With sleep eluding me for most of the night (yes Robert & I are back after a marathon 42 hours returning home) I have been thinking of other aspects to share about our time away. One of the desires of Samfya Bible School staff is that the school continue to do what it can to become more self sufficient in its ministry. Any of you who know about Bible Schools will understand that they need sponsorship to help them, however it is a good thing to be as self supporting as possible.
To this end, we visited the site of an 18ha property that the school owns that is about 24kms from the Bible School and is right on the edge of a village area. This property has the potential to produce all of the food needed for the students every year and also earn a small amount of income. To enable this to happen however will require a small investment of capital. This would provide a perimeter fence (2 metres high square mesh) and a low cost bore with solar pump for water. The costing on this is still being done. Initially there would be a stock of meat goats acquired to breed and provide income, but the property would be used for maize production (staple diet), sweet potato, vegetables etc
This project may be the focus of a short term team next year. The perimeter fence is needed in terms of security for this remote site and eventually a full time farmer would be on site as well. Principal Wathabu Simfukwe has a background in agriculture and is overseeing the possibilities of this project. It would also become part of the training in agriculture given to students who are predominately subsistence farmers, equipping them with better skills to support their families and church ministries. The Photo is of Robert, Wathabu & Peter Chomba (teacher at Samfya) as they look at the site and talk about possibilities and then one of the bush on site.
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