involve clearing land for fields, helping with drainage, arranging and setting up shipping containers, diggings fish ponds and clearing paths making the land more accessible.

Nanga Kaye-ICDI Ag Director

After lunch we began some of our work with ICDI's backhoe and skid steer loader.  Our plan is to train the ICDI staff how to properly operate this equipment as well as use the equipment ourselves.  As our work began, we soon experienced working in Africa, that means things don't always work the way they should.  We spend most of the afternoon trying to fix the skid steer.  Rick and Dale did their best to diagnose the problems but with no success.  While they struggled with that I began to clear land with the backhoe at least it worked.  The land I worked on will be used as a plant nursery so it needs to be flat as well as protected from run off from heavy rains.

Thanks to a call to Jason Steiner of Lowe and Young farm equipment, we now have better ideas to diagnose and fix the skid steer tomorrow when we return to PK-22.

Another goal of ICDI is to be a blessing to the village that is next to PK-22 so today Tom Peters and Ted Rondeau of ICDI spent time talking to village leaders hoping begin building relationships.  We also stopped at a local restaurant to see about getting food for future days lunches. Not a fast food place but we hope to eat there tomorrow.  We put our order in today so it will be ready for lunch tomorrow.  We ordered two chickens, (yes whole chickens) cooked to order, rice, and drinks (#1combo meal).Smile!

Well, I will give you a food review for tomorrows blog entry so stay tuned.

Thanks for all of your prayers
Tim