East Africa Trip

 

East Africa Trip Above: training of trainers on Monday before we head out to train at IFM Uganda. Below: half of my "Riverside" team heading to Bujagali for outreach. We took two boats over each morning and back in the evening I've just got back from more than three weeks in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya. Thanks so much for your prayers -- I could sense God's peace and hand on my time in Africa. I had a great time in each country connecting with many great trainers and farmers alike! My goal was to continue to cultivate relationships and grow new ones for the purpose of spreading the Good News through Farming God's Way in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya. First off was a week in Uganda devoted to In Field Mentoring where trainers from all over the world gathered to reach out to three local communities, meanwhile developing our trainers "in the field" as they teach the rural farmers. It was great to meet old friends and make new ones in the great Farming God's Way family. Southern, Western and Eastern Africa were represented as well as North and Central America -- it's amazing to meet people who are reaching people all over the world! I was in charge of a team in a community called Bujagali which is actually one of our own communities where Isaac works - Isaac did a great job of getting our community ready. Our outreach coincided with a celebration of witchcraft in the same village -- it was a spiritual battle but we know Who is winning! Pray for these people in Bujagali who are captive to evil spirits and jealousy. Pray for our farmers to implement with courage and to share their knowledge with their neighbours. We already have a number of farmers who have seen the great difference following God's ways makes! One young man has enough (dry) beans to feed his family for a whole year! Each day of our outreach started with a nice peaceful boat ride across the Nile to our site. I really enjoyed getting to know our team over the week! At the end of the week we were able to accredit 5 new trainers; Jesse, working in Central Uganda, Deo working in Western Uganda and DR Congo, Paul working in Liberia and Nicaragua, Denis working in Central Uganda as well as Joel working in East and Central Uganda. These are the most accredited trainers that we have ever had at an In Field Mentoring event. This is a testament to the great work done by Klint and the rest of the Uganda team! Exciting times -- we can't wait to see how things will unfold in the future! We were able to see 14 people come to the Lord during the week! Pray that these people will carefully tend to the seed of the gospel and grow in their faith. While in Uganda, I was able to see Tugume and Andrew which was good! Tugume is busy at second-year university and Andrew continues to work in Kampala. I also spent my last day in Uganda with my good friend Bill who is reaching out to DR Congo. It was good to have time together like we used to when we both lived in Jinja. He dropped me at the airport in Entebbe where I left for Rwanda six hours late, after a cancelled flight.

Uganda Top: Jesse giving a practical lesson to students Middle: Praying before we make our "Well Watered Garden" Bottom: Our ministry team "Riverside" amazing group of people! 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!

Rwanda Top: Peter training in the garden Middle top: With one of our farmers husking her maize crop -- what joy! Middle bottom: Phillipe with his well-mulched maize plot Bottom: Pastor Anaclet with his tree tomato crop and coco yams

My last stop on my trip was a stop in Kenya for almost a week to help run the first Kenya National Training in some time. There has been a lot of Farming God's Way activity there over the last 15 years or so but we needed to consolidate our network and bring new life to the existing relationships. Kenya is in great hands with a great team of trainers and implementors; the goal now is to make these relationships strong and intentional with a move towards coordinated training and follow-up. Antony and Griffin were able to join me for the training with Antony having done a massive amount of work to get the workshop organized. Thanks to Karen Community Church for hosting us so well! We had over 70 people in attendance which was a great way to start off this new era in Kenya! With people coming from all over the country we look forward to great reports of God's Kingdom advancing. Thanks, everyone for your prayers and financial support for our work. I'm hoping such strategic trips will be the norm going forward. Your faithful prayers and giving really make our work possible.

Kenya Top: Learning about teren ropes with Griffin Top middle: some well-dressed farmers learning in the Well Watered Garden Bottom middle: Griffin teaching in the garden Bottom: Prayer: the foundation of humility -- where it all begins! We continue to need your financial support, your prayers and even your moral support! A donation, a prayer or an email with an encouraging word go a long way to extending the work we do! Thanks so much!

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Seed; food for today and hope for tomorrow.

Seed is pretty basic to life. Most of our food comes from eating seed. A vast majority of the world eats the seeds of wheat, rice, corn, and beans! Plus, almost all food is planted from seed. So it would go without saying that whoever controls the seed would control the people who plant and eat the seed. Seed is a powerful commodity but God's plan is to keep it in the hands of every farmer for all generations. Seed provides food for today and hope for tomorrow.


