Friends of Turkana concentrates its investments in sustainable agricultural projects. Over the past 10 years we have invested over $1 million in a variety of projects. Our guiding principle is to leave any preconceptions at home, and instead to listen to the Turkana; to learn what they need, and then to work with them to provide resources. 

We partner with local, established and permanent aid groups to provide services to the Turkana people. The partners are not temporary aid groups – here today and gone tomorrow – but are integrated into Turkana life, knowledgeable about Turkana culture, and have an understanding of how to get things done there.

These are some of our investments:

- Kakuma Mission Hospital, we have just completed a project to install a well, solar pump, and several large greenhouses, and we are considering similar projects at several primary schools, which will permit the schools to provide fresh vegetables to their students, but also to integrate agricultural practices into the curricula.

– A borehole and well in Sopel, freeing the women and girls in nearby villages from daily treks of many kilometers to fetch water, and providing, for the first time, a reliable source of water

– A 100 acre farm in Kangalita, providing, for the first time, fresh produce and clean water to a community of 10,000

– A small garden sponsored by the Leakey Institute which provided a group of 40 or more women fresh food for their families, and income

- Farming Community at Edukuroit, providing supplies, tools, seeds, and animals to a community devastated by flooding

- Mango Trees grow well in Turkana, and are very productive. While a seedling takes considerable water for the first year, it then will take root and require little water thereafter. When a mango tree begins to bear fruit, in 3-5 years, it will yield enough fruit annually to fetch upon sale of the harvest $100 per year—a vast sum of money in Turkana. The mangos are also available as an excellent food source when retained by the farmer.  Friends of Turkana has funded a project that has distributed 1,000 mango seedlings to various communities that will, as a result, be better able to sustain themselves.