Choko AGM will be on Monday 23 February 2009 at 7:30pm at the Cholsey Free Church, Honey Lane.
Come and hear about our 2008 successes with fundraising for the Special Needs Centre in Kodumela and the Styleacre house in Cholsey. Learn about our 2009 plans for a water project, where local farmers will be trained to show fellow farmers and villagers the techniques needed to bring water to 850 households in the area.
There will be a chance, over refreshments, to chat to the Choko committee and others planning to visit the project during this year.
Beer Festival 2009
There is an open evening at 7.00pm on Monday March 2nd in the Red Lion Cholsey for everyone who volunteered to help out at the next Beer Festival (Sept 26th). The evening is particularly for those who put their names forward on the day last year, & to see how we can build the festival as an opportunity for businesses in and around Cholsey to be involved. If you haven't yet volunteered and want to come along you are very welcome!
Invitation to Choko dance Saturday 7 March
The Dance will be a joint event with Cholsey 1000+ and the School.
It will be held on Saturday 7 March, when “Shadowlands” will be playing in the school.
Tickets are available from Ray Park Butchers at £8 (including a cold buffet).
Choko Social
A report back session and social will be held in the School on Tuesday 16 June – we are giving you good warning so you can mark it in your diary and plan to come along!
And a reminder about the Choko Games
If you have a team which would like to enter the Choko Games, which will be taking place throughout the summer, please contact Louise Newell louise60@hotmail.com
Special Needs Centre
The good news is that the funding for both the building and the equipping of the special needs centre is complete. A group from Choko will be visiting the project during 2009 and will be able to report on progress first hand at the post-trip social.
Which means we need to consider the next Choko project….
Water Harvesting and Gardening Project
World Vision have identified this scheme as a suitable project for Choko. The goal of the project is to improve the water resources in the Kodumela Area Development Programme (ADP) through improved access to potable and productive water. 840 households will be targeted, equating to over 4,100 people.
The project will appoint 20 Leader Farmers per village (there are 10 villages in the ADP) to establish Roof-to-Garden rainwater harvesting systems. These will be supported with the provision of 20 metres of PVC sheeting and three pockets of cement to construct furrows from their homes to the gardens.
These households will test the trench gardening system of crop production. They will receive basic seeds and seedlings.
A development facilitator will run this project and will be provided with a motorcycle to do his duties.
The leader farmers will each train up other farmers in their village, so the project will cascade, to reach the 840 households and more.
The project is modelled on an existing, very successful system at Hammanskraal.
The project is expected to cost US$50,000. Training of leader farmers and provision of materials can be funded in phases and we are investigating the option to sponsor specific items like training for one farmer or resources for one household.
There is more information about this in the blog entry entitled “Water Harvesting and Gardening Project.”
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