Saturday was a day of teaching, celebrating, and sharing. The ladies in the sewing class spent the morning putting the finishing touches on their over the shoulder bags. At the end of our last class, I surprised them with a gift of multiple yards of fabric prints and their own personal sewing kit. They cheered and clapped. I shared Jesus’ parable of the talents and challenged each woman to take the sewing materials and yardage and utilize them to create more tote bags or other sewing projects. I told them I would be looking forward to hearing the testimonies about how they invested their resources when I return to the village next year.
The members of the farming co-op woke at the crack of dawn (about 5:15am) and went down to the garden site to start the “watering ritual” to make sure the seeds we planted yesterday remained moist for germination. With the seeds in the ground, the only lesson remaining for me to share with the members was on composting. It would be important for everyone in the village to participate in “growing the soil” if we hoped to reap a successful harvest and free ourselves from the need to utilize synthetic fertilizers. As I mentioned previously, the TSA authorities confiscated the fertilizer I had packed into my checked luggage, so my only recourse was to purchase a 50kg bag of all purpose fertilizer in town. This would be a sufficient alternative until the compost was ready and could be added to the soil. I had performed a couple of soil tests and the results showed that the soil had been leached of the needed nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash ingredients that growing plants require.
Before our composting lesson began, the co-op members built us an oversize, two compartment compost bin that measures 3 meters long x 2 meters wide x 1 meter high. It’s a natural wood structure constructed from the poles the men had cut down earlier in the week. Smaller, more flexible branches were woven through the outer frame in a basket weave pattern. The finished bin was so beautiful; I just gushed over their handiwork. 
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Residents in the village have been farming for generations, but no one uses compost. This was an incredible opportunity for me to teach everyone about saving kitchen scraps, wood ashes, corn cobs, leaves, and other things that are found organically in the village that could be recycled to make a nutrient rich planting material. Several local villagers had walked to the bore hole to check out all the excitement and the new community garden. I invited them to stay for the lesson. It would take consistent reminders on the part of our co-op members to begin to change the mindset of an entire village and encourage them to adopt this new farming practice, but I was hopeful. You see, in his sovereignty, the Lord had gone before me once again and provided the necessary field expertise. Our resident expert is named Mercê Zulu. She’s Robert and Doreen Zulu’s daughter, and she has a degree in agricultural/crop science. Mercy has agreed to be the overseer and continuing education teacher for the cop-op. She and I talked in great detail about regular soil testing, setting up a schedule for turning the compost, making sure nothing inappropriate was being added to the bin, and other technical issues, such as Nitrogen and Carbon mixing. Do you see what God did there? Before I even expressed my need, he had made a way for it to be met! Robert and Doreen have also pledged themselves to make monthly visits to the village to consult with Zulu Kennedy and work through any problems the co-op members may be experiencing.
After the compost lesson was complete, I called all the members over to the mango tree for one final surprise. Earlier in the week, I had enlisted the help of Samkulani to pull it off. He agreed to find a bicycle and ride to a local store to make some purchases for me. I wanted to say “thank you” to all the members for their many hours of work, so I put together a small token of my appreciation. My little offering included a box of cookies (biscuits), tea, a bottle of soda, a bar of soap, and a little kwacha – their local currency. Doreen and I had been laughing for two days because I couldn’t believe I was conceding to the idea of giving a bar of soap as a gift. I was certain each person would be offended and would think I was implying they all needed to go home and bathe! Doreen shared my concern with Sam. He just laughed at this notion and assured me the soap would be a welcome gift.
With Doreen by my side to guide me in my pronunciation, I said these words: “Zikomo pozipereka panchito” which being interpreted means ‘thank you from the bottom of my heart for your hard work and complete commitment to this project.’ I gave each member my gift and told them it was my pleasure to work alongside them as we sought to make significant economic, educational, and nutritional improvements in the village with the Lord’s blessing. I gave some instructions about the work schedule for the upcoming weeks and months, and I invited everyone to join me at church on Sunday. They all clapped their hands together in one accord and said, "Zikomo kwambedi" which means thank you very much! It was a great way to celebrate the completion of Phase I of the agricultural initiative.
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| Deluxe sewing kit given to each member of the sewing class |
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Each student was given the option to choose 2 additional patterns from the yardage shown. Please pray these ladies will be faithful with the resources they've been entrusted. I can't wait to hear their testimonies next year. Our beautiful compost bin being constructed. I love the creative, cooperative energy of these farmers. They were such a blessing to me.  Members of the co-op seated in front of the compost bin we just built: Left to right - Judith, Bernard, Samkhulani, Peter, Zulu, Elias, and Zikake. I was pleased to share these new concepts with some of the local residents.  Mercy Zulu - our continuing education teacher. She is a Godsend, and I'm thankful for her generous spirit of volunteerism  My thank you gift to the farmers - biscuits, tea (which they only enjoy at Christmas), soap, soda, and a little spending kwatcha |
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