A farmer in Mozambique with her first bean crop
Good Morning, God,
This woman is so happy! When I took the photo I thought it was just because she was harvesting her first bean crop — on land that Africa Works had irrigated.
But I’ve just heard a talk by Samuel Grottis the founder of Africa Works — and now I understand. She is smiling because she has a future!
I didn’t understand the current reality of rural life at ALL! I didn’t know that with dry land farming she might harvest a crop once every 2 years — a low yield crop from stunted plants. Understanding takes information AND time to digest it, doesn’t it God.
Her village of around 500 people had gone to Africa Works and gotten an infrastructure loan — and are now pumping water up from the Limpopo River onto their fields. Her first crop was harvested in just 5 months.
Now she has FOOD SECURITY! She and her family will not go hungry. She will sell enough beans to pay back the loan for the seed and fertilizer and some toward the infrastructure loan and some into her savings. Africa Works provides technical assistants — local people who teach and explain what it takes to do commercial farming. Africa Works helps with the marketing as well as setting things up. When the loan is repaid, Africa Works will use it to help other farmers.
Winnowing beans the old way -- letting the chaff blow away
This village was told that the land could “support” 50 families. They talked together and came back and told Africa Works — we want to share with others in our village — let’s cut the plot size in half and have 100 families farm it. And that is what they did. Caring for one another is built into us, isn’t God.
Caring for the land — Mother Earth — was part of traditional cultures. Ah, but then Enter Civilization stage left.
Stewards — You made us stewards over the land — caretakers and caregivers. Help us, God to see that helping farmers make a living — is far better than sending them off to the cities for jobs that aren’t there — not yet — maybe never.
Thank you for Samuel Grottis and Africa Works. I think this might be YOUR CURRENT BEST PLAN FOR ELIMINATING POVERTY.
Story teller,
A Moment with God 
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