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Rural Leaders ― a Travel Log Vol. 11

We are sharing with you a series of travel log written by ARI staff member Steven, who visited Africa in August.
They will begin a new journey to the east, to the next destination, Malawi!
The daily lives of the people of Zambia that they saw along the way were lively and inspiring.
Let’s get started on our trip to Africa!

【An African journey to visit ARI graduates, Day 12】

The Great East Road across Zambia
Zambia is a wide country and today’s plan was to drive across a big chunk of it, heading east all the way to the border of Malawi. Along the way we would stop and visit two ARI graduates, both of them Sisters in the Catholic Church.
We did well with our start time, especially for Kai who is not a morning guy. Aiming for 4:00 AM we departed at 4:50 AM. I’m extremely grateful to Judy and John driving us all of these hundreds of kilometers. They said they love to travel so they are also enjoying the trip, but honestly, it would have been very difficult to do this without them! Thank you, John and Judy. It has been an awesome trip!

Memorable experiences along the route included seeing a truck in flames on the side of the road (no idea what happened there), chickens running around the gas stations, and a searing red African sun rising directly out of the road in front of us. We stopped for photos at the majestic “Tree of Fortune,” called a Mubuyu tree locally. I think it was a Baobab, but it looked somewhat different from other Baobabs I have seen, maybe because it is super old? Just before we crossed the bridge into the Eastern Province, we stopped to buy some local “Masau” Fruits. This spot was a popular resting point for travelers and there were dozens of bustling roadside stands. The ones selling woven baskets caught my eye, so we made a couple of purchases there as well.

Back in the car, Judy shared another story. Although she has lived in Kanakantapa for more than 20 years, only Yesterday, did she find out the meaning its name. The settlement is christened after a small river that flows through it, and that river used to have crocodiles in it. So, in the local language, Kanakantapa means baby crocodile. There are none there now, but there was a time when mothers had to warn their kids about them, which is how it got its name.

Sister Priscilla at the Nyimba Parish
A short while after crossing the bridge we turned off the main road at the town of Nyimba and made our way to the Our Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic Parish at Nyimba. Here we met Sister Priscilla (2018 ARI Graduate), a nun serving in the order of the Good Shepheard Sisters. The first thing she showed us was her garden, which was completely enclosed in fencing, with a roof and a locked door, to keep the monkeys from devouring everything. The place was packed with tomatoes and other veggies, all planted in bags, to conserve water. The unbelievable thing was that she had started this garden only about five months ago. Around March of this year, she had been transferred from her previous post in Chipata. Chipata was where she was serving when she went to ARI, and she spoke of the livelihood projects she had started with the congregation there. One of these was a gardening group of 20 women and a couple of men. The harvest came to their homes, and that which they sold, they sold to each other to keep their money within the community. That group is still going, even without Priscilla there, which is a great indicator of successful leadership.

As a parish sister she works six days a week, with only Mondays off and an occasional hour here and there to care for her garden. Her other responsibilities include visiting the sick, receiving congregation members for planning weddings and other functions, going to outstations to prepare for Sunday mass, and the ever-present office duties. She works together with two other nuns, and one novice (nun in training), all of them new to this place. Of the three priests stationed here, only one, Fr. Taunge, was around. Under Pricsilla’s tutelage, he also keeps a large garden where no chemicals are used. For fertilizer, he wraps manure from pigs, cows, and goats in a big piece of canvas and soaks it in a drum of water for a week. He then provides the plants with this water. I also saw black village chickens and doves. I was told the doves are here as symbols of peace, but I believe that at some point, they will end up in a cooking pot. The producers of the manure must be around somewhere, but I didn’t see them. They also run a bakery down at the local market. Oh, and I have to mention the cement towel flowerpots which I thought were super cool, but won’t even attempt to describe. Please take a look at the photo!

The drought hit the Nyimba area hard. The rain started and then stopped right after the people had applied fertilizer to the maize, so it all just dried up. Honestly, I haven’t seen any signs of hunger, so I am assuming it is more among the subsistence farmers in the villages. Or maybe I just don’t know where to look, or how to see. The Nyimba Church kitchens seemed to be doing fine. They served us a hearty lunch, which was joined by all the sisters.

