Kenya: Graduation ceremony in Turkana

A special graduation ceremony took place on Sunday, in St John the Evangelist Lobur Catholic mission, northwest Kenya, of the latest class of young people who successfully completed an agricultural course run by Israeli development project Farrows In the Desert (FID).

This was the 12th graduation since the programme begun seven years ago. Bishop Dominic Kimengich, who leads Lodwar diocese presided over the ceremony.

Thanks to this project there are 120 farmers all over Turkana County who practice active agriculture. Fr Alex gave a brief history of the programme and also acknowledged the efforts of Fr Paco and Fr Albert who dreamed up this wonderful initiative in partnership with other Israeli organisations.

The new graduates will now go back to their villages put into practice the skills they have learned.

This FID programme, run through the Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle (MCSPA) offers a way to eradicate hunger in the Turkana region through creating an alternative source of livelihood and food security for people moving from a nomadic to a settled way of life.

The MCSPA is supported in the UK by New Ways, a charity run entirely by volunteers. If you would like to make a donation to one of their projects, please visit: http://mydonate.bt.com/events/keepingnurseriesopen/488487

See more about the work of Furrows in the Desert in Turkana here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp2rRp3J9io

Watch this video for an overview of the MCPSA: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENpZM-KEqEM