First day in Moheto!

This morning we finally got to Moheto!! It was about a 20 minute drive from Migori, where our hotel is, to the village of Moheto. This was our first day of training with the 21 business owners. We will continue again next week Monday through Friday – 6 days total for training, visiting their businesses and doing individual coaching.

We received such a warm welcome from the folks at the Moheto church!! Our day began with the folks from Moheto singing a very engaging African song. Then Pastor Ken gave a devotion from Luke 5:1-11 and explained the origin of this project’s name, “Moheto Go Fish”. During each of the training days, everything that is shared verbally is translated into the local language when we speak, and then also translated into English when folks from Moheto speak. There are 4 people in the Moheto group that are fluent in English, and were able to help to translate. They were kept very busy with all of the sharing that took place, which we were excited about. 😊

In the training today, after introductions, we talked about some perceptions around gender issues in small businesses. It was very enlightening to hear the different perspectives from the women & men in the group.

Pastor Ken and his congregation are very involved in bringing improved services to the community. He walked me around today to show me all that they have on this property adjoining the church. This church has been building a health clinic since 2003. It just opened on Dec 26, 2019. They have hired 1 nurse & 2 nurses aids to staff the clinic & they have seen 21 patients since they have opened their doors. The generator for the well provides electricity for lights in the clinic at night.

The other big project this congregation has been involved in was the drilling of a well for the community. This project was facilitated by a generous donation from a family in my church in Evanston. The well was dug 745 meters deep & the water has tested safe to drink! The well was completed on Dec 5, 2019 and will be dedicated tomorrow after worship. This water is available to any resident of this community for a fee of 2ksh (less than $.01) per 20 liters. This fee helps to offset the cost of fuel for the generator that runs the pump. There is a water committee in the congregation that oversees the operation of the well.

We ended our day together by giving the business owners a business assessment to complete by Monday. This information will help us individualize the upcoming classes to best meet their needs. As we were finishing, I noticed 2 small boys who were standing in the doorway watching & listening to us. When I went outside to talk to the boys, they ran over to where many children were gathered under a tree. I couldn’t help but take a photo of them 🙂

One of the highlights of the day was visiting 3 businesses. We will eventually be visiting all of them before leaving. We’re hoping to get to 3-4 businesses each of our teaching days. Today we visited a beauty salon owned by sisters and 2 businesses that sell vegetables & a variety of packaged food products.

This was a really fun and productive first day!! We are all looking forward to building deeper connections with each other as this next week progresses!!