We are relaunching Hunger campaign tomorrow.
And in preparation for that, I need your help. It’s a secret. 
(photo by Esther Havens)
Last year we helped 50 Kenyan farmers move from poverty to the middle class, by subsidizing the costs of 50 irrigation pumps. The 50 farmers have each sent an average of 1.5 or their kids to school for the first time (because of the income they earn), and now each feed 77 people in their community from the food they grow. This one $400 intervention is text book example of “what works” in Africa.
With blind faith we told the partner that this year TAP would try and support 300 farmers waiting for a pump (which has the potential to send 700 children to school, and feed 25,000 people). A feat that will be no small miracle for our small but tenacious team. We thought the easiest way to do that was enlist 300 people to join us in each trying to help one farmer (and his/her family), by raising $400 for an irrigation pump.
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We need you to join our Farmer’s Collective by signing up is here:
(And like always, if you want me to set it up for you. I will! Email me!)
It means this:
1. You set up a page.
2. You dedicate October to raising $400 to help one family in Kenya (get your family or friends to help.)
3. That’s it.
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(Or you can just join my family here. We still want to help 6 more families.)
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And I just have to say that it is surreal that 8 years ago tonight, I was shaking and sobbing and sleeping in a chair next to a NICU isolettte. I was terrified. And I knew our world was changing. I had no idea just how much.
And tonight….that fear, that pain, that desperation….I can still feel it when I close my eyes. And I know all to well there are mothers around the world who don’t have to close their eyes. It’s their reality every day.
Will the kids eat today?
How will I send them to school?
How will I get medicine?
How can I protect them?
So it’s true. I’m advocating for farmers in Kenya tonight. But for me it started in an Iowa City Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. And I know you have your own story.
I can’t do this alone. And honestly, it’s not nearly as fun without you.
Thanks all.
