The image for this week's post may not look like much... but it's a lot! This week trucks like this full of bags of seed and fertilizer like this made stops all over eastern Zambia. This picture was taken in Petauke. THANK YOU again to those of you that gave specifically to our INPUTS fundraiser over the last couple of months. Here are the totals as I understand them to be:
- We wound up with just over 7,000 growers listed in our training logs. We know we actually had more than that show up at training sites, but some preferred NOT to give their personal information to the trainers. Totally fine. Even 7,000 is a RIDICULOUS jump from the 21 that were in that first class Tracy taught a year ago.
- We believe that a little over HALF of those growers are also on the vulnerable lists at one of our Zambian partner churches.
- We provided some seed and fertilizer to 428 of those growers, so over 11% of those vulnerable brothers and sisters that were trained. Our hope is that the trainers and the community leaders will work to get those inputs to the NEEDIEST (who otherwise either would NOT be able to plant anything at all, or maybe would have used some second - or worse - generation hybrid kernels to plant) of the trainees who are also the MOST LIKELY to succeed, having been to all the training sessions and appeared to really be soaking up the new ideas delivered there.
- We also hope those local leaders will encourage and facilitate a COMMUNAL effort so that the NEIGHBORS can also be involved in the event they also don't have the ability to plant their own fields.
Two years ago, we provided more inputs than this, but two things we didn't know at the time wound up rendering that provision mostly ineffective. First of all, we had no idea that the training they were delivering at the time was still way behind the best practices training Tracy brought to the country a year ago. And second of all, to add insult to a country that was already near the bottom of the World Hunger Index, they endured a generational drought that led to virtually ZERO yield from the inputs we provided. We pray that this better training will combine with seasonally average rainfall to provide amazing results for our Zambian brothers and sisters.
WHEN that happens, you will be hearing from us in these updates about our desire to have a RECORD fundraising period between now and the harvest period so that we will be able to purchase as much of the yield from these 428 growers and others around the communities where our partner communities are located, so that we can once again fill the local storehouses with maize that we can draw from over the subsequent twelve months to continue to build up those communities with much needed food. Maybe start thinking about participating in that effort while the maize is getting planted and grows over the next five months.
A quick recap to where we are in the current season:
- The trainers were encouraged even before planting season by a visit from Tracy. They were reminded of some of the key elements they had heard a year ago, and by the time he left they were eager to get started.
- Get started they did! Over the last 6 weeks these guys have conducted multiple training sessions at multiple test plots to that 7,000+ group of growers noted above.
- ZIAP provided inputs for each of those test plots, and those have been planted. I have included pictures previously and will continue to follow the progress of the test plots.
- Now the growers themselves have been or will shortly be provided their own inputs. They will attempt to put into practice all they have been learning.
- It has been raining a lot this month, so the ground should be softened and ready. Unfortunately, the rain has been good for everything we DON'T want to grow in either our test plots or our grower plots. Remember one of the KEY elements of the training: WEEDING!!! The growers have to unlearn some prior beliefs around other green stuff in their fields and GET RID OF ALL BUT THE MAIZE! Before planting. After planting. When the seeds begin to grow. And, in a preview of some of the final training sessions... EVEN AFTER the maize has been harvested!! Why? Because every weed that doesn't grow to maturity is another weed SEED that doesn't cause more work or reduced yields later.
Finally, since I likely won't do another post before next weekend, let me just shout a hearty MERRY CHRISTMAS! To my American brothers and sisters and to our Zambian brothers and sisters. It is a season we give the concept of GENEROSITY a little more thought than we might at other times of the year. At least some of us may. Let me just say our hungry brothers and sisters in Zambia and all around the world aren't any less hungry this time of year than they are the rest of the year. Please consider becoming a monthly donor to our work.
This GENEROSITY doesn't have to make YOU poor. The scriptural text from 2 Corinthians (where Shoulder 2 Shoulder comes from) suggests we share from our SURPLUS into their DEFICIT. Nothing about impoverishing ourselves. We live in a different economic environment - one where we can work hard and expect to be rewarded for that. Many around the world, including in Zambia, do NOT have that privilege. I'm not going to say one economic system is better than another. They are what they are, and there are centuries of diverse history that have brought us all to where we are as 2025 comes to a close. The bottom line: our brothers and sisters around the world need our help. All throughout the year.
So MERRY CHRISTMAS! As you GIVE and RECEIVE in your families here in America, PLEASE consider those that aren't thinking about shopping and Christmas gift buying - they are thinking about how they will feed their families.