Getting transferred every 3-5 years is a matter of course for the sisters and priests and for nearly all clergy and church workers I have encountered through ARI. Rather than feeling sad about leaving her previous post, I got a sense of excitement from Sister Priscilla for the chance to plant something new. In Chipata she left a thriving garden and a thriving group that kept it growing. Immediately when she arrived in Nyimba she got busy planting again – first a garden, to be followed by a new group. I could feel her living faith entwined with her living garden all working together in her unending service to God.

Runaway cattle cart
One thing I forgot to mention is that this road, the Great East Road, is in much better condition than the Great North Road to Kitwe. It has not (yet) been destroyed by heavy trucks and some parts were recently re-paved, so we could really zoom! As we passed by one village, John made a random comment that the chief there refused to wear clothes! In a couple of hours, we reached the Chiwoko substation (not sure what a substation is), which marked the point we turn off onto a dirt road for about 30 kilometers to the Chikungu Mission.

How lovely it was to pass through village after village at sunset, watching people out and about and seeing team after team of kids playing soccer in the grass fields. Mango trees were literally everywhere. God’s mangos, Judy called them, because no one planted them. They just grew of their own accord and in the mango season no one goes hungry. When the mangos are ripe, people eat them the whole day, never getting tired of their sweet juices. I think I would have no problem eating fresh mangos for a couple months! The downside is that the mangos stop before the maize can be harvested, leaving a hunger gap. If only people would preserve their mangos like their forefathers did was a lament I heard often. This made me also wonder why they didn’t do that. Since it was John and Judy’s first time to this place they continually checked with people along the way, asking if they were headed in the right direction. One set of unwary assistants in this navigation strategy were a couple of boys driving a cattle cart. They both hopped off the cart and let it keep going on, driverless, while they came to our aid. I was curious to see how this scenario would go, but it turned out to be uneventful, as the boys just ran back to the still moving cart after providing us with directions, and jumped back on, the cows none the wiser.

The Chikungu mission was a big place, and we were all provided with our own guest rooms and large containers of warm water for bathing. The bucket shower (in the dark, because, you know, load shedding again!) felt great after a long day on the road. Though the shower was in the dark, the rooms weren’t because they are equipped with solar backups and a couple of hours later the electricity returned. Solar panels are high on the wish list of many communities. They can balance out the incessant blackouts. In places that are not even connected to the grid, it would be their only source of power to charge their phones and have a few lights on at night. If you happen to think those things are just small conveniences, try flipping off your breaker switch for a couple of days and see what life is like!!

It was here in Chikungu Mission that we met Sister Esther (2018 ARI Graduate). She and Sister Priscilla are both members of the Good Shepherd Sisters Order and came to ARI the same year. As it was already late, the only evening plans she made for us were for a hot meal with an amazing cream carrot soup and two kinds of chicken – roasted and fried!

Written by Steven Cutting (Graduate Outreach Coordinator)
Travelling with Kai Shinoda (Admissions and Recruitment Coordinator)


Click here to read the series of articles

Vol.0 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Prologue】

Vol.1 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 1-2】 

Vol.2 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 3】

Vol.3 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 4】

Vol.4 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 5】

Vol.5 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 6】

Vol.6 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 7】

Vol.7 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 8】

Vol.8 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 9】

Vol.9 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 10】

Vol.10 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 11】

Vol.11 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 12】<== Now, you’re here

Vol.12 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 13】

Rural Leaders ― a Travel Log Vol. 10

We are sharing with you a series of travel logs written by ARI staff member Steven, who visited Africa in August.
On Sunday, they enjoyed a brief holiday, because they just returned from a long trip.
However, there are NO holidays for meeting wonderful people and power outages!
Let’s get started on our trip to Africa!

【An African journey to visit ARI graduates, Day11】

Rural Leader Simamba
According to our schedule, we were due to head out on the long journey to the East of Zambia today, but after the all the traveling we had just done and because it was Sunday, we decided to make it a day of rest. To my surprise we got a chance to meet 2005 ARI Graduate, Simamba. He was at a project sight about 1,000 kilometers away in Mongu in the Western Province, but had driven all the way to Lusaka, partially to see us and partially for other reasons. In Mongu he had been working with the US Peace Corps, but recently started a different project in that same region with the World Bank, which is connected with cashew nut farmers. I love cashew nuts, but my wife, Miki, loves them more, so I brought the packets he gave us back to Japan for her.

