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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】

Rural Leaders ― a Travel Log Vol. 7

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

Despite various difficulties, people are living strong!
Day 8 was filled with the moments that made us want to say, “This is Africa!”
Let’s get started on our trip to Africa.

【An African journey to visit ARI graduates, Day8】

Continuing the northward journey
We set out at 6:00 AM and immediately hit a truck jam in front of a weigh station. Luckily, we were able to bypass it and continue quickly.
As mentioned before, the trucks are loaded with copper which is heavy. In the hot seasons the asphalt softens and gets squished into grooves under the truck’s tires, making for a dangerous driving situation. John took it slowly the whole way.
Since we were up close to the border with the DRC, a lot of trucks were loaded with livestock and produce to sell on the other side. According to Judy, they can sell everything in just a few hours and get a good price, because the Congolese “don’t like to work.” They prefer singing, dancing, and drinking beer and they have a lot of money, from their mineral mines. I later asked a Congolese participant at ARI, whom I saw to be a hard worker, if this were true, and he said, that, well, there are some people like that, especially the ones that are good at dancing and singing!
One truck came whizzing around us loaded with three layers of livestock. Like the musicians of Bremen, it had pigs on the bottom, goats on the second floor, and chickens on the top.

Entrepreneurs
Each region we pass through has its own products they are selling along the road.
Along one section of road there were hundreds of gourd vessels for holding water. They were so cool and the moment I decided I seriously wanted to buy one, they could no longer be found. Judy was excited to stop for some Myumbu. It is like cassava but can be eaten raw. It tastes like raw potato, which, believe it or not, I like! Local honey, sold in water bottles, is another popular item. But don’t confuse it with the petrol, which is also sold in water bottles alongside the road.
Sometimes, boys will flag down truckers who will sell them their fuel right out of the tank. The truckers profit because they are essentially stealing their company’s fuel and the boys sell it at marked up prices to travelers. Geoffrey might call this another “This is Africa” moment! Charcoal could be found along the whole route. It is causing a lot of forest loss, but when the crops fail, it is the only source of income for many people, so what can you do?

The Chinese are building a second road alongside this road, so it can be a 4-lane divided highway. The Chinese build nearly all the roads in Africa. Huge compounds for Chinese workers can be seen here and there, complete with residences, stores, basketball courts, etc.
At one point I saw a Chinese guy in a very upset condition, shouting loudly at a local worker across the road. It made me wonder how they communicate. Some Zambians go to China to study, where they learn the language and can serve as translators. Employing local workers is a great step for the economy and I am happy to see it happening, but there must be some nights when those Chinese engineers go home with a massive headache!

“Wherever they take us, we will make a paradise!”
We arrived at the well-planned town of Ndola around 9:00 and Getrude (2013 ARI Graduate) navigated us by phone to her church.
She was transferred to this region two years ago and serves two churches; one in Chifuhu (where we were) and the other in Chifulukusu. This church has 250 members. Getrude is one of 9 women pastors in the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian. There are 71 male pastors. So…they haven’t quite reached that 50 / 50 ratio.
She was quick to show us a garden on church lands that she fertilizes with chicken manure and waters with water from a shallow well. The well dries up in the dry season so she desperately wants to dig a borehole, but that costs money. The garden was started on her own initiative and later four women joined her. The small group is called Wesiwachuta, which means “Grace of God.” They take some produce home and the rest they sell at a nearby roadside stand, and they normally sells out by 10:00 AM. Back in her hometown of Lwansha, about 10 kms away, they have a 10 Hectare family farm where they grow Irish potatoes, white corn, and popcorn.

When she was at ARI, Getrude was serving a church in Lundazi and had a good farming program going on there. Apparently, money that was supposed to go for that program was mishandled by her superiors and then they transferred her. “The Jr. Pastor cannot be more successful than the Sr. Pastor,” Getrude explained. They get jealous. These are the kinds of church leadership power plays that happen in Africa. Happen everywhere! It’s not common for churches to have farming programs such as these, and each time she is transferred she has to start over again. But she takes it in stride saying, “Wherever they take us, we will make a paradise!”

