The economic downturn has hit the world hard, and Kenya is no exception.
President Mwai Kibaki declared a national disaster last week, and has asked foreign donors to bail out the country to stave off a looming a famine that could affect up to 10 million people, or about a quarter of the country.

The crisis is mostly confined to the rural areas, where many survive predominantly off their own crops. But they now face starvation after the rains failed, while the government has provided little support.

In Nairobi, people have their own problems as costs rise dramatically -- basic foodstuffs are up 30-50% from a year ago. Finance is a hot topic, with politicians defending their generous salaries and tax-free allowances -- more than $10,000 a month, making them some of the highest paid politicians in the world in a country where many people survive on as little as $1 a day -- as teachers strike over pay, school costs rise and people struggle to meet their basic needs.

But it is not all gloom, especially at the Sumerian Foundation. The new year promises to be an exciting one, with much progress already made. We are fortunate to have such superb supporters, who are helping us to grow, even though times are hared for them, and for that we are deeply appreciative.

A snippet on soaps
Johari Naturals is progressing well towards a springtime launch. Over the next few weeks, the Naturals team will focus on extracting lemongrass essential oil – we have two harvests that are being dried, which we will distil to produce essential oil, in turn providing excellent data for research. We are being assisted by the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, who have kindly donated use of equipment and space.

In early February, we will blend the essential oil into our next batch of soaps. We are gathering feedback on earlier samples from knowledgeable and helpful people (thank you knowledgeable and helpful people!), and this batch should be even better. Feedback from the second batch in March will ensure our product is of an even higher quality.

Watch this space for Johari soap.
We are confident it will be a must-have for anyone who has skin, and the knowledge that the profits will be used to empower people to help them weather any crisis -- such as the one we are facing -- is something we should take seriously.
The sun is shining brightly -- and even if this may seem a travesty to us rain-sodden, sun-starved Brits -- please pray for rain, because Kenya desperately needs it.