Simamba’s sending body was the Ecumenical Development Foundation, John and Judy’s organization, but when he came back from ARI, he decided not to continue his work here. He had been employed as their business manager, and they had high hopes for him, but he had other plans. Instead, he began working for the government in the fisheries department and then with co-operatives. At the same time, he pursued higher education, eventually obtaining a master’s degree and a Ph.D. In 2018 he did a village savings and credit project with the World Bank, followed by a project with the United Nations in Lusaka. Then came his work in the US Peace Corps, etc., mentioned above.

During his interview he had many good things to say about his ARI training experience, especially in terms of leadership and working together with the people. This surprised me because I had judged him to be a person who likes to be important. At ARI he was one of those to avoid tasks like dishwashing and other work he felt was beneath him. He so frustrated one of his classmates that she predicted he would become the president of Zambia one day! I feel I am not completely wrong about him, but I am also not completely right. I sense he has changed in many ways in the 19 years since he was at ARI. “I was at ARI as a young man,” he said, almost in an apologetic tone for his attitude at that time.

I have met several ARI graduates, like Simamba, who reach higher positions of power but keep the essence of ARI’s servant leadership in their hearts. Maybe not according to our expectations, or to the level of an ARI director, but it is certainly there and impacts their style of leading. I think that ARI did indeed penetrate somewhere deep inside Simamba and is still with him! And about EDF, even if they had some bad history after his return from ARI, he said during this visit, “This is my home!”

Oh, and one more quick thing about Simamba. During the Western Japan Study Tour, we used to take the participants for a tour of the Toyota factory. Simamba uses it as an example when working with the villagers. He tells them that one single car is composed of hundreds of different parts, all working together to become a single car. A community is the same and cannot be a community unless they cooperate with each other.

A powerful sermon at Kanakantapa Reform Church
Judy took us to their local church hoping to greet people as they were leaving because we were very, very late. When we arrived, the service was still going on, and there was a stir to get us good chairs, as we were special guests. The pastor was just getting going into a passionate sermon, weaving seamlessly between English and the local Nyanja language. “Nini we” he shouted repeatedly, and “Nini we” replied the congregation. “With you,” it means. What is God doing with you? “Who is using you as a vessel?” I loved this sermon, firstly because this pastor really knew how to talk to his people, moving forward slowly, repeating important points, and then moving forward again. At one point he even picked up a pickax, a tool commonly used by all the parishioners, and held it in his hands for a long time as a prop. “A pick,” he asked, “does it do the work?” “No, the owner does the work and God is the owner. We are the tool in His hands, and God wields the tool. God takes care of His tools. You are the vessel in his hand. Can we be humble enough to ask God, ‘can you use me as a tool?’ ” But then he warned us all to beware, to be careful to know who is behind you. Is it God using you as His tool or is it the devil using you. If, you, as the tool, are not ready, you may be manipulated!

The second reason I liked this sermon is because I love this simplest of prayers, that is “use me.” “Use me” is the prayer I always pray, especially when I am losing my direction. “Use me” was the heart of this whole sermon! After the pastor closed his sermon, we were invited to introduce ourselves to the whole church. Then the service was concluded with glorious song and dance.

Through the efforts of the community, this church opened around two years ago. They somehow put enough funds together to build the church building and are in the middle of a constructing a residence for the pastor. Before, they had to go all the way into Chongwe. Some people even walked the many kilometers to reach there. This new church has been assigned a very good pastor, but they are not sure how long they will be able to keep in him out in this countryside. So, they are working hard to finish up his house.

Kai and I spent the afternoon organizing photos and videos and getting caught up on this journal. Simamba and Belvin joined us for a supper of chicken and goat meat in the dark (you know why). You have to be versatile to live in Zambia, knowing how to prepare a meal when the power goes out. Unfortunately, this means cooking over charcoal, the making of which is causing deforestation, which in turn is causing drought, which brings on the power outages because of not enough water in the rivers to produce hydro-electric power. Such are the problems…in Africa? No, I think with all human civilizations! The more we “develop” the more puzzles we have to unravel, no matter where we are located. The big question for me is…is development forward movement? Or is it just movement?