I believe that God's original plan is for us to each be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 9:7). We are each given work to do that is supposed to help to contribute to being part of this world, by God's design, where we are an integral part of fruitfulness and multiplication. This plan of bounty leads to a wonderful life where plants bring visual beauty to our senses and tasty nourishment to our bodies (Genesis 2:9). God gave these seed-bearing plants to bear seed after their kind so that mankind could keep enjoying beauty and an abundance of tasty food until the end of time. This ideal system that God has intended and designed for mankind is simply stated in Isaiah 55:10-11a

As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:


Sweet corn seed being saved for the next season at our home in Uganda

When we look at a cob of corn or a pod of beans what do we see? In our "modern" western world most of us just see food. For millennia farmers have seen both the food for today and seed for tomorrow when they look at a head of grain or a pod of beans -- such is God's provision! In one cob he provides both our needs for today and the plan for tomorrow. That plan is called seed! God always puts the plan in place before the need is present -- God planned to send His Son long before He was needed as a perfect sacrifice. God put the seed in the cob long before the hunger pangs of next season would arrive. However, in our own human wisdom, couched in vices like greed, we often distort this plan in order to make control people to suit our own ends. Sin puts God's plan aside and, in our human pride, we replace it with what we think is best. This prideful replacement ends up being to our peril.

Sweet corn grown from our own seed in Uganda. Almost all sweet corn is hybrid and therefore difficult to save seed for upcoming seasons.

As we work with the rural farmers of Africa we see how they are being sold Satan's lies. "My seed is not good enough", "My soil is not good enough", "My tools are not good enough". These are all typical lies that call into question God's love, care, and plan for his creatures. As missionaries and development workers, we may be tempted to believe these lies and forget the sufficiency of God's plan which is already in place. If we believe these lies, we will only lead our people to more and varied dependency-based programs and systems. However, when we teach our farmers about God's all-sufficiency, we remind them that what they have is enough; their open-pollinated true-to-type seed is enough, their land is enough, their hand hoe is enough. They don't need loans and handouts. They don't need tractors, expensive fertilizers and hybrid seed -- they need to learn and live by God's original plan. To roll out this message of hope we need believers who understand and also live by God's plan to lead these people out of dependency on manmade solutions and into the bounty of God's ways! This is not a financially intensive or elaborate plan but a relationally dynamic and assiduous process of showing people the better way of living.

Isaac, our Ugandan Junior trainer, harvesting a cob of dry maize used to make the maize flour -- an African staple. 

Isaac showing some demo plots to local farmers. Training farmers in God's ways is the key to helping them to come out of the dependency syndrome. We teach them that what they have in their hand is sufficient to provide the bounty that scripture talks about. What they need is to learn to be faithful with what God has already given them. 

Governments and companies are eagerly running to gain territory in the developing world where they can use their control of seed to manipulate votes and economies, gaining the satanic goals of worldly power and prestige. Seed was not meant to be a power-leveraging tool but to be an ever-present item in every farming home as a source of food both for current and upcoming seasons.

In North America it is often illegal to replant seed or to use the seed for your own on-farm seed improvement programs. It is also very difficult to keep seed since most seed is hybrid and does not keep to the biblical "true to type" principles. I'm not saying it is wrong to plant hybrids but it is very dangerous when a whole society leaves the well-being of their agriculture in the hands of seed companies and not in the hands of it's farmers as it used to be for generations untold.

With good seed, the future is "in your hands". Chris and Isaac hold a beautiful cob of open-pollinated maize. In this large cob is a good harvest of food and good seed to start the next season! 

As we seek to help people, let's remember that God already has a plan and we only need to help people find it. It's important to avoid man-made solutions where the ruts of dependency syndromes are only deepened and the bounty and beauty that God intended for each member of society are held only by an elite few. The solution is not to rip wealth away from those who already have it but to encourage all to provide lasting solutions to those who don't. God loves the poor and has a plan for them to discover the abundant life that is in Christ! An amazing part of that plan is seed and it is compared to the most amazing part of His plan -- His Word!

The Parable of the Sower
13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:


“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:


“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’[a]

16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Drought? What Drought?

Lately much of Uganda and even much of Africa has experienced drought in the last growing season. In fact, the food security problem in Africa is so bad that the FAO's current list of " 37 Country's in need of external food assistance", 30 of the 37 countries are in Africa.  This inclement weather has left many farmers with withered crops and empty store rooms. Of course empty store rooms means hard times ahead; famine. This is going to be a rough season for many people in the coming months with very little from their fields to feed them.  Of course, this will also mean appeals for aid and food handouts to sustain these farmers until the next crops come in. Here we go again… the begging bowl of Africa back on the TV screens and now Facebook posts pleading for help. But it doesn’t need to be like this! In fact for our Farming God's Way farmers across the continent it isn't like this.

