Week 5 in Liberia: If you give a mouse a cookie...

The well-known children's book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Numeroff, came to my mind frequently during my last week in Liberia.  If you aren't familiar with it, it goes like this:  If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to want some milk to go with it, then a straw to go in the milk, then a napkin to wipe his face, a mirror to check for a milk mustache, which will lead him to notice he needs a haircut...and so on.  One of our favorite children's books.

As you know we started the animal husbandry portion of LEAD's research farm with pigs about a year ago.  However, if you give a farm a pig, it's going to need some feed (actually, a lot of feed!  Pigs need about five pounds of feed per day if they are to grow and not just maintain their weight!) - feed that is balanced with starch, protein, vitamins and minerals.  If you feed the pig, there will be opportunities to use the manure for crop production.  If you succeed with growing many pigs, you will need to have a market.  If you overflow the market, you will need to have a processing plant...and so on. 

Todd teaching about forage peanut - this patch was started from 11 seeds!

During that week in Liberia, I was joined by three guests:  Todd DeKryger, Malcolm DeKryger, and Kayla Casavant.  Todd is a micro-biologist, with a specialization in intergrated pest management and crop production.  He visited LEAD last year and has been active this past year in the research farm development.  Todd spent time training farmers on crop production for pigs.  For the first time we were able to bring the farmers to the farm, separate them into two groups and they could each spend time on the field, getting hands on, practical learning, instead of classroom learning. 

Malcolm in a teaching moment.

Todd brought along his brother, Malcolm, who is a large pig farmer in Indiana (400,000 hogs per year!) and specialist in swine nutrition.  As LEAD has developed it's pig farm over the past year, our need for Malcolm's expertise has been great and we are so happy that he was able to join this team.  Malcolm spent time with the pig farmers, learning about what food is available and creating "recipes" based on local, affordable feed availability for pig feed.  One specific thing that LEAD will begin processing is palm kernels through three machines:  a cracker, separator, and press.  These machines will produce palm oil, which will be sold to help sustain the operations of the farm, and the by-product will be used to feed the pigs, as it is rich in protein.  These palm kernel cakes will also be available for all LEAD pig farmers in the area.

Malcolm, Allen, Todd, and Kayla

A third guest for the week was Kayla Casavant, who is the new Partnership Manager for Liberia.  She will be starting her work in January and will be stationed in Liberia for two years.  Kayla has spent the last two years in Senegal, working with business development there, and we are blessed to have her join this team!

I am now back in the US and this week will welcome many of my colleagues from West Africa.  Partners Worldwide is having their international conference at Willow Creek on November 8 and 9 (www.marketplacerevolution.org).  Allen Gweh and Moses Davies from LEAD will be arriving on Monday and will be here for a month;  Fanny Atta-Peters (and her husband Dennis), Juliet (and husband Nana Yaw and son Nhyi), as well as about 8 business owners from Hopeline Institute in Ghana will begin arriving on Tuesday, staying for about two weeks.  It will be great to be a host to them after they have been such great hosts to us!   

Palm kernel separator - one of three machines needed.

Amos, a pig farmer (right) sharing with Malcolm and Philip (farm manager)

Rice fields in Nimba County from one of our co-ops

The roads aren't much better in Liberia as it is the end of the rainy season...

...but they are better than in Côte d'Ivoire.  Kind of glad now that I didn't make the drive to Danané!

Week Four: Not Côte d'Ivoire but Liberia

Hi folks!  This week should have been a report from Côte d'Ivoire but unfortunately I was not able to travel there due to border difficulties.  My time was not at all idle in Liberia, as there is always much work to be done! 

We spent much of the week working on LEAD's capital project.  The fundraising for this project started about two years ago, and we are 4/5ths of the way there, so we hoped to begin building at the beginning of this dry season (November).  However, this week, we began seriously considering switching strategies from building to buying.  There are two buildings that we saw that have so much potential for both adequate office space as well as income generation to help make LEAD more sustainable.  To say that it is easier to buy instead of build (especially in Liberia), would be a HUGE understatement!!!  So we are very hopeful that we will get approval from the LEAD board, from LEAD GR, and then be able to negotiate on the property to make it a good deal for LEAD.  Please pray with us that someone else will not buy the building in the meantime!

LEAD has also started a new type of loan product, still in the PEI category if you are familiar with LEAD's programs, but designed for institutions instead of small groups.  The institutions are Savings and Loan Clubs or credit union types, have to be registered with the government and have been in existence for two or more years.   They are able to receive much larger loans as their membership is large.  The first loan went out for 1.5 million Liberian dollars (about $21,000 US) for 56 members, and the picture on the side is of the second such loan going for one million Liberian dollars (about $14,000 US) for 200 members.

Joseph with his wife, brother, and daughter.

We also went around Monrovia to show Dana some of LEAD's business, and specifically asked to see businesses who have been members of LEAD for many years, having their third or fourth loan.  We went to an area called Duala where there were four such businesses in close proximity.  As we walked from one to the other, a man named Joseph rushed across the street to greet us.  He told us that he had gone through LEAD's training in 2008 and had benefited so much from the training that his business has more than doubled, even though he had not taken a loan!  He was so excited to see us and to show us the progress that he had made in his video club business since then.  He quoted to us a number of things that stood out to him from the LEAD training that he still implements today, including the fact that training alone can increase the profit of a business by 25% without a loan!  It was encouraging to hear his story and know that our training makes real impact!