Getrude then brought us to her home for a late breakfast and to meet her family. Her husband is also a pastor.
While in Ndola, we stopped by a huge Catholic Church to greet Judy’s sister, Scholastica. She is 77 and still working there in the education department.

A humble pastor’s big imprint
In the car on the way to Kitwe, John spoke of his work with Angolan refugees in the UNHCR in the Northwest Province in the 1980s. Everywhere we went in Zambia, John pointed out places he had worked or been a pastor. It seemed as if there was almost no place that was untouched by John’s presence and his long career of serving people. When he speaks of ARI, he is always proud to say he is the first one to go from Zambia.

We also talked about strict church hierarchies in Africa. The fact that ARI wants to train lower-level leadership poses a challenge to African church systems. Judy says we need to let Participants understand the challenges facing them back home, and that graduates should just start practicing their new ideas, rather than first trying to convince their sending bodies. “Just start and let the organization see.” Although, I don’t know how that would work in the above-mentioned hierarchical context!

We made it to Kitwe
We rolled into Kitwe around 2:00 PM and went immediately to the Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation (MEF), our hosts for the next couple of days. It has a huge campus, part of which they rent out to other organizations. Paul Samba (2004 ARI Graduate) was waiting for us!
Paul is now a Dean of the United Church of Zambia University (UCZ University), which is also on MEF grounds. When he was at ARI, he was still the principal of the Chipembi College of Agriculture, a UCZ college, where we had just met Lidia. School holidays had already begun so around 40 students were out on attachment, working in local churches all over Zambia, but there was still a small contingent of students on the campus.
Paul led us to the chapel from which voices of song were flowing out the windows and doors. This was meant to be an official welcome, and so we entered, sang, and a few words were said to us by Paul and other Deans, and a few words from us were given to the students.

Sorry, I can’t stop talking about good food!
Soon after, we were treated to a lavish meal at a local restaurant, complete with a traditional thatched roof, called The Hut. The menu consisted of massive meat cuts of different animals. I went with the pork ribs and Kai the lamb ribs. It was an unforgettable feast!
The roughly one-hour wait for the food was filled with Olympic women’s weightlifting on TV screens throughout the restaurant, which turned to talk to a Zambian bronze medal winner in the men’s 400 m, and a Ugandan who set an Olympic record in the men’s 10,000 m.

The official chat with the UCZ University
On returning to the compound, we were led to the conference room for a Management Meeting with the United Church of Zambia University complete with typed agenda – important formalities.
The Vice Chancellor explained that there is a school of theology and religious studies which provides training for ministry, social engagement, and primary and secondary school teaching. There is also a nursing college located elsewhere. The Chipembi College of Agriculture mentioned above provides agricultural education. Due to high demand, there are plans to revive a school of public and environmental health. Facilities for that are being updated.
Paul was eager to point out that the university does not only provide education for degree seeking students, but also gives shorter skills training sessions to “empower the youth with survival skills.” Students from 7th, 9th, and 12th grades can enroll to get hands on training in professions such as driving, restaurant cooking, tailoring, IT, carpentry, welding, etc. Because “the youth need space!” “When they go out, they are very good,” says Paul.

Judy added some words about their organization, EDF, and about ARI. John explained that he was the first Zambian graduate. “When you are a minister, you are a servant to the people. I continue to work for the rural people to this day. ARI equips and transforms people to work as servant leaders.”

African men in the kitchen?
MEF kindly provided our accommodations and meals free of charge and the beef stew served that evening was awesome.
Dinner conversation turned toward men cooking after we explained how men take part in cooking in the ARI kitchen. The response was that in African culture, women don’t want the husband in the kitchen! One man at the table came from a tribe called the Luvale, where men are forbidden to cook. They believe if the man cooks it will delay him getting married. They also have a traditional mask dance ceremony for boys that includes going into the bush get circumcised. When asked if he did this, he became embarrassed and said, yes.
Talk then turned to the fact that boys in university can’t cook and so they just eat bread rolls and eggs. For an energy boost it is popular to mix half a glass of sugar with water, stir it with your figure and drink it down. They call this ZIGOLO!
Good night.


