Your cart is currently empty!
Category: Africa
Buffalo, Bees, & Human Beings in Africa
A good memory from two African teachers who took the time one day to talk with me. One was Masai, son of a clan of vigorous warriors who herd cattle in the grassland plains. To earn manhood status they face lions and sometimes the fierce Cape Buffalo. Traditionally Masai young men prove their courage by…
A Widow Woman & Swamp Rice In Sierra Leone
About a week ago a friend asked me: “What project are you working on?” It’s pretty hard to explain the open-ended process of bringing people together in community development as “a project.” But, one of the projects I do work on is being part of a team of people who focus on increasing the…
Bats and Ebola
The ebola disease outbreak is really frightening. But, fear should not paralyze us. World Renew, the organization I work with, is gathering donations to help the people in West Africa. Simple things can be a help: like setting up hand washing stations where people can wash their hands with water with bleach in it, and…
What is this strange bird?
Do you think this bird is some sort of vulture? If you live in Canada or the USA and have a “front lawn,” how would you like to wake up in the morning and see one of these guys standing in your front yard? One of the strangest looking birds that I’ve ever seen…
How Does Amaranth, Ancient Crop of the Aztecs Help People in Africa?
During the past 2 weeks East African people have shared many stories about how grain amaranth flour, and eating the leaves, too—-has helped them enormously! People living with AIDs whose CD-4 counts sat in the low hundreds see their count and their strength rise steadily after getting the anti-retro-viral meds and taking amaranth porridge every…
Gearing Up To Discover What’s Been Happening With Amaranth In East Africa
I’m looking forward to an opportunity in April to evaluate the long-term impacts of World Renew’s promotional work on grain amaranth. Starting in 1998, but especially in the years 2006 and 2007, we made a special effort to teach farmers and mothers how to grow and how to prepare grain amaranth for eating. Love0 Share…
The Man Who Stopped the Desert. Wonder–God Is Working In People You Might Not Expect
The last blog was about our work in Laos, where we work with people who live with rain forests that are under threat because of land clearing because the price of corn is so high. (Partly because of so much corn is being used to produce ethanol.) This blog relates to a very different environment,…
Updates: Evergreen Agriculture (Fertilizer Trees) and Amaranth
In World Renew we are always learning about new ways to use the huge diversity of assets the Lord put into his creation all around the world so that people experience the abundant life the Lord intended for his people. Here are a couple of updates and some pictures of things I’ve been learning about…
When Do “Christmas Pointsettias” Flower South of the Equator?
People in North America like pointsettia flowers at Christmas time, in December. But, there were, in full flower in Mozambique —in May. May has rapidly shortening days of the year in Mozambique, (it gets dark about 5:30 PM) south of the equator. And, pointsettia plants have the internal chemistry that reacts to short days and…
Two Ears of Corn vs. Two Ears of Corn: Harvest of Plenty in Mozambique For Farmers Who Cannot Afford Fertilizer
This picture of Manuel holding two ears from his tradition patch of corn vs two ears from his “conservation agriculture” patch of corn—tells the story. Laboriously, but self-reliantly —- making compost (2-4 days of work), digging carefully laid-out, 6 to 8 inch-deep planting holes ( 1 day of work for a 60-foot by 60-foot plot)…