Post by: Scott Pothoven – Currently in Africa with Bill Moore
Days 2 and 3 of our trip have been great as the Lord has really provided some wonderful blessings across a couple of fronts. We spent a majority of the last two days in the Masai Mara which is at the southern end of Kenya and borders Tanzania. The Masai Mara is a huge wildlife park on the Kenya side that borders up to the Serengeti in Tanzania. This was our first trip down the Mara and we went with the specific purpose of exploring an opportunity in the beekeeping/honey business. We have been excited about the potential of getting involved in the world of honey because of the market demand and the way it can create jobs for the people of Kenya and Uganda. After spending a couple days down in the Mara I think we are even more excited than before. There are some really good fundamentals in place that would allow us to work alongside of the Masai people and use business as a way to benefit them. Currently they are misusing their greatest gift, which is the beauty of the land, and it is our hope this project would generate income for them and keep their land more in its natural state. We still have some difficult logistics and management issues to work through but each time we visit Kenya and Uganda we feel stronger and more excited about honey.
In addition to the good work with the honey project we were also blessed to meet two new friends, Tarquin and Lippi Wood. They are good friends of Ernest who we are working with on the honey project and they hosted us at their house. They live on a 1,500acre farm and grow primarily maize for seed, but they also have a number ofother projects they are trying to get going in effort to benefit the Masai. As we talked with them we felt a great connection and we now have a couple new “projects” to work through to see which one of those are viable from a business perspective and can allow us to create as many jobs for the people there as possible. Bill and I both felt this will not be our last trip to the Mara or to spend time working with the Woods.
The final blessing of the last two daysreally falls under the “fun” category and not the “work” category. As I mentioned above the Mara is Kenya’s greatest wild game park and on this our 5th trip to Africa, Bill and I finally had a chance to go see some animals. This is something we have talked about doing each trip and we are so thankful we finally got to do it this time. We took a drive through one of the conservatories around dusk and saw lots of giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, hippo, rhino and got a great up close look at two lions and 4 cubs. AWESOME! I can see why people fly in from all over the world to spend a few days out exploring and watching these amazing animals God has created in their natural habitat. We know we are not here to go on safari. That is not the work God has called us too. But, it was a real treat to be able to dothat last night and we thank Him, and our Masai guide Moses, for the opportunity.
We finished our day by traveling from Nairobi, Kenya to Kampala, Uganda and look forward to our next few days of work here. We are thankful for good beds and a warm shower tonight, but most thankful for God’s continued provision of safety and guidance along the way.
Thanks for the continued prayers everyone. Blessings!!
