Farming God’s way

As briefly mentioned in my previous blog every Wednesday there is a qualified trainer from Lilongwe coming to teach people in my program about farming God’s way.

When I admit a new child or family in my program I often supply them for a long period of time with food because they have nothing to eat. As it is not possible and also not my goal to just feed them I’m very happy with this opportunity.

Most Malawian families grow maize, soya, beans and groundnuts. How much of each they grow is mostly depending of the amount of land available. As most people have a very small piece of land most families only plant maize and a small amount of soya. Most Malawians drop out of school at a very young age and therefore farming is not learnt at school but at home. You copy the farming techniques from your parents and grandparents. However the farming techniques they are using are very poor. There is only one raining season per year and families are completely dependent of their harvest therefore changing these farming techniques is a very difficult task. Most families harvest nothing or very little food because they cannot afford the fertilizer. With the current way of farming fertilizer is needed as the ground is exhausted.

A while ago Daniel started teaching around 30 people at my house. They had to arrange their own transport to my house and back home, which means for some people several hours of walking to join the training. There are no allowances involved. In the beginning people were not very enthusiastic but because they trust me they decided to join and listen. One week they would come, the other week they stayed at home. I kept encouraging them and they decided to join more frequently.

Last week I went together with the trainer Daniel for a field visit to see if they were practicing at home what they were learning at the training. I was a bit scared to go because I thought they would never change their farming techniques so easily. Many organizations tried to teach the people how to farm different however they always fall back into their own way of farming.

Last Friday my hart was filled with joy! Every person we visited did what we asked him/her to do. They all told me we trust you, without your help we would not have anything therefore we are not scared to change. We know you love us and you are sent by God to help us. I’m so proud at all of them! I thanked Jesus so many times this day because all of this is only possible because of Him. I feel so blessed He is giving me the opportunity to improve so many different lives. I forever thank Stand as one ministry from Canada for providing a teacher. He is a very patient and qualified trainer with a great passion for Christ and teaching.

We asked all people to make their own compost. They could choose to make a compost pile or compost pit. How to make the compost they learned at the lessons in the previous months. They had to collect all materials themselves; grass, leaves, branches of trees, maize stocks, animal droppings etc. Also we asked them to cover their fields so the sun is not going to burn on the sand for several months. 

Attached some pictures of the field trip.

Love,

Nicole