Greetings!
I write with a lot of excitement and gratitude to God for what He has led us to following our trip to Burundi in January!
As we met with the women in the farming project, several talked of loss and struggle. One said that her two-year-old child had recently died because of sickness. Another said that she cannot afford for her children to go to school because she can’t afford the notebooks and pencils they need. A widow spoke of the struggle to feed her children.
Against the backdrop of significant loss and need we heard three different women say that being in the project has opened up their minds to new possibilities. Many also expressed thanks to God and to Sowing Hope for the help that the project has provided to create a small income and food to feed their families as well as the possibility to do something with their time and strength.
What we found about the Farming Project after meeting with the women participants and visiting one of the fields in which they have been working:
- The women are doing an amazing work of manually clearing and preparing the fields as well as well as planting seed and monitoring the crops.
- This growing season they have been able to grow corn and soybeans in one field and rice in another. In fact, they just harvested both in March!
- They are getting technical help from a Christian brother who is an agricultural engineer.
- It has been increasingly difficult for the women to find plots that they can use for more than one growing season. They have had to travel farther and farther from Bujumbura to find fields for rent. On several occasions, after signing the contract, the land owner has decided to use the field themselves and prevented the women from actually using it, leaving them in a quandary.
What we are going to do:
- After a lot of discussion and prayer we have decided to help with the purchase of land for this project. We will be providing a large amount of the needed funds with a small but significant participation by the Dorcas Association (see below) in Burundi.
- The plan is that the women who farm the land will pay the Dorcas Association what they would naturally pay for renting land. This will allow them to use the funds to rent more fields, giving more opportunities to more women, impacting more families.
What we found about the Sewing Project after meeting with the classes, beginner and advanced, and visiting numerous graduates from the program who are sewing for profit:
- The current school is functioning well and folks who have graduated are able to sew some very beautiful clothing.
- They often work with others in shops and are able to provide income for their families.
- Some complained that it is hard to make much money. This is because, to complete clothes that they are working on, they need access to specialty machines which they do not have in their workshop. This requires time and money to go to the shops that do have the machines that they need.
What we are going to do:
- We plan to slow down the classes we are offering in our current school so that there will be fewer graduates each year. This will free up funds considerably.
- With our partners, we plan to set up a second school in a more central area of Bujumbura which would run morning classes for those who have graduated from our current sewing school to learn how to operate the more professional machines.
- When this new school is not in session, those who have been trained on using the machines can rent them for a modest price to complete the clothing that they are working on.
- The hope is that with an income stream this project can become financially viable in six months, the time to work out the kinks.
These new developments are very exciting opportunities to sow hope in Burundi which is the second most densely populated country in Africa and one of the poorest countries in the world. We are delighted that God has already provided the funds for these new additions to what we are hoping will demonstrate God’s love to very needy people. And we are delighted that we have wonderful believers who are doing the work in Burundi with whom we are collaborating.
In many of our letters we have referred to Pastor Boniface who has been the person who has been the point person we have been working with in both the sewing school and farming projects. He is actually the president of an interdenominational Burundian non-profit named the Dorcas Association. We knew the Dorcas Association existed but we were only in contact with Boniface so it was a high point to meet other members of this organization while in Burundi.
We love the heart that the Dorcas Association has to help people who are in desperate poverty. And we are aligned with their perspectives. One of them reads: “We are aware that economic development is as important as spiritual development and that the two work together.” They also have a good internal structure in place with safeguards and checks and balances against mismanagement. We came away from our contact with the Dorcas Association with increased confidence and connection.
We are very excited at these new extensions of what God has led us to do so far. We are humbled that He is gently and slowly allowing us to have a bigger impact for Him. We could not do this without the prayer and financial support that you have provided. So, thank you for partnering with us as we aspire to make Jesus fully known through acts of kindness and witness.
Just a final word to wrap up. Our current school is graduating its advanced students on April 14. At present this represents our biggest expense every four months as we pay the partial cost of sewing machines as well as providing the students with a measuring tape and cloth scissors. Here area some ways to help with this:
- A contribution of $100 pays for a sewing machine
- A contribution of $60 pays a month’s salary for our sewing school instructor or director
- A contribution of $10 pays for two pairs of scissors and two tape measures
We again thank you for your interest in and support of Sowing Hope!
Tim & Leslie Boettcher