Written by Steven Cutting (Graduate Outreach Coordinator)
Travelling with Kai Shinoda (Admissions and Recruitment Coordinator)

Click here to read the series of articles

Vol.0 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Prologue】

Vol.1 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 1-2】 

Vol.2 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 3】

Vol.3 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 4】

Vol.4 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 5】

Vol.5 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 6】

Vol.6 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 7】

Vol.7 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 8】

Vol.8 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 9】

Vol.9 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 10】

Vol.10 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 11】<== Now, you’re here

Vol.11 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 12】

Rural Leaders ― a Travel Log Vol. 9

We are sharing with you a series of travel log written by ARI staff member Steven, who visited Africa in August.
It’s a journey that doesn’t always go as planned. But things will be fine, if you have a little preparation and joyful fellows!
Let’s get started on our trip to Africa!

【An African journey to visit ARI graduates, Day 10】

Breakfast with KMSC
John and Judy were hoping to get an early start back to Lusaka as it is a long trip. Some repair work was needed on the car, and they found a mechanic who was willing to do it in the night, so we could have the car by morning. Can you imagine that level of service? Amazing, huh. Despite our best efforts, however, we didn’t get on the road until 11:00 AM. This is because Samba really wanted us to meet some folks at an organization he has been working with.
The name is Key Management Solutions Consultants, and it was recently registered in 2023. Over an amazing buffet breakfast [with COFFEE!] at an upscale hotel, Kai and I spoke with two of the founders of the organization, a retired teacher named Felix, and a pastor called David. Samba is working closely with these guys right now because he will have to retire in about 2 years at the age of 55, and he wants to set up his future plan. KMSC is all about training, so it is line with Samba’s long background and experience in education. They want to start skills training to empower youth, with “youth” being defined as people aged 18-35. I wasn’t clear on exactly what activities they had already started, but they did mention computer training is going on. There are plans to teach driving, cooking, welding, mechanics, and agriculture. Their aim is to give young people the skills needed to start their own small businesses. They want to create entrepreneurs.

Felix also spoke of the miners. This area of Zambia is called the Copperbelt, and tons and tons of copper are extracted from the earth every day. Mining work takes a heavy toll on the human body and the miners are required to retire at age 55 (if they can make it that long). They are then given a one-lump sum of money as a retirement package. These workers have never seen so much money in their lives, and many of them go crazy with it, spending it like water until it’s gone! KMSC wants to start a “financial literacy” program and also help miners create a long term “life plan” after the age of 55, including offering the training described above. Once this organization is up and running, Samba would like to send staff members to ARI.

The “gaman clock”
The late start home meant a late arrival. Despite Judy’s prediction of being home by sunset, we arrived at about midnight (which was my prediction). This had a lot to do with the squishy roads, but also that we stopped for another amazing home-grown, home-cooked meal at Fringilla! It’s worth coming back to Zambia again just to go there! I like to set my “gaman clock” far past normal expectations, to help me endure potentially uncomfortable situations during traveling. If you expect things to go smoothly, you may lose it when they don’t. Plan for things to be much harder or longer than you expect, and you will manage much better. Thus, predicting our arrival for midnight, despite Judy saying it will be around 7:00 saved a lot of frustration! This is the “gaman clock.” “Gaman” in Japanese can be roughly translated as “endure” in English.

Judy’s Takami (The founder of ARI) story
In the car Judy told us another ARI story, this one about Takami sensei. Just before Morning Gathering, she noticed that Takami sensei’s zipper was open. Since he was the chairperson that day, she wanted to inform him but was embarrassed to do so directly. So, she told Bondo to tell Takami sensei. Bondo was a participant from Liberia that Judy described as “a person who is not smart.” Bondo approached him and said, “Judy told me to tell you your zipper is open.” Ahhhh! Judy was so embarrassed. But it was not to end there.
Takami sensei began his talk by saying, “Thank you, Judy, for informing me that my zipper was open,” in front of everyone! A big laugh followed. Poor Judy! But she felt that only a truly humble and caring person could make such a joke about himself.

Written by Steven Cutting (Graduate Outreach Coordinator)
Travelling with Kai Shinoda (Admissions and Recruitment Coordinator)


Click here to read the series of articles

Vol.0 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Prologue】

Vol.1 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 1-2】 

Vol.2 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 3】

Vol.3 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 4】

Vol.4 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 5】

Vol.5 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 6】

Vol.6 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 7】

Vol.7 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 8】

Vol.8 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 9】

Vol.9 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 10】<== Now, you’re here

Vol.10 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 11】

Rural Leaders ― a Travel Log Vol. 8

We are sharing with you a series of travel logs written by ARI staff member Steven, who visited Africa in August.

