Picture Friday

I thought I'd give you a break on the reading and give you some pictures of our tour of the chicken houses with the Ministry of Agriculture. I hope you don't mind.

Have a good weekend,
-Ben

Contact

Strangely, it feels as if a large amount of my day has been used dealing with American things. My parents had a question about my taxes, my student loan payment wasn't withdrawn from my account as it should have been, and I'm looking into a grant from the American embassy. AND I just caught my grandmother online, so I got to chat with her for a minute. Lots of American stuff.

So I passed on the tax question to someone who might know enough to help me, and I'm currently working on sorting out my student loan problem (which is why I'm at work so late). I also almost forgot it's a leap day, which is a fantastic, 2-3 times in a decade experience.

Well, I'll finish this up and head out. Have a good Wednesday.

-Ben

The Weekend Update

This post comes on Tuesday because Tinashe and I spent much of Monday at the abattoir, and I had to leave work a bit early to make my small group car pool. I hope you don't mind.

We were at the abattoir basically to get a feel for how things were going. I'm working on a report for how we can better operate at the abattoir from an efficiency and operations viewpoint. Most of what we learned at the abattoir was the same as what I'd already seen, but it was good for Tinashe to get exposed to some of it. We also implemented a new system for tracking chickens and weights through the abattoir. It's been helpful for us so far, and we're hoping that it will prove even more beneficial over the long-term.

The weekend was sunny and warm (which is always good, because it means my laundry doesn't get rained on while it's drying). While Skyping with my parents on Saturday, however, I learned that Len Zydowicz passed away late last week. I had known he was having health problems, but I was caught off-guard. Len and Barb have been such close friends of my family that they have become family for all intents and purposes. I think the hardest part was not being able to attend the funeral, but my heart prayers certainly go out to Barb and her family.

God bless,
-Ben

Ministry of Agriculture

Yesterday the Ministry of Agriculture toured the areas, and we are happy with the way it went. We rented a van, picked them up, and we all went out. We started in Myoloza, where the ministry people spent a fair amount of time talking to the farmers about ways they could improve and questions they had. National Chicks people also came, which was good.

When the ministry people were done there, we all (with the farmers) went up to Lamgabi. We looked around a bit more, and then sheltered inside an empty chicken house as it started to rain. So we had a big meeting with the government, our supplier, us, and the farmers all sheltering from the rain in a chicken house. The ministry set up a 3-day training course for next month, which we think will be good. The farmers also got to air all their concerns about AfricaWorks, and the ministry promised that they would try to be fair judges.

Overall, I think it was good. I think the training will be good for the farmers, as well as having an outlet where they can talk through frustrations with AfricaWorks. Frankly, AfricaWorks has had all the power in the relationship up until now, and I'm sure the farmers will be glad to have someone who they can express their complaints to. We'll know more after the training.

Have a good weekend,

-Ben

Ministry Meeting

Tuesday we met with the poultry department from the ministry of agriculture. All seven of them came here and we had a big meeting with presentations by Tinashe and me, and a lot of discussion. We also had one guy from National Chicks (our supplier) and two of our farmers. Altogether, I think it was a successful meeting. We'll be picking them up this morning and taking them to see the chicken houses themselves. Then they've agreed to run a training seminar for 3 days in March.

I think it would be a very good thing if our farmers get more connected to the ministry. The ministry seemed very committed to making an effort to help small-scale farmers. Although I'm not sure how much impact they have, or how deep their concern is, I think they do have some resources that we don't.

So we're hoping this is another good meeting.

-Ben

Big meeting tomorrow

We're having a big meeting with the Agriculture Ministry tomorrow, so that's something to anticipate. If all goes well, tomorrow morning will find the AfricaWorks staff, a few of our farmers, and seven members of the ministry meeting to discuss how we can work together to achieve our goals. Our main hope is that they'll be able to provide some training to our farmers. I'm not sure exactly how much help they'll be able to provide, because of the country's financial situation, but we're hopeful.

Please pray that the meeting goes well. I'll let you know how it goes.

-Ben

Lions and Tigers and Bears

Yesterday I went out to the Eastern side of the country with Daran and his wife Theresa to see what they were doing out there. It was a very interesting and informative trip, so I'll try to run you through the highlights.

We first stopped to meet a woman who works closely with Daran and Theresa. She came with us and brought along two girls who are on a short-term (1 month) mission here as part of a mission trip through 11 countries in 11 months. From there, we went to the house of an older couple who retired to the Swazi bush in order to help as much as they could. They do a lot of visits to the communities out there, where they work with kids and try to minister as much as possible.

They came with us into one of the main villages they work in. Their main purpose is to test and get treatment for the children and caretakers in the communities. One of the challenges they see are organizations that come in and test without figuring out how the people will get the necessary treatment. But Daran was quick to point out that if they don't do something about the economic situation of these people, the cycle will just continue.

It's currently the Murula season, so we saw a number of women busy pitting the Murula fruit, which will be brewed quickly and turned into the favorite alcoholic beverage here. Sadly, there aren't many other economic options for these people. They're hemmed in by sugar cane fields and maize fields, so there's no real room for agriculture or raising poultry. The missionaries have gotten some of the women sewing machines and connected them with a business that will pay them for well-made items that it will then sell in the US. Hopefully that will improve their quality of life somewhat, but I'm not sure if their situation will develop further in the next 10 or 20 years.

So while I wasn't inspired with hope and optimism, I am glad I had the experience and got to see how they're living. We'll see what God does in the next couple weeks.

Also, while I saw neither lions, nor tigers, nor bears, I did see antelope and a monitor lizard. I also saw the eyes and nostrils of a submerged crocodile, and saw a hippo, elephants, and apes far off in the distance.