"I would like to thank the almighty God for granting me this opportunity to share with you experiences, challenges and results from my bulb onions farming. Before I proceed on with my testimony, I would like to thank Jubilee Village Project for their insight on our community development especially on improving food security, and fighting famine and poverty. A big thank you to them, for considering me worthwhile to be a participant in this project. The support I have received from JVP of quality seeds, fertilizers, finances and technical support has resulted into this testimony.

One of the challenges I found with bulb onions was that in our country, rainfall is scarce and not reliable during the seasons when I planted the onions. What do I mean?  There was drought, but amazingly my onions did not whither nor dry off.  They were like a tree planted by the river side which bring forth its fruit in all seasons.

Another challenge I found out was that the bulb onions take much longer time in the nursery bed before germinating compared to kales (cabbage) and tomatoes.  They would germinate very minute (as if nothing is there), but with time you can notice the seedlings getting shape and growing up. If you are not patient, one can give up so easily. As they grow up in the sed bed, they become drought resistant until such a time when they are ready for transplantation.

Another experience I have had is that when the seedlings are planted in lines, they would take less time to be covered with soil.   The bulb onions does not require much pesticides compared to kales and tomatoes.  They are safe in case there is a storm as the bulbs are covered in the soil underground.  I wish to continue with this crop, I am seeing it as one of the sure hope of one of the major cash crops for Kager village.

God bless Jubilee Village Project."

First, I take away your clothes.  Don't panic, I won't take them all.  You can keep the clothes on your back and wash them each night.  Your children feel the brunt of this humiliation at school.

Next, I take away your electricity.  Now you come home to a dark house each night.  None of your appliances work: no refrigerator, telephone, television, computer or stereo.  Your showers are cold and you have to wash your clothes by hand.  Your quality of life has dropped precipitously.  But you are still better off than most of the world.

Takeaway No. 3 is really tough: clean water.  None of your faucets, toilets, or showers work, and the only water source is a stagnant waterhole about a mile away.  It takes hours each day to fetch what you need, and because it is teeming with bacteria, you and your children are constantly sick.  Despair starts to set in.

I'm afraid I have to take away even more: your home.  Now you and your whole family must live and sleep in a 20-by-20 mud hut with a dirt floor.  When it rains, the roof leaks and the floor turns muddy.

Takeway No. 5 is devastating: food.  Your children have long ago lost their smiles; now they are hungry with a gnawing pain.  You find a little food by picking through your neighbor's garbage.  Already sick from exposure to the elements and from drinking dirty water, your children's bodies become severely malnourished and cannot fight off diseases.  Your 4-year old girl seems to be slipping away.

Getting her to the doctor is urgent but, tragically, No. 6 takeaway is health care.  To your horror, your daughter dies before your very eyes - of diarrhea.  How can this be happening?  Why has no one stepped in to help?

What else could I possibly take away?  No. 7 is Hope.  Without these basic necessities of life, you and your children have no hope for the future.

Poverty, for most of us, is distant and remote.  But this is the pain that billions on our earth endure each day.