Yesterday, they arrived in Kitwe and had a meeting with the United Church of Zambia University.
Today, they will spend a day with the staff of the Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation (MEF), which is located on the same grounds.

Can potatoes grow from a piece of potato skin…?
What does 1,000 hectares of farmland look like…?
Giving land to a group of squatters and teaching them how to survive for FREE…?
The farmland of MEF was full of surprises!!
Let’s get started on our trip to Africa!

【An African journey to visit ARI graduates, Day9】

The Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation (MEF)
Though it was the students’ holiday time, a good number of them were in the chapel for praise worship this morning.
Keep in mind there are two educational institutions here – UCZ University and MEF. Yesterday we were with the university and today we are with MEF.
A few students were due to have their last exams today. As per expectation the service was all about singing and what voices! A guest choir even joined. Rev. Prof. Dr. Hoyce, gave the message and introduced us. As admissions coordinator, the person who decides who can go to ARI and who can’t, she dubbed Kai “the Big Potato.”
On the way to our official meeting, complete with a printed agenda, Hans noted that MEF had deteriorated a great deal in recent years, but the director, Madame Hoyce, is working hard to rebuild it. Hans, by the way, is a volunteer from Bread for the World in Germany. He is eight months into a nearly three-year agreement. He is an agricultural engineer in organic farming and has many years of experience as a development worker in Ecuador.

The meeting was attended by Madame Hoyce, who became the Executive Director in 2020, Hans, the Chaplain, and the maintenance officer(naturally), and of course Kai and Steven.
The first order of business was to sign the big hard cover guest book. Madame Hoyce then spoke of some of their educational programs, highlighting their Masters in Peace and Conflict Resolution. They also house one of the largest libraries in Zambia! Apparently, their agricultural programs had completely deteriorated but were restarted in 2021 and now agricultural is a program department. Fifty-seven students are studying agroecology.

MEF is working to increasing their partnerships, including with the Japanese government. A proposal was put into the Japanese embassy to install solar panels on the farm. Electricity is a constant challenge, due to the load shedding caused by the drought, which is why they want the solar panels. Additionally, they are expecting a JOCV volunteer next year. (JOCV means Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer, like the Peace Corps volunteers in the US.)
Our visit was part of this effort to establish, or re-establish, partnerships. I contacted MEF several months before our trip to ask about four graduates they had sent to ARI back in the ‘80s and ‘90s. It turns out that two of them had passed away, one could not be located, and the last one is retired and living in Nakonde. I talked to her by WhatsApp! MEF was quick to respond to my inquires, using it as an opportunity to renew our relationship. They requested a Zoom meeting right away and warmly invited us to visit them during our travels in Zambia. The Zoom meeting resulted in the introduction of two applicants whom they told us about during the meeting, and we later spoke with in person.

The Mindolo training farm
Regarding agriculture, MEF owns an astounding 1,000 hectares of farmland, which is mostly undeveloped. They originally had 2,800 hectares, provided as a government grant, but sold roughly 2/3 of it. The farm, called the “Mindolo Training Farm,” is a short drive from the campus and Jakob (farm manager), and Evelyn (assistant farm manager), along with other MEF staff, showed us around.

At this moment their livestock consists of 5 cows, 47 goats, 56 pigs, and about 100 village chickens. Their cattle are a mix of Frisian and the local Ngoni breed. The biggest cow is a fellow they call Mountain! Manure is collected as an important source of compost, and compost making is part of their training.
Their water source is an artesian well, which is not sufficient for their needs, so they want to drill a borehole. In their small gardens, they are practicing intercropping, such as eggplant and amaranth. Amaranth is highly nutritious and can be mixed with “mielie meal.” Mielie meal is flour, usually made from maize, and is a significant part of the diet of Southern Africa. They are also planting maize with legumes (green beans). The maize is a native variety with big red grains, thought to be more drought resistant. Jakob was experimenting with replanting carrots that were pulled out during thinning and was proud to report that they grew just fine!

