Since our visit to Rehobothe church in February and our report back, we have been progressing the ideas we discussed then and have developed them.
We recently funded Chigo to go on an advanced “Foundations for Farming” course and he has already held a local training day for people in the surrounding villages. He is enthusiastic to pass on, not only the farming ideas but the spiritual principles associated with the method.
When we were with him he was experimenting with growing seedlings under polythene. Since then, in discussion with Chigo and taking advice from farming experts Hope Church has further provided money to purchase a large poly tunnel (30m x 10m) and an irrigation system.
The structure is up (see photos) but the irrigation is still being deployed.
In the next few weeks Chigo will start to plant seedlings and indoor crops well ahead of what is possible in the open fields as it is still winter there. He will plant the outdoor maize in September.
He is very excited about this development and very grateful to Hope Church… here is an exerpt from his messages…
Our sincere and since and since gratitudes to you Rob and Hilary for pioneering all this and that means a lot to us. SPECIAL GRATITUDES TO HOPE CHURCH FOR JOURNEYING WITH MY FAMILY AND CHURCH OF GOD WITH ALL YOUR MONEY AND PRAYERS. WE ARE VERY THANKFUL. I DONT THINK WILL HAVE ENOUGH WORDS TO EXPRESS WHAT ALL THIS MEANS TO US .THANK YOU,THANK YOU ‚THANK YOU. YOU ARE SUCH A BLESSING TO US .THANK YOU FOR SHARING OUR STRUGGLES WITH US ‚THANK YOU VERY MUCH.OUR LOVE TO YOU DEAR FRIENDS,FAMILY AND CORE-WORKERS IN THE LORD
Please pray
- for the success of this venture that it will lead to commercially viable farming.
- that, in the long term, we hope it will help Chigo to support his family well and to enable him to stay in the village and continue to lead the church.