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】<== Now, you’re here

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

Rural Leaders ― a Travel Log Vol. 6

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

On the 7th day, they started their journey to Kitwe in northern Zambia.
On the way, they stopped at a farm college, where graduates are actively working.
They met people who continue to teach / learn with ingenuity even without electricity.
Don’t miss Steven’s wonderful food report, which is sure to grab your stomach as usual!
Let’s get started on our trip to Africa!

【An African journey to visit ARI graduates, Day7】

North to Kitwe
Today we set out for Kitwe in the Copperbelt Province, stopping to meet ARI graduates along the way, and of course in Kitwe.
Can you guess why it is called the Copperbelt? If you are having trouble, don’t worry, explanations are forthcoming.
With a long drive in front of us, we set our departure time for 5:00 AM and succeeded in getting on the road by 5:30.

Chipembi College of Agriculture
Our first visit on this journey northward was Chipembi Farm College.
Around 9:30 we rolled through the entrance lane lined with Mango trees and there was Lydia Chibwe (2015 ARI Graduate) waiting to see us. Lydia is the vice-principal of the school and has served here a number of years, but, sorry, I didn’t get that exact number. Another ARI graduate, Paul Samba, also worked here for a long time, starting as a lecturer and eventually becoming the principal. We will meet Paul later on in Kitwe.
As you can see in the sign, it is officially the Chipembi College of Agriculture, established by the United Church of Zambia. Its first intake of just six students was in 1964. Currently they have 161 students, 80 women and 81 men, and of those, five are with disabilities. Following the college’s inclusivity policy, those five students are fully integrated into the regular curriculum.
Students pay tuition and when they complete the course they will receive a certificate in general agriculture. All of them live in on-campus housing and are responsible for cooking their own meals, often preparing mealy meal, a kind of corn flour mentioned earlier.

We spent the morning walking around the 10-hectare farm, talking with Lydia and the farm manager, Namasumo.
As you would expect, the college provides training in livestock and horticulture, but our first stop was a bakery. Normally, there would be wonderful smells coming from the ovens and beautiful loaves of white bread and rose buns filling up the tray racks, but… Yes, the electricity problem has come again. Since the power can go off at any time, they can’t bake. This affects not only the curriculum, but also the ability to bring income to the school through bread sales.
Next, we visited the workshop and met the guy who goes around fixing everything. Where would any school be without THAT guy? He also gives lessons on small machine repair.

We then headed to the poultry pens where they raise layers and broilers. During the brooding period, the responsible students stay day and night for ten days in the pens to watch over the chicks. The mattresses set up in one room attested to that.
On the way to the piggery, we passed a grove of eucalyptus trees from which they pick the leaves to make medicine that is especially good for coughs. The pigs were few in number due to an outbreak of African Swine Fever. Interestingly, a few survived. In most cases, when an ASF is detected, all the pigs in that pen are disposed of as quickly as possible to stop it from spreading to other pens or other farms. Hearing that some survived on their own made me wonder if the current practice is stopping pigs from developing natural resistance to this sickness. Disease also hit their cattle, reducing the number from 70 to 20. At ARI precautions against livestock illnesses are part of our daily routine and thus, part of what the participants learn. But no system is perfect, and risk of livestock disease is always a challenge to farmers. The rabbits at the college, however, are doing great – multiplying like rabbits! All the livestock feed is produced on site from sunflower and soybean cake, and corn bran.

Making hay while the sun shines
We came upon a group of students making hay bales. The atmosphere was cheerful because they had all just finished their exams.
Their low-tech method was ingenious. First, they cut the grass with a scythe. Then they dig a square hole and lay twine across the bottom, ensuring the twine extends all the way out of the hole. Next the grass is thrown in and stamped hard to make compact cubes of hay. Then they lift it out with the twine and tie it tightly. Voila, you have a bale of hay even if you don’t have a baling machine or electricity! But woe to anyone who forgets to put the twine in first. That bale isn’t going to come out!

