Andrew Keris stayed and lived with a Kenyan family during his time there
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
A young farmer from New Jersey flew for almost 35 hours to Kenya, all in the name of agriculture.
Andrew Keris, a 25-year-old fifth-generation farmer from Robbinsville, NJ, met Chris Okumu, a pastor and teacher from Kenya, while Okumu visited Windmill Greenhouse Farm and Market, which Keris owns.
Keris’ father co-owns a separate business, the Windsor Farm and Market.
Okumu was visiting the U.S. to raise awareness about a slum in Kenya called Kibera. He wants to teach the local children about agriculture in the hopes they will one day farm.
After discussions with Okumu, Keris agreed to travel to Kenya and spend three weeks with Okumu’s family.
“My purpose there was to teach agriculture or what I knew about it from growing up on the farm my whole life,” Keris, who earned a degree in music from East Tennessee State University, wrote on MercerSpace. “My goal was to bring practical experience to them. I taught some of the kids in a traditional classroom and we planted a small garden behind the school.”
Keris said there are vast amounts of farmland in Kenya but only a small portion of it is cultivated.
And the lack of cooperation between farmers shocked him.
“…I saw a woman with a large jembe (a large hoe) turning up a five acre plot of land in the hot sun all by herself,” Keris wrote on MercerSpace. “…right next door to them is a man doing the exact same job, only this time he is on a tractor and plow. There is no cooperation or coordination…”
Water is also hard to come by, Keris said. If local farmers dig wells, once they hit water, the wells belong to the government and are taxed.
Keris admits that, before traveling to Kenya, he was unsure how he’d be able to help. But his time there showed Keris he has a greater cause.
“I have to raise money to buy some small farm equipment for them, so they can start farming on a larger scale,” he wrote on MercerSpace. “Then, I have to back and show them how to use it, and apply what I know from farming (in the U.S.) to farming over there.”