In one section they had several “bag garden” potatoes. If you plant a piece of thick skin with an eye on it, you can get a potato. Growing them in bags conserves water and requires less space. Many of Jakob’s innovations, which he was very excited about, came from a training visit to a farm called the Don Trust farm in Ndola, which has a 20-year history of pioneering organic farming techniques.

Indigenous trees for indigenous people
Jakob would like to introduce the concept of “Family Plots,” that he heard they are doing in Malawi. Family plots are small pieces of land, 60×39 meters, on which families can grow maize for home consumption. The idea is to plant 52 rows of maize, and each row is long enough to provide one week of food for a family of 5. If you have 52 rows, the family can eat throughout the year. Since the plots are small, they can be close to the house and managed easily by the family, even if hand watering is required. This system is in contrast to the usual practice of growing large fields of maize for the purpose of selling, on big land that is usually far from the house, and fully dependent on rainfall. According to Judy, Zambians are far too dependent on corn and “it is killing us.” “We need to diversify into yams, millet, sorghum, and others.”

In 2020 MEF started a tree nursery with the goal of planting 1,100 trees a year. Right away they ran into problems with the locals burning the land where they had transplanted seedlings. Burning is a common practice for clearing land for farming. However, land that is not farmed is often burned as well. They believe that the smoke from the fires creates clouds that will bring the rain. They desperately want the rains to come as they did ten years ago. What they don’t understand is that the more the forest is destroyed the less rain comes. So MEF staff are educating the people about the importance of the forest, of planting trees, and of not burning.

Jakob is doing his best to grow indigenous trees, such as the Masuku tree and the Sungole tree, but it isn’t easy to germinate them. He also plants fruit trees and Acacia (a legume for nitrogen fixation). Seedlings are transplanted at the start of the rainy season, which is supposed to be November, but these days it is hard to predict.

A new village is made
When MEF acquired this land, there was a group of squatters living on one section of the property. Rather than attempting to kick them off, MEF gave each family 3 hectares. They have since formed themselves into a small community called Chilogwe, and MEF is approaching them to start small development projects and trainings. Even though they have land now, they don’t get much yield. They only plant when the government gives them fertilizer, which is not regularly, and not enough, and they get only one or two meals a day. So, MEF’s first activities were to help them develop the soil. Rather than burning the fields, as mentioned above, MEF is teaching them how to compost the leaves and brush. They are also trying to set up “alley farms” where 3-meter strips of native tree growth act as wind breaks, shade, and to retain water. In between these strips are 8-meter-wide lengths of farmland. The community was too far from our present location for us to go and visit, but we did run across an area where MEF is planning to build some houses and a 3-hectare community farm. Two people were at work digging a well, with one guy named Phiri at the bottom of a deep and narrow hole, filling a bucket with mud and a guy at the top pulling it up and emptying it. The mud can be used to make bricks for new houses. There were already two churches in this place, making me wonder how far away the village really was. In the future, they plan to build a school and a clinic. Health and education are always the first priority of a community seeking to better itself!

Judy (ARI applicant Judy) repeated what was said earlier about the Chilogwe community people eating only one or two meals a day and their being dependent on chemical fertilizers handed out (erratically) by the government. This information was gathered from her visits and conversations with community members.
MEF’s target is that the villagers can get three meals a day. They plan to start a “pass on the gift” goat project and also provide them with a chicken. They can choose to either eat the eggs the chicken lays or give them to MEF to incubate for them. In this particular area, they no longer burn the land. They are finding that they do not need to remove all the trees to cultivate land, which I assume is a reference to the alley farming mentioned above. They are also being taught to diversify their crops, from only maize and cassava, to include sorghum, millet, and soybeans. When one family sees a new farming practice being successful, the neighbors will copy it.
The community project we were viewing is getting some support from a church in Germany. The German church provides materials such as concrete, and the community provides the labor and local materials, like mud for bricks.

Written by Steven Cutting (Graduate Outreach Coordinator)
Travelling with Kai Shinoda (Admissions and Recruitment Coordinator)


Click here to read the series of articles

Vol.0 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Prologue】

Vol.1 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 1-2】 

Vol.2 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 3】

Vol.3 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 4】

Vol.4 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 5】

Vol.5 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 6】

Vol.6 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 7】

Vol.7 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 8】

Vol.8 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 9】<== Now, you’re here

Vol.9 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 10】