I was impressed by the way they teach composting and vegetable gardening. The compost is divided into heaps and a group of 5 to 10 students manages each pile, following the steps needed to turn it into nutritious soil. These piles were not bokashi, like we use at ARI, but Lydia said they also teach how to make bokashi. The student vegetable gardens are done a little differently. Rather than working in groups, each student is given one row, and in that row, they plant several crops, like tomatoes, eggplants, carrots, and more. The student has to handle everything on their own, from land preparation to harvest and they are graded on their performance – crop spacing, growth rate, plant health, etc. The students compare and compete with each other and just by looking at the plants, you can see who is doing well and who is struggling. Namasumo (the farm manager) pointed out that the best row belonged to one of the female students!!

Kai and I were puzzled at the site of a row of wooden stands alongside one garden. Namasumo explained that buckets of water would soon be placed on them and connected with hoses to create a simple drip system. Just beyond this were several fishponds, including a new one the students had dug last week. The ponds are lined with plastic and the fish food is purchased and supplemented with vegetable waste.

The farm is not organic, but Lydia is moving it in that direction. The onions and carrots are grown without chemicals, and they are experimenting with other vegetables too. The visit wrapped up with drinks and cookies in the conference room. Three hours was too short, but we had to keep moving. Kitwe was still a long way off.

The groovy road north
We set out from Chipembi around 1:00 PM which was much later than scheduled, but the schedule itself was not all that realistic. We were back on the Great North Road, or Groovy Road, as I have dubbed it, because heavy trucks have imprinted wheel ruts along long stretches. These are truly dangerous as they make it difficult to control your vehicle. More than once, John has inadvertently swerved out of our narrow lane.
The trucks are carrying any sort of goods across Zambia and even on into Tanzania and the DRC. But the most prolific hauling in this area is copper from the vast mines. Here is the reason this region is called the Copper Belt. Along the way, one encounters several toll booths and police checkpoints. At one booth, Judy inquired where the money was going, since the road was so bad. I’m sure the attendant gets these kinds of complaints all the time. But he did point out that a whole new road was in the process of being built alongside the current road. We knew this to be absolutely true, because we could see it, in various stages of development, along the entire route we were traveling. Soon the narrow two-lane road would become a four-lane divided highway.
At one of the checkpoints, John pulled around the cars waiting ahead of him. He didn’t realize it was a checkpoint, as it is often the case that cars are just stopped for some reason or other. On seeing the policeman, he snuck back in the line, but this did not impress the cop who angrily accused him of being “the fast and the furious.” John with his soft and humble nature defused the situation quickly.

For lunch we stopped at one of the most amazing places, called Fringilla. Everything meat could be found there, in big juicy portions. It is all raised in the surrounding farm, so fresh and scrumptious. This certainly is a meat country! Kai and I had homemade sausage and the Nyondos had beef stew! The specialty of the house, though, is meat pies, and when they say meat pies, they mean MEAT pies! I can still taste them.
 John knew the founder of the restaurant long ago, as he was a member of the church John was pastoring in the area. Unfortunately, he passed away last year.

After a few more hours on the groovy road, we stopped for the night in a clean and comfortable lodge in Mposhi Kapiri called Ma 22. Good lodges are serious about security and the entire complex was walled in so you and your car, truck, motorbike, or whatever your transport is can be under the hotel’s 24- hour protection.


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】<== Now, you’re here

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

Rural Leaders ― a Travel Log Vol. 5

We are sharing with you a series of travel logs written by ARI staff member Steven, who visited Africa in August.
On the sixth day, they had a busy day in Lusaka, looking for suitable candidates for the Rural Leaders Training Program in ARI!
They also visited the Japanese Embassy in Zambia.
Let’s get started on our trip to Africa!