Throughout Uganda farmers were hit with a late onset of rains, (our rains normally come with the Equinox around mid march but  came this year around April 1st) which meant late planting and then very heavy rains in the middle of the season and then the rains stopped as the crops were maturing. This spells bad news for the average farmers but our farmers are not average farmers! They are average people with the average tools (hoes and machetes) who are farming God's way! Farming God's Way teaches farmers to mulch as heavily as possibly on as much of their land as possible. This means when it is raining heavily their land absorbs the rain deep into the soil profile. Then, when the sun starts to shine the mulch protects the moisture from evaporation and keeps the soil and plant roots nice and cool; perfect conditions for growth! The result is great crops despite weeks of drought. This means food on the table and food in the store rooms. It also means Africans shouting God's goodness and not begging for more hand-outs! Which one do you like to hear about?

On the left is a conventional plot and on the right a Farming God's Way plot; same sun, same rainfall from this last "drought" season -- one looks like a drought stricken garden and one looks like a well watered garden. The difference is faithfulness with the talents God has given us here on the African Continent. photo credit to Vocare Ministries

We're working hard to see that we have more givers than beggars; it's slow but exciting work!

Above are a  few of the farmers that I train in Wante in their gardens earlier in this drought-stricken season. Drought? What Drought?

Thousands of Visitors

This year marked the seventh year that we have hosted a Farming God’s Way Kiosk at the National Agriculture Show here in Uganda. At our kiosk we also had an amazing garden which made for a great spot where many people could stop by and talk to us about Farming God’s Way.

 

Setting up for the show. Our maize is on the right with three rows of beans/

It was easy this year, to attract visitors, as we had some of the largest maize (corn for flour) in the show. In fact many said they thought it was the biggest at the Show! Glory to God! If you want to attract farmers in Africa, grow big attractive maize. It’s the staple crop here and most farmers appreciate a good yield of maize. I estimated our yield to be about 3T/acre which is 7.5T/ha. This is quite good and is easily 5-10 times more than what most farmers get here in Uganda (Sub-Saharan yield are around 350kg/ha). In fact, this year, it is almost only our Farming God’s Way farmers in various communities across Uganda who have yielded crop this last season – most crops dried up as the rains ended early. Most maize yields will be 0kg/Ha this year!

Klint Ostermann, a friend from Vocare ministries, explaining Farming God's Way

I man the kiosk with many other trainers from around Uganda. We usually need 3 to 4 trainers at the kiosk at a time to handle all of our visitors. My good friend Andrew Wandera took much of the week to be at the kiosk as I was busy with Jane in theHospital. Andrew works for a great organization called Amazima ministries across the Nile river where he and his farm staff train and follow up over 100 farmers using Farming God’s Way. It’s great to have my Ugandan friends explaining how to farm to their Ugandan brothers and sisters.This is really "Farmer helping Farmers!'

Andrew Wander teaching fellow farmers

Some of the crowds at the show -- this wasn't even a busy day!

The agriculture show is visited by thousands of visitors each day – I would guess some of the peak days got to 15-20,000 people within the show grounds. We had a steady stream of visitors wondering what it meant to “Farm God’s Way”. It was a great chance to point people to what it means to follow God’s directives, through His word, the Bible in our lives. We explain how to observe His Creation and follow His Word to be able to live in the abundant life that Christ has promised.

Most people can’t believe that we didn’t till (plough/turn the soil) to prepare our land. I have a selection of photos prepared for them to see how we prepare our garden without tilling the land. Then the next biggest eye-opener to them is the value of God’s blanket (mulch). We get these ideas from God's "gardens"; in most of creation the soil is covered with dead and dry leaves, twigs and grass which has died and fallen on top of the soil. We also observe that God doesn't disturb the soil by inverting it in Creation -- God doesn't plough! God’s blanket is the crop insurance that farmers need; it protects their soil from erosion and moisture evaporation, additionally it eventually rots and becomes humus and also adds biodiversity to the soil biological life. We estimate that a good rain can be stored under a good blanket cover for even more than a month. Those who had God's blanket this season were the one's likely to survive the drought.

By the time the show was done we had handed out hundreds of brochures, sold scores of our affordable Field Guides (at less than a dollar each) and we had received thousands of visitors to our kiosk. Some have signed up for our upcoming Uganda NationalTraining Event in Kampala this week and will learn more about Farming God’s Way.

look at the size of that maize!

Thanks for all you do in helping us to be herewith the farmers of Uganda. By God’s grace, and the power of His word, we are making a physical and spiritual difference in their lives.