In the
winter of 2013, our Greater Milwaukee Lutheran Synod received proceeds from the
sale of a church building and decided to use the money in ministry by asking
churches in the synod for suggestions.
Still fresh from our living in El Salvador, we asked our local church
leadership if they would support our writing a grant.
With our
focus on Community Development, we submitted a grant for 10 technical school
scholarships, women’s small business (chickens), and then family agriculture to
create income. Later we expanded the
family agriculture project to include an experimental farm. We received funding of $75,000 for these
projects.
In previous
blogs, we have reported on the first three, especially the scholarships for
technical college and now we hear they are all working in their fields of
study.
The
experimental farm is very important as Central America is also dealing with
climate change. With the traditional
planting of corn and red beans, these crops are vulnerable to severe storms, a result
of climate changes. However, a diversity
of crops allows us to demonstrate that growing a little of everything ensures
food security and products to sell in the market.
The
experimental farm is still in development.
The infrastructure has been developed over the past two years including:
- · Conservation – preparing the land with channels of water drainage and sloping the soil
- · Erection of a huge plastic hot house
- · The reforestation of 13 aces with fruit trees
Our
contractor of the projects is the NGO Executive Director Benjamin. When his son Daniel was in West Bend for a
summer internship at a local farm, we encouraged him to share the practice of
hiring local people so they would also benefit from the projects. When we visited in November 2016, Benjamin
was quick to point out the men he hired to build dikes to protect the soil from
erosion. In a spot along the small
stream, we could see erosion revealing the top soil was 6 feet deep. That’s due to the leaves falling from trees
every day and accumulating undisturbed.
The next steps
at this experimental farm are to:
- Develop a value system for training in bartering for work and for food.
- ·Erect a building for a class room.
We are going to stop writing and share pictures we just received as they will tell the story better than words.
David y
Nancy