【An African journey to visit ARI graduates, Day6】

A short tour of the EDF farm
This morning Geoffrey gave us a tour of the farm, starting with the compost, which is a good place to start. Good farming starts with healthy soil. He had two bokashi piles going. His father, John, has been using bokashi for years, but Geoffrey says they make it differently now. I didn’t ask how it was different!
The piggery was quiet with only a few swine and one new boar. They recently sold around 200 pigs because the cost of feed had gone too high. This is another effect of the drought. People are eating the corn bran which is usually reserved for livestock. Normally, they grind their own feed, but with no electricity and no corn, there was no choice but to buy. So, they decided to sell out and start over, which seemed like a wise financial decision to me. There were several rooms for fattening, and the delivery pens had a little corner area where newborn piglets could stay out of harm’s way of getting stepped on. When things are going well, they can produce most of the pig feed on the farm, but the corn de-huller (polisher), needs fixing in addition to the other problems mentioned above. After the corn is hulled, it is ground to make flour for nshima for the humans and the bran goes to the pigs and chickens.
The poultry house contains broilers and village chickens as well as an incubator, which is open for villagers to come and use to hatch their own baby chicks.
Their oil press is a big income generator (when there is no drought and load shedding). They normally make sunflower and soybean oil and can even make peanut oil. People from all around come to use the machine. Additionally, they have goats and gardens where one of their crops is super nutritious amaranth leaves. Judy is particularly proud of her orange trees, “because I like oranges.” Next to the oranges are John’s banana trees.

Bustling Lusaka
Today is a big day for recruitment, meeting several people and organizations in Lusaka. This is one of the important aims of our trip and I’m grateful for the chance to meet many new people today, to share about ARI.
As we headed out of the dirt roads of Kanakantapa, I got a few more tidbits from Judy. This settlement is named after the Kanakantapa River which flows through it and was planned and funded in 1988 by the ODA (official development assistance) of the Japanese government. It was part of a “go back to the land” initiative of the Zambian government to alleviate the problem of unemployed youth in the cities. Settlers were provided with land, tools and agricultural training. They also received military training, so they could police themselves, and the crime rate was low. Some original settlers still remain, but many have sold their plots. Still, the population continues to grow and is now at 20,000. The Japanese are no longer here, but their office compound remains and is used by the community. Next door is a clinic, built several years later. There is still no school.

On crossing a river, John pointed out a pump station built by the Japanese that was meant to irrigate a large area of farmland. But the same familiar story followed of, essentially, failure. I don’t know if they ever got it up and running, but presently it is not, and the pump was stolen. The gang of thieves were caught, after robbing computers from a school and sound equipment in a church. They now rest in prison, and the pump is recovered, but no one has bothered to hook it up yet. That should be the government’s job, according to everyone’s thinking. Talk then turned to the government, its inherent corruption and “all talk, no action!”

The car needed some work before our big journey across Zambia, so Kai, Judy and I were dropped off at the edge of town, while John and Belvin proceeded to a mechanic. Judy quickly loaded us into a taxi, and we were once again speeding along. Taxi, around here, means a minivan with a driver and a helper whistling out the window to attract potential riders. We alighted at Waterfalls Mall, very upscale and clean, just like in “rich” countries; probably the model of development and consumerism desired for the whole of Zambia. After some brief shopping we took another taxi to a restaurant on embassy row for the first of our meetings.

We spoke to a fellow called “Mr. Tomato” by his friends because of his success in growing tomatoes. When he works with farmers, he emphasizes profitability, and thus promotes more commercial farming techniques. I wasn’t sure how much he would be interested in ARI, or vice versa, but I strongly agree with his view that farmers should be able to make a decent living.

A chat with the Japanese ambassador
At 2:00 PM, we had an appointment with the Japanese ambassador. Judy wanted to be absolutely sure to be on time for this, as embassies, and Japanese embassies in particular, don’t tolerate tardiness! After the usual security checks at the entrance, we were met by Mr. Mori and a Zambian woman. They took us to a conference room and asked us a few questions before bringing in the ambassador, Mr. Takeuchi Kazuyuki. He was an older fellow who kindly gave an ear to Kai as he explained about ARI in Japanese. It was a great relief, that when he turned to address me, he did so in English. His questions were all related to the development of Zambia and one that challenged the ARI grassroots approach was as follows. 70% of the population of Zambia is involved in agriculture, but agriculture accounts for only 10% of GDP, so how can this nation develop? My inarticulate reply was something to the effect of, when people no longer need to worry about hunger, when their basic food needs are met, they can move toward the next step.

