Excellent! - excellentdevelopment.com

Excellent Development Field Officer Charles Muendo was recently joined by UK trustee, Jenine Langrish, who spent a day visiting self help groups and talking to Muendo about his role within Excellent Development Kenya.

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How did you come to be involved with Excellent Development?

"In 2006 Excellent agreed to support Kangemi self-help group, which I was a member of. Together we made a plan to build a sand dam, and they obtained funding from ETWA [a Dutch NGO]. I worked very hard to construct the sand dam to get water for my village, and Joshua [who runs Excellent Development in Kenya] was impressed. He said I was as good as six men! After the dam was full I was able to grow tomatoes on an adjacent plot, which I sold to Joshua. In the end, he offered me a job as a Field Officer, which I was keen to accept."

Where do you work?

"Initially I worked in the Kangemi area close to my home village, but more recently I have moved to work in a new area, 50-60 km away, where Excellent Development is starting to work with groups for the first time. This makes sense because when you work in your own village, some of the older members say 'How can you tell us what we should be doing – we remember you when you were in short trousers!'."

Does this mean you have to travel a lot?

"I now live in the area where I work during the week, returning home on Sundays to see my family. Whilst this means I don’t see my children for six days, I’m far better off than many Kenyans who work in Nairobi or other big cities and only rarely get home."

What does your job entail?

"At present I look after two groups, Munandi Kwa Mutunga and Mithuluni. This will increase to four as we start to work with new groups. Each self help group works together as a group one day a week, and on that day I visit them and advise them on what they are working on, such as dam building or terracing. On the other three days, I visit individual farmers, and advise them on improving their shambas [farms]. Two days a month all the field managers and field officers meet with Joshua (who runs Excellent Development in Kenya) for training. This helps improve the advice that we are able to give to the farmers with whom we work."

Do you enjoy your work?

"Yes. I like helping people, and it’s great to see the beneficial impact of my work on the families that I work with."

How has working with Excellent affected you and your family?

Well I am very pleased I have just been able to pay KSH 5,000 [£40] to send my eldest daughter to school for a term. That way she doesn’t have to experience what I did. When I left school I went to build houses in Mombassa for 2 years before I could earn enough money to send myself back to study. Also I am able to put into practice new agricultural techniques that can improve my farm and help me earn money. I have been learning about beekeeping and am just about to get my first harvest!

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