Allen Jr writing his ABCs.

Even though the week was very busy with work, I also had a great time catching up with people.  Allen's son, Allen (or Dada), is getting so big and will be four years old next month.  He had a good time showing off how he can write his ABCs and count!  I also had the delight of meeting Allen's new son, Andrew, who is now four months old and very healthy!  He laughed and laughed and was full of joy!

Baby Andrew with lots of hair!

We also had the honor and privilege to attend the wedding of Moses Davies (the Finance Officer of LEAD) on Saturday, October 20.  There are some pictures below of their wedding.  It was a very participatory, exuberant wedding with lots of dancing, cheering, and celebration!  October 20 is also our wedding anniversary (would have been 22 years), which made attending a wedding very bittersweet.  I had a hard time getting through that day.  I was very thankful to have Dana here with a shoulder to cry on and to remind me to take deep breaths to get through the service, as well as my very thoughtful daughter calling and texting me. 

Below are also some beautiful pictures of the sunset over the water, which always reminds me of God's presence, creativity and beauty, available to us no matter where we go in the world!

Moses (white suit) waiting for his bride.

And here she comes!

Beautiful landscape and clouds

Beautiful sunset

On the Road In Nigeria Week 3: Sannu!

Sannu!  (Hausa greeting)  Week three is behind me and I am now on week four of my five week trip in five countries.

I was joined last Sunday by Dana Boals, the Director of Global Partnerships for Partners Worldwide. We left early Monday morning (4 am) for Nigeria.  Our goal on this trip was twofold:  one, to visit the East Kambara Area (EKA) of Nigeria, located in the North-West, where one of the two projects of Partners Worldwide, called Water Wins, is taking place.  The second goal was to give a Training of Trainers to the affiliate leaders of the other project, called PCEN, on the business training curriculum of Partners Worldwide.
We landed in Abuja and were picked up by Jeremiah Yongo, the Nigeria Partnership Manger for Partners Worldwide, and began the 8.5 hour road trip north to the EKA.  This trip consisted of about six hours on fair roads (West Africa standards) and the last 2.5 hours on terrible roads (56 km or 31 miles).  Most of the trip was going through rural areas and small towns; the terrain was beautiful. You just can't capture it in pictures  I did try.

The EKA is a very rural area, made of of many villages of a number of different tribes.  The work of Water Wins is primarily to drill wells in these villages, coupled with latrines, immunizations, and evangelism.  This project is somewhat outside the scope of what Partners Worldwide typically does, but the goal is to bring this area to the point where business development can take place.  To date, 235 wells have been drilled and seven evangelists are working in these communities.  The community members report a decrease of 50% of childhood deaths because of the work of Water Wins.

1st community visited

As I was doing the training all week, I did not have a chance to visit these villages.  However, Dana was able to and she shared with me what she saw.  She went to see two villages - about a half mile apart from each other, both a little ways off the main road.  The first village greeted her, along with Isaac, the Water Wins staff person, warmly and enthusiastically.  Dana reported that the adults and children looked healthy and happy.  The parents told Dana that their children aren't dying anymore because of the clean water.  The second village did not have the same story.  Dana reported that the difference was startling.  The children looked malnourished, with large stomachs and rust colored hair; the adults had a number of obvious health issues as well.  The children were terrified to see Dana.  It was a much more uncomfortable visit.  As they left the place, Dana asked Isaac how it could be that two villages, so close together, both with wells, could have such a different look and feel?  Isaac responded by telling Dana that it was because the first village gave their life to Christ - the second refused.  That made us scratch our head.  How could faith alone account for such a contrast?  The villages both had access to the same food, water, weather.

2nd Community

In discussing this later with Jeremiah, he told us about the long history in that area.  This area had been subjected to Muslim slave traders over one hundred years ago.  The particular tribe in the second community had resisted converting to Islam at that time, and fought hard to maintain their independence and safety.  That resistance and insecurity led them to isolate themselves from the rest of the world, to the point that the children in that village, though living just 1/4 of a mile from the main road, had never been to the main road up to this day.  Additionally, animist beliefs create a victim mentality as it relates to health, sickness, death, etc. - it is a result of spirits - so the adults tend to be less intentional or willing to explore proactive health choices.  And the same resistance to becoming Muslim is now being applied to becoming Christian, therefore the freedom that Christ brings is not available to them, keeping them feeling continually subjected to the will of the spirits.

PCEN Mkar Affiliate leaders

The Training of Trainers that I conducted with ten persons was enjoyable.  I had three representatives from three affiliates in three different cities:  Jos, Takum, and Mkar; in addition, Steven, the PCEN staff and leader of this group was also in attendance, making the group ten.  It was a great group, with invigorating and stimulating discussions.  These leaders are deep in the work in the field, looking for ways to build business capacity in their community and church.  It was a comfortable setting with much dialogue, and everyone remained invested in the conversation - especially about Business as Mission, but they also engaged Cost Analysis, Income Statement, and Balance Sheets!

Jos Affiliate leaders

PCEN Takum Affiliate leaders

As I write this, I am now in Liberia, hoping to be able to get to Côte d'Ivoire this week.  The border between the two countries is currently closed due to conflicts, so I'm not sure if they will let me across.  I'll let you know next week!