Rosemary Gumbo
How do you feel about Beyond Belief Outgrower Project and do you see your life changing in any way?
It’s a good project that will help me as a widow to generate my own income. After this first batch of chickens, I will continue buying the food as these chickens will eventually belong to me. I do see my life changing and as my small business grows, I will see some changes at my home as I buy some assets like a scotch cart. I hope there is going to be a good turn over. I have to work hard to cover school fees for my children and buy food for my family.
I have 389 chickens and the only challenge I faced is swollen eye - a chicken disease.
Ebenezer Graduates now Model Farmers
There will be 6 Model Farmers (Graduates from Ebenezer) who will be Missionary Field Officers – equipped in agriculture. There main focus is to be missionaries and to look after 10 farmers which will increase every month. Hopefully, they will start cells groups and eventually plant churches. They will live in the communities they are serving.
This initiative has already started in the Kezi area. There are farmers in Mablauwuni Village, Magobeni Village and Natisa. The radius spans about 10km from Ebenezer. In these villages, there are 9 chicken outgrowers who have approximately 395 brown layer chickens that are producing 50 – 60 eggs daily. The production of eggs will quickly increase to about 350 - 380 in the next two weeks.
An area called Antelope, near Mapisa has been identified where 40 farmers will receive monthly training and grow tomatoes. Foundations for Farming techniques will be used. This venture is on a commercial scale. The aim is that the small scale farmers will be empowered. The main challenge ahead is the cultural issues/mindsets but, with God, all things are possible.
On the same day that the broiler chicks were placed at Ebenezer, Beyond Belief placed 3551 layer chickens into the wider Natisa community. Nine farmers were selected and each farmer received 395 layers. The farmers had worked extremely hard to be ready in time for the layers. They were an excellent example of what it means to be faithful with little. Where others may have complained that they did not have the right equipment or material to build their chicken houses, these farmers used what they had at their disposal to build some very good coops. As each farmer received their chickens they were prayed with. Beyond Belief will use the chickens to bring the gospel into the community. The farmers will need to attend training once a week, and there will be a very strong spiritual aspect to the training. In addition, Beyond Belief had just employed a Missionary Field Officer, Mxwayisi Dube from Crossroads Community Church, who will meet with farmers daily and make sure that the chickens are doing well and also minster to the farmers.
We pray for God’s provision and protection over the farmers and their chickens.
1. Prayerfulness
2. Good stewardship
3. Excellence
4. Creativity
5. Initiative
6. Respect
7. Humility
8. Fruitfulness
9. Joy
10. Service
This is expressed through
Daily Questions:
1. Am I being faithful with what God has given me to look after?
2. Do I invite the creator God to inspire my decisions?
3. Do I honour God in all I do and say and think?
4. How can I put others before myself?
5. Do I do things on time, to high standard, without waste and with joy?
Please pray for Beyond Belief
1. To be self sustaining and fruitful by December 2012
2. For all staff to be fluent in Ndebele by March 2012
3. To impact the community of Matabeleland South by training and partnering with 50 Outlayers by, January 2012, 100 by December of 2012 and 120 by June 2013
4. To impact the community of Antelope, Valley and Ebenezer by training and partnering with 200+ farmers by January 2012 and 2000 + farmers by Dec 2014.
5. To establish a robust and effective training programme for Major Tom outgrowers by 26 April in readiness for the first training event on 26,27,28 May 2011.
6. To meet the supply targets of Major Tom (60 tons of tomatoes per day by June 2012)
7. To plan for and implement rotational crop strategies (including market analysis) for Major Tom outgrowers by February 2012
8. To explore other potential industries such as honey, peanut butter, biodiesel, renewable energy sources (bulrushes and ethanol production), grain trading with Operation Trumpet Call farmers etc.
9. Identify clear and specific development and investment opportunities to be presented to potential investors/stewards in a businessmen’s meeting in South Africa in the second half of 2011.
10. To establish an intercessors network in Zimbabwe, South Africa and aboard coordinated by Grant Prinsloo to pray specifically and strategically into Zimbabwe and Africa.
This is the plan and God can bring things to fruition......
Core Functions
1. Meeting the physical as well as the spiritual needs of rural communities.
2. Developing out grower initiatives with small scale farmers.
3. Linking small scale farmers to markets
4. Identifying areas of opportunity for investment, development and/or trading.
5. Supporting investment by others (local or abroad) in areas of opportunity and acting as advisors to these investors.
Aims:
To serve the poor through poverty alleviation and holistic community development
To demonstrate the Kingdom principles of good stewardship, fruitfulness and generosity
To serve the churches in the communities through prayer, training in farming techniques, community development projects, theological training and foundations for family initiatives.
To pray with and meet the physical as well as the spiritual needs of the small scale farmers as well as the communities within which they live.
To empower small scale farmers with selling power by linking them to markets that they would otherwise not have had.
To encourage standards of excellence in production with the small scale farmers
To prayerfully and wisely sow into areas of need within the New Life Trust and the region.
To seek new opportunities of investment that may unlock hidden potential in areas and communities.
To encourage others (local and abroad to invest in Zimbabwe). This may be in areas of farming, trading, processing, tourism and service industries.
One of the biggest causes of poverty is the lack of markets. Beyond Belief will link farmers to markets and this will be the biggest way to break poverty. Farmers will grow vegetables and chickens.
1. Vegetables: They will work with Major Tom (See Major Tom blog) the limiting factor will be the farmer’s efficiency. Before they looked at 5 tonnes but now they can look at 100 tonnes per farmer per season together with rotational crops like soya which is very good for nitrogen fixing. The tomatoes will be alternated with grains.
2. Chickens: These will be broiler and layer chickens. The farmers will be linked to markets in Bulawayo. Approximately 150,000 eggs can be sold a day in Bulawayo in the Western suburbs. The Market is quite big.
The vegetables and chickens are tools to meet the spiritual needs of the farmers. The Luke 2 principles will be used where Jesus sent the 72 disciples out 2 by 2. Something happened that broke the spiritual power. How?
a) Enter the house and proclaim peace
b) Fellowship
c) Meet needs
d) Heal the sick
e) Proclaim the gospel by going into the community.
Beyond Belief is not just about getting people to reach their potential but to get saved and walk in the Kingdom of God. With God all things are possible – Beyond what we can imagine.
What do we mean when we say fruitfulness? Look at a tomato plant for example, ideally, we can get 70 tomatoes and each tomato has 400 – 600 seeds. This is God’s idea of fruitfulness.
Beyond Belief is about breaking poverty in Africa physically and spiritually.
Physically – through small scale businesses
Spiritually – walking in the fruit of the spirit
70% of the land in Africa is made up of small scale farmers and they produce 80% of all food. But, 80% of small scale farmers live below the poverty line which is below USD 1,00 per day. To break the poverty in Africa we need to work with the small scale farmers and bring them from below subsistence to commercial.
Vision:
Unlocking Africa’s Fruitfulness
Mission:
To be an example of God’s abundant love by serving and partnering with small scale farmers through holistic and efficient business models in order to create fruitfulness, encourage generosity and strengthen communities – all to God’s Glory