Well, we didn’t solve any world problems that afternoon, but it was a good chance to connect. ARI works with Japanese embassies all over the world to secure visas for our participants, and this kind of face-to-face relationship building goes a long way toward smoothing the process. We also gave Judy’s grant request for EDF a plug. Japanese embassies provide small amounts of funding for local initiatives and EDF has made it to the second stage with their proposal to build a residence for trainees. Judy explained that they want to do multi-day workshops as well as 2-to-3-week training sessions and for that, they need a place for the trainees to stay. They teach all kinds of topics, according to the needs of the community, such as organic farming, livestock rearing, sanitation and health, tailoring, food processing, machine and car maintenance, and many more.

More ARI recruiting…
After the embassy, we talked with a representative from the Methodist Church of Zambia, and this looked like the start of a nice relationship.

The last meeting was meant to be with a Women’s Fellowship at a church, but it was hijacked by the Church Moderator.
He and his secretary pelted us with all kinds of protocol and bureaucratic questions I can’t even remember the point of. There was little interest in learning about ARI itself. At the same time, we could get no information on the activities of the women because they were given no opportunity to speak. They literally sat in silence. At ARI I often hear how women are kept out of decision-making processes, but to see it happening so blatantly was a shock. Judy wanted us to meet these ladies because she said they are very active and energetic and would benefit a lot from ARI training. As she observed the meeting, she knew exactly what was happening and later told us that this guy is keeping women down! It is the goal of ARI each year that 50% of our class are women but combatting mentalities such as what we saw today greatly challenges our recruitment staff. In fact, we have achieved our desired ratio only once. We have been close many times, but we will always keep shooting for 50/50…or more!

The kindness of Zambians
Whew! With the day’s schedule all behind us, we walked to the bus stop to catch a bus back to Waterfalls Mall. There was a large crowd waiting and no buses in sight. And wait, where is Judy? Oh, there she is talking to someone in an old BMW. Hey, she is waving to us to come. This person is giving us a lift! Is this Lusaka style Uber? Or just another example of how Judy knows how to get things done! Susan, the kind car owner, took us all the way to the mall. There we met John and Belvin and took the freshly fixed up Land Rover home. What a day of experimental transport.

We found the house in complete darkness, and void of water, the result of load shedding and someone leaving a tap open on the farm and draining the water tank. But Lulu had prepared a delicious meal of “bush chicken,” known locally as Kwale, using a charcoal stove. See how hard it is to stop using charcoal? Imagine if your household didn’t even have electricity? How would you cook?
By the light of two battery powered lamps, we enjoyed our meal together. John and Judy told us that each year EDF has a Harvest Thanksgiving Celebration, just like at ARI. They invite the whole community and share food, dancing, and singing together!
With no water, there was no dishwashing, so we left that for the morning, banking on the electricity being on again by then.
Good night!


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】<== Now, you’re here

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

Rural Leaders ― a Travel Log Vol. 4

We are sharing with you a series of travel logs written by ARI staff member Steven, who visited Africa in August.
Their first homestay was at a farm run by an organization of a family of ARI graduates. They have finally arrived at the rural community where the graduates live!
Let’s get started on our trip to Africa!

【An African journey to visit ARI graduates, Day5】

Morning on the EDF farm
As John had predicted, we were awakened in the early morning by beautiful birdsong, with the occasional addition of an off-key rooster crow. When I stepped out of our thatched roof hut, I found him already in the garden pulling weeds and collecting leaves to give to the goats. Finally, I felt I was in the ARI element – living rural life with our graduates.
The goats were just on the other side of the corn field, which lay barren, littered with stalks stunted and dried up from lack of rain. Walking across, I realized I had never witnessed what a drought really looks like. It was heartbreaking, the hard work and the hope for a harvest lay as scattered dry leaves, crunching underfoot. I said to John, “Now I know why farmers cry.” He replied, “We almost cried.”

