I was really looking forward to the Rwanda part of the trip. I feel quite at home in Rwanda which I think is a product of Jane being Rwandan, having family there combined with the more orderly way of life. Also, the roads are good, there is almost no garbage anywhere and they drive on the right so I feel like there are some similarities with Canada. I can understand much of the language but have never been really good at speaking as all of my Rwandan relatives can speak Luganda.
I was also looking forward to engaging with Peter and Venuste who are great men whom I first met in 2019 at a previous Uganda IFM. Together with Peter and Venuste, we organized a national training in Nyamata, a town just east of the capital Kigali. Peter and Venuste have been working with ATN, a local NGO, for a number of years teaching their communities Farming God's Way and putting it into practice themselves with astounding success! These guys have so much potential! Their impact on their communities can be easily seen in tangible ways!
With ATN's help, we put on a three-day workshop in Nyamata which had over 50 people in attendance! A great turnout -- including the local agriculture agent. People from all over the country came, including some Buruindians sent by my childhood pastor Ray Bale who has worked in Burundi and DR Congo for many years. After the second day, I was able to visit a few nearby farmers whom Peter works with and then after the third day, I drove with Venuste all the way to the southern part of the country to stay with him for a couple of days and visit his family and a few of his farmers. Farmer follow-up is one of my favourite things to do -- we were able to witness amazing changes in people's lives as they worked faithfully implementing Farming God's Way. One man, Anaclet, who is a government teacher is getting more from his tree tomato plot each week than he gets from his government teaching job per month! That doesn't even take into consideration that he has enough food for his family from planting maize and beans and cassava! These Rwandan farmers under Peter and Venuste have very quickly moved from attaining food security to economic freedom in a matter of 3-4 years! Another lady, Betty, testified that she went from weighing 50kg as a poor and stressed out conventional farmer to now weighing a contented and healthy 80 kg after switching to Farming God's Way with her husband Philipe. These people are so eager to share Christ and their new-found path to prosperity with their village friends despite jealousy and theft from their fields. They have gone from being despised and overlooked for their poverty to being people who are sought after for their knowledge. One of the reasons these people do so well is that Peter and Venuste are such inspiring examples themselves! Please pray that this marvellous work in Rwanda will continue. My time in Rwanda solidified my relationship with Peter and Venuste and ATN's leaders and thus we look forward to growing a great training and trainer development network in Rwanda through our established connections
Another bonus to my time in Rwanda was meeting my newest niece Precious Kalera who was born while I was there ! What a great time seeing friends and family and growing our Farming God's Way network there! | 
