Starting the ball rolling

There is an old saying that goes something like this ... "Buy a man a fish and he will eat for the day, teach a man to fish, and he will eat for the rest of his life."  As we work with people here in Kyrgyzstan, I often think of that .  We try hard to give people the tools that they need to provide for themselves.. that comes in many different forms , From leadership training and development, to schooling  or life skills, we are there to support.  We support many different organizations here as well that also work to help the people of Kyrgyzstan.  One thing that we recognize is that some how we need to figure out a way to help many of those organizations become self sufficient.


   I have shared  about the Chicken farms that we have helped with in the past.  We are now looking at the possibility of a large scale operation close to Bishkek .  It would be set up at the rehab center, and when finished will not only provide about 1/3 of their daily operating expenses, but it will also provide a solid level of support of  food donations for the humanitarian projects we are involved with such as the seniors home , mens home and the orphanages.


Here is the way it works.  The farm will cost $10 000 to set up.  We hope to provide this as an interest free loan .. paid back at an agreed level .. such as maybe 50% of the profits,   these funds will be paid back into a perpetuating self sustainability fund for future projects.  Once paid off , the project will continue to donate 10% of the profits to the humanitarian work of LAMb in Kyrgyzstan.


While in Canada and the USA,  Jengish shared his vision with many along the way, butt it was not until we returned to Kyrgyzstan that things began to fall into place .


We have received a match grant sponsor that has made an incredible offer.  The will match any donations toward the project, up to $5000 to see the project move ahead.


Then right on the heals of that, the folks in Espanola did it again.. this is the community that we have seen sell everything from cook books to painted rocks to support the work in Kyrgyzstan.   here is what they came up with this time

Talk about using what you have to reach out to those who have not !   This is a maple syrup operation that boiled of thousands of Liters of sap to produce maple syrup.  They then , did not sell it, but offered it free of charge, but asked the recipients to make a donation to help buy chickens.


To date, just over $1500 has been raised.. that puts us just $3500 away from egg production.


Just to sweeten the pot a little , I will share the next project.. it is estimated that if we get the chickens in production in a few weeks , we could have enough in the fund by the fall to build a hydroponic green house before the snow flies.  another project with incredible potential... I just bought a tomato yesterday.. it cost just over $1...


please take a moment and help us to get this fund rolling ..  you can donate over on the top right of the blog. we have an opportunity  to make a lasting impact.  we have many more incredible projects we are researching and ready to move on as the ball starts rolling .