“Tuwe chumvi na nuru” means “Let us be salt and light,” in Swahili. Here is one way that our church partners put this idea into practice.
You may remember hearing about the sustainable agriculture program that World Renew uses with some of our partner organizations. “Farming God’s Way” (FGW) continues to yield excellent results, both agriculturally and spiritually. Recently, Margaret and I visited one church partner, the Africa Inland Church of Tanzania Mara/Ukerewe Diocese (AICT MUD), for a program evaluation, and we saw these results firsthand. The community of Kasaguti, in particular, impressed us with their incorporation of FGW principles.
Mr. Evarest Kasaguti (whose name is the same as the community’s name!) said that he attended an FGW training at his local AICT church with a goal of improving his productivity and income. Mr. Kasaguti is Muslim, but he felt very welcome at the church training.
Evarest learned the program’s simple concepts, such as covering the soil with mulch (“God’s blanket”), crop rotation, and planting without tilling the land. He planted a large demonstration plot in his garden right in the middle of the town center to test these principles against the area’s traditional farming practices. It was the end of the rainy season by the time he had planted maize, and only four rains fell on his garden in a span of four months. However, the area planted with FGW principles thrived.
In contrast, the section planted with traditional methods had very small, dry and withered maize stalks. Mr. Kasaguti said, “The FGW plot is growing very well and is clearly better than the traditional plots, even though I am doing all of this in the dry season. It took more work at the beginning to measure out and dig the holes so precisely and gather all of the mulch cover, but I can see the results are so much better and so it is all worth it. I can see I can see that God has provided the way for us to improve our farming and soil.”
Just imagine the results he will get when he plants his field at the proper time as the first big rains come in September! Mr. Kasaguti is among many others in the Mara/Ukerewe Diocese who are learning from the church that God is the provider, and He has given us principles we can “have life and have it to the full” as Jesus promised us.
Amen.
Chris Enns
Program Consultant
World Renew Tanzania
Image above: Mr. Evarest Kasaguti and his wife show off their healthy maize, grown God's Way. Notice “God’s blanket” on the soil in the left section but bare dry soil on the right.