The EDF (Ecumenical Development Foundation) farm is organic and lively. So far, I have seen goats, chickens, a backyard garden, and lots of fruit trees and bananas. I would love to be here when the mangoes are in season. There are so many of these fruits I think if I just stuck out my hand under tree, a mango would fall in it! We found Geoffrey with a big metal grinder in his hand. The lock on the chicken pen had broken, so he had to cut it open to get in and feed them. EDF was founded in 1996 by John Nyondo (1983 ARI Graduate). He directed the organization for 8 years and then passed the position to his wife Judy (2001 ARI Graduate) after she had returned from her leadership training at ARI. Last year, their son Geoffrey went to ARI and is now working at EDF alongside his parents.

I’m going to refrain from listing up their activities, and instead let you get a feel for how they engage with their communities the same way I did – just by being here for a short while. One thing I love and respect about EDF is how they are part and parcel with the community. John, Judy, and Geoffrey all grew up in the same circumstances they did. They experienced the same hardships and joys of village life in Zambia. But now, as trained grassroots leaders, they seek out ways to improve life, not for themselves, but for all the surrounding communities. And the impact they have made through EDF? I could see it in the warmth and laughter of all the local people I met.

The drought-charcoal connection
After bathing with the buckets of hot water provided by Judy, we headed to breakfast, which was cooked garden veggies, fresh eggs, and a rice porridge flavored with ground nuts (peanuts). Conversation started first with ARI, how Training Assistants (TAs) tend to have such a strong relationship with ARI. John, who was a TA in 1993, said, “We feel we have two homes.” He shared a story about how, when he was flying to Japan, he happened to sit next to a fellow from Sri Lanka. They didn’t talk to each other at all, but when they landed in Japan, found they were both headed to ARI. His name was Salvarage and they still keep in touch.

Talk then moved to the drought. There is a store, or warehouse, nearby where they are selling bags of corn meal, called mielie-meal, at subsidized prices. But even at a lower cost some people can’t afford it, having had no income from the farm last season. Families consist of 8-10 people and one bag lasts about a week. In the villages, they will marry off their 13–15-year-old daughters to rich businessmen, just to buy some food.
“Now you know Africa,” Geoffrey said to Kai, referring to an ongoing conversation they have been having about Kai’s first visit to this continent.

Further exacerbating the drought is the cutting of trees for charcoal, which is sold on the roadside. However, for households who have lost their crops, charcoal is the only income they can get. Furthermore, since Zambia depends on hydro-electric power, and there isn’t enough water in the rivers, the power goes off for long periods every day. They call this load-shedding. Here in Kanakantapa, only about 5-10% of the households even have electricity, facilitating a big demand for charcoal. So, it is a cycle of no rain → no crops → no income → cut trees to make charcoal → reduce forest→ no rain.

The care workers of Kanakantapa
This place is called the Kanakantapa Settlement area and each village within it is named a letter of the alphabet. EDF is in village E. The villages extend to letter L, I think they said, and the total population is now around 20,000. It was started in the 1960’s as a development initiative by ODA (Official Development Assistance), of the Japanese government.

There is only one health center to service the entire area and people have to walk 10-20 kms to reach it. Pregnant women will hire a truck to take them, but often the baby comes “along the way.” For this reason, EDF has trained 40 local Community Health Workers, or “Care Workers.” They assist with births at home and if there are complications, help them get to a hospital.
They also distribute medicines. When there was a TB outbreak, they went house to house every day to ensure patients regularly took their medication. People often don’t take medications as prescribed, but through the diligence of these care workers, there is now no TB in Kanakantapa.

At the EDF compound, they do an “under 5 clinic,” where Judy arranges for the local clinic staff to come and check the children and pregnant women, referring those with serious problems back to the clinic, saving these young mothers and pregnant women a long walk! Programs like these, however, do not come without expenses, and these are borne by EDF.

