Harvest Hands

While visiting vanilla farmers in Ibanda District, we met a Christian family whose son has a club foot. Clinton Nyesiga had an operation four years ago to correct his foot but because the family lacked the funds, they could not complete the treatment, so we offered to bring the boy back to the OURS rehabilitation centre to correct his disability.

Clinton and his mother were admitted to the OURS facility on Monday, January 14^th. Clinton is a quiet young boy and he was quite anxious when we met him at the center. But even though he was anxious about the operation, he told us that he can’t wait for the day when he starts putting on shoes like his friends at school.

Please pray for Clinton and that the operation is successful. Thank you

The AGM for Harvest Hands took place Friday, Feb 1.The board elected Pauline Huth as the chair person and Mark Kroeger as the secretary treasurer of the organization. As for Tim, he’ll be returning to Canada with his family to meet with the partner churches and support networks. They will also meet potential partners and invite more new partners to work with HHI. Thank you for praying for the success of the meeting. 

RWENTANGA FARM UPDATES:

Right now, mulching is the order of the day. During this time of the year, it’s rainy in this part of the country. Too much rain washes away the soils and plants and the unwanted plants/weeds take this opportunity to grow. So, the team leaders and the farmers, divided in three groups, are carrying out the weeding while others are mulching or putting dry grass cover on the maize plantation. This mulching helps to maintain water and fertilizer in the soil, and stop rain from washing the soil away.

Bags of urea were brought in, on the morning of the 27^th November. Urea will be used as a fertilizer in the farm, for the top dressing. It helps increase crop yield.

One of the team leaders suggested the use of elephant grass for mulch. This is more convenient and easy to get, since it commonly grows in this area. For future purposes in the farm, they later decided to grow their own elephant grass to cut the expenses. It was planted on the east, west and southern borders of the farm.

In the last management meeting, the team leaders suggested dividing the farm into sections to give each group responsibility of their given section, and it’s working out.

We purchased treated poles for fencing the farm. Lately, neighbors’ live stock have been invading the farm, eating up the maize stocks and destroying the plants, so putting up a barbed wired fence will help solve that problem. The fence is being put up as I write.

We purchased treated poles for fencing the farm. Lately, neighbors’ live stock have been invading the farm, eating up the maize stocks and destroying the plants, so putting up a barbed wired fence will help solve that problem.  The fence is being put up as I write.

At this time the farm needs a huller, husker and mill. This equipment will simplify work in harvesting and processing the maize when it is ready. Therefore donations for its purchase are appreciated.

We are now working on a program to disciple children in schools around the farm community. This will probably start around February next year, after the children return to their schools from their Christmas holidays.

Hebrews 6:7and Hebrews 13:16

While working with vanilla farmers in Ibanda District, we found eight year old Anatoli Nuwandinda with club feet and we brought him to OURS for orthopedic correction in February 2012. Anatoli now walks, although not well yet…but he can’t wait to play football with his friends. 

I met up with him and his mother as they were coming from rehab; With a smile on his happy innocent face, he promised to walk to places he dreamt of going and play football with his friends. “I can now walk by myself to church, visit my grandmother and I’m no longer shy about myself. I have a hen and eight hundred Ugandan shillings at home to bring to this man who helped me. Without directions, I’ll bring them to his home and thank him for what he has done for me.”  In a period of a few months, this young boy who crawled from one place to another, can now walk. Isn’t God so wonderful?

 It was early morning when we shot this…the fog was sitting low in the valley and workers had not yet started to dig. …they’d been digging an average of 900 holes a day! 

On Wednesday we finished planting and the next day we held a ceremony to award the workers digging more than 2,000 holes in a single day.

Tim has come home from work a few days smelling remarkably different than he usually does — it might have had something to do with the cow manure on his shoes. Tim has been learning about cows and goats and what it takes to raise them. He is visiting cow auctions and other farms, checking out the advantages of different breeds. This is a big change for Tim-the-office-guy — but he is excited and spouting off all kinds of new facts and figures (and he invested in a pair of rubber boots!). Who would have guessed that Tim would turn into a farmer! He has also been to see various pieces of land and we hope to decide on one soon. We will likely start with raising goats, as they are cheaper and involve less care. Once we have a qualified and trusted farm manager, we will likely expand into cattle and other food crops. The possibilities are endless and we are excited to get started.

Once again, we are looking for your help to start the farm, which will be the backbone of our project. The income from the farm will support the discipleship training and the babies care, as well as providing employment and training for local people. The farm will become our entry point into the community — a place to start with sharing new farming techniques, building relationships with families and schools and starting discipleship work. But before we can begin our programs, we need a farm that is workable — that means fences, water systems, staff housing, and stock. Your contribution towards this part of the project is an investment in future blessings in the community. We need your help!