(KENYA) Recently, we have traveled from Kenya to our project communities to check on the development work World Renew is supporting in Uganda and Tanzania. Because of insecurity throughout the region, we spent time on the road learning about and adjusting to the new travel restrictions.
At times one wonders if police checks make sense when communities are attacked and people killed on a weekly basis. With Al-Shabaab (Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked terror group) threatening each day across the region, one wonders how people can use faith to harm others. At times, hate has overtaken us—but we thank our Lord Jesus who reminds us of his love, died for us, and sacrificed His life for us. So forgiveness is what we live with each day.
During one community visit, I met with a group of men in the community where World Renew supports a maternal/child health project. The community is in a semi-arid area that receives very little rainfall. Water is scarce, and women in this community walk 15 to 20 kilometers in search of water, and consequently water is rationed.
In this community, World Renew is training 8,000 farmers in kitchen gardening and raising chicken and rabbits to help improve food production. At the same time, we are working with 2,200 women of reproductive age to ensure that they get good nutrition and have nutritious food available to feed their babies as they learn exclusive breastfeeding. Can you imagine that a mother that cannot afford food for the day so that she can learn to breastfeed her baby? This was our priority when we started the project.
After 10 months, we realized that some households were beginning to produce enough nutritious food to feed their families, but others were not—even though they were in the same environment. The key is what happens at the household level.
When I took time to discuss the issue with the community’s men-folk, I heard a lot about the project’s impact. All of the men said, “We thank World Renew for opening our eyes.” Then one of the men, Bwana Alfunse, continued. “The minute my wife came home with some chickens from World Renew and wire mesh for making a poultry house, I was challenged. I had no choice but to help her. Since there was no one to build the chicken house, I did it. I worked that day with my wife and had time to talk with her about what she learned in the meetings she attends two days a week. She told me how to take care of her when she is pregnant and how to take care of our baby after delivery. This is education I had not received anywhere else. I realized that my wife is determined to make sure that we have vegetables to eat because she created a vegetable garden out of an old sisal sack. We have been eating vegetables from this sisal sack for the last four months. Last night, we ate fresh vegetables from our own garden.”
The other men in the group also said that the project has brought them closer to their wives than before. “We are now learning from our wives and appreciate it. We do not care what other men say about us—all we know is that we are now living a better life than before. I now help my wife collect water using my bicycle. It is a long distance, and for many years my wife has collected the water and come home tired. Now we are a happy family.”
We did not intentionally create a focus on wife-husband relationships in this project. The focus arose out of the project and the village men are eager to support their wives because it gives the couples time they can spend time together. We thank God for these men and what they are doing to improve their family life. They have decided to become role models in their village, and they work with their children to produce food for their families. They are planning to start a club in the village for men to support each other. They have requested training from World Renew to help them accomplish their goals.
Pray with us as we work with these communities. Such unintended outcomes are very encouraging and we feel the Lord guiding us in the work.
We thank God for support and prayers from our supporting churches and individuals who donate funds to World Renew’s work in Africa. We see and experience total community transformation as we visit homes and villages in our region.
Davis Omanyo
East Africa Team Leader
World Renew Uganda
Note: World Renew's ministry in Tanzania is made possible, in part, through the generous support of the Canadian government's Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.