Belvin Pamba
After breakfast we headed out to meet Belvin (2016 ARI Graduate). He is currently working in Nakonde in the far northwest of Zambia, around 1,000 kms from here, but he is in town for the National Agriculture and Commercial Show in Lusaka, a yearly event that brings people from every province.

Belvin started his community work in Kanakantapa 17 years ago with a goat project for women, with the assistance of Mr. Nakamura of JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). The group’s activities soon expanded to cassava processing and milk production. At one location they have a building for cassava processing equipment donated by JICA, with an adjacent facility holding a corn grinder. The grinder brings income from community members, who come to have their corn ground. We happened to see a lady there for that very purpose.
At another location there is a milk collection center or MCC. The refrigerated tank has a capacity of 1,800 liters and they have no problem filling it up, paying the local farmers monthly according to the amount they bring. The “off takers” (buyers) come every three days to take the milk into town.
The problem for both projects now is the load shedding caused by the drought. This drought is permeating society in ways I never expected; a stark reminder of how interconnected we truly are to our physical environment. With unreliable electricity, they cannot run the machines, and they certainly can’t keep the milk refrigerated, so they are very much down. Their hope is to get funding for solar panels. But those are expensive! The second problem they shared about is that they don’t have good animals. They use a Frisian crossbreed but would love to have cows that produce more milk. However, in the style of ARI, likely inculcated by Belvin, they also shared their successes. They get lots of manure which they use in lieu of purchased chemical fertilizers to grow maize, soya, ground nuts, sunflowers, and more.

No longer needed
When we first stepped onto this farm, called Chisango Farm, Belvin said with his characteristic smile, “This is my starting point, and these are my farmers, dairy farmers. We are 17 years together – through thick and thin.” He is clearly proud to see that his pioneering efforts are still running, long after he has departed. This is a true measure of success, in my book. When people can get along fine without you, your work is done, and it is time to move on. Though, as you can see, they remain friends and I’m sure he advises them from time to time. Well done, Belvin.
That day, fifty women from the group were at the agricultural show exhibiting and selling their goats and other products. It is one of the biggest events of the year for them!

Back at EDF, he shared a few more challenges. For example, communities often start looking to him to sort out their problems for them. It is his constant challenge to build a sense of self-reliance in people, such as what has taken place in the “goat group” above. Also, in the workplace people sometimes become jealous of his successes or those in authority may feel threatened. Hierarchical systems and just plain pride are often the cause successful endeavors being blocked or pulled apart. Sigh.

Next on the horizon for Belvin is to start a business of producing bokashi for sale. This is something I have seen other graduates doing successfully and I am happy to see his initiative. If big fertilizer companies can sell chemical fertilizers, then why not our graduates sell high quality organic fertilizer? He is trying to collect $6,000 to build a system he saw in a Chinese company that can make bokashi at scale with less labor and hopes to get funding from JICA.

Kanakatapa community luncheon
The big event for the day was a grand lunch with the EDF co-op members (The Ecumenical Agricultural Multi-Purpose Cooperative), all ladies, coming from all the different letter villages in Kanakantapa. The beauty of this community, as Judy mentioned in her interview, is the diversity. This being a settlement, they hail from different tribes all around Zambia. This group included speakers of Showa, Tonga, Seng, Renje, Ngoni, Chewa, Bemba, Lozi, and Tumbuka. I would have loved to learn a few words in each tongue, but everyone was too hungry and ready to dig into the feast. Our meal consisted of broiler chicken, pork, baked beans, maize somp, kapenta (small fish-like sardines), lumanda (vegetable cooked with ground nuts), and nshima, naturally. Sharing food is a celebration that crosses all cultures, and it was beautiful to take part in this local meal with this lively community. Afterwards, a nap was in order, which Judy very much encouraged! We didn’t need any supper that evening.

Briefly getting back to tribes and languages, Judy is Ngoni and John is Lambia. Nyanja is the language spoken widely throughout this region, like a local Lingua Franca.


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】<== Now, you’re here

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