Fourteen female execs from the food and hospitality industry are in Kenya this week digging a pond for a remote village.

The ‘Dig for Good’ project is part of Farm Africa’s Food for Good campaign against hunger. The charity’s Victoria Rae writes from Bumala on the digging of the pond, which will provide fish and income for years to come:

“Torrential rain in the night turned our pond into a mudbath. We learned today that mud is hard work. We learned about determination and perseverance in the face of setbacks. We also learned that our UK digging team are fantastic organisers to get a group working smoothly.

It wasn’t easy – boots sinking knee-deep into clay-like mud, lifting heavy sacks – but we shifted vast quantities of mud today. The tree stump that was holding us up and refused to be hacked out is now burning.

The result is a hole, constructed to the right dimensions and depth, which will soon be prepared ready to be filled with tilapia. It’s a legacy that we have helped create and will leave behind for the community to harvest hope from.

We celebrated the moment together – cooking, eating and dancing as old friends. We did traditional English cottage pie and trifle, and were treated to delicious tilapia, chicken stew, ugali and cow peas. It was an emotional moment.

Judith Batchelar (head of Sainsbury’s Brand and a trustee of Farm Africa) spoke for all of us when she said: ‘I wasn’t quite prepared for how much we would change as individuals after four days. We have shared so much and found so much in common with our Afula friends.’

The Afula group are strong women, fired by entrepreneurial spirit and ambition for themselves and their families. They will live up to their vision to be the leading fish farmers in the community, in the county and even beyond.”

For more on the Dig for Good project and the people involved, see the Farm Africa website.

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