A Story in Pictures

Every time I write a blog that describes both life and work in West Africa, I am very aware of how limited these descriptions are.  Words are great, but pictures can be so much more effective.  So after last week's wordy update, I decided to put together a brief slideshow of random pictures that capture some of the essence of life, work, and relationships in West Africa.  I wish I could capture the sounds, smells, and full experience, but this will have to do for now. 

The underpinning of  the work of Partners Worldwide, and the teaching of Business as Mission, comes from Colossians 3:17:  "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."  I hope in these pictures you get a glimpse of people doing all sorts of things with the idea that God is the Owner and they are the managers.

I also love African a-Capella gospel music and put the pictures to a song from the Soweto Gospel Choir.  I have become very accustomed to listening to gospel music in languages that I don't understand but can appreciate the worship in it.  So don't worry if you don't understand the words  - just enjoy!

January 2012 Update

The sun, obscured by dust.

Weather:  Harmattan Winds are still here - dust continues to fill the air, causing people to cough, have breathing issues, sinus issues, eye problems, electronic equipment break downs, etc.  Temperatures are in the mid80s, with humidity at 78% and dewpoint at 68%.  Visibility is at 0.6 miles, if that gives you a sense of how heavy the dust cover is - the sky is actually clear (most places have a visibility of 10 miles under a clear sky).  It looks like it is cloudy but it is just dust.  Rain would be great to clean some things off and remove some of the dust from the air, but we haven't seen rain for weeks. 

Reed Family:  It's been almost a month since I wrote last - the holidays were a little more difficult for me than expected, so I took some time off from writing the blog.  The last time I wrote, Hannah had just arrived in Ghana and it was great to have her home.  She caught up on sleep, spent some time with her friends here, went on a youth retreat with the church, and hung out with Noah and I.  On her last day here, we decided to have her hair braided, West African style, which she hadn't done in all of our time here.  So after six painful hours with six young women at work, she got on a plane and headed home.

Noah turned 17 today (January 16) - so very hard to believe - and has pretty much reached the six foot mark - also hard to believe.  He continues to do well in school, is busy applying for scholarships for Calvin College, and had his very first job interview today for a summer job.   One of the applications for scholarships wanted him to identify one goal that would define him, which caused for some great conversations and further identification of his gifts, passions, and talents.  At this point, he is looking at foreign service work, with a potential career in the United Nations or for the US government.  He hopes to study political science, international relations, and other related fields.  I think that is a great fit for him and am pleased to think that his experience in West Africa over the past seven years will have impacted his future in a positive way.

My work continues to go well, but not without its struggles.  Below is a brief report on each of our partnerships:

Nigeria:  As you have probably seen on the news, there have been two issues plaguing Nigeria - the Boko Haram, a Muslim group who wants Shiria law in place, has been attaching various churches and Christians.  A state of emergency has been put in place for three different states, including the Plateau State where our partnership is located.  The Christian Coalition in Nigeria has declared that if the government is not able to protect them, they will protect themselves.  Secondly, on January 1st, the government removed a gas subsidy, causing the price of gas to double.  Nigerians view this as the only benefit that the average person receives from being such an oil rich land, and therefore are angry it was taken away, despite promises that the money will be funneled into social programs.  There have been country-wide strikes for the past five days, causing airports, roads, banks, schools, etc, to be shut down.  Our partners report that the informal sector continues to function and they feel relatively free to move around, but we do ask for prayers for peace as the government negotiates with the union leaders.

Ghana: In the basic business principle class that we offer our SME (small and medium entrepreneurs) members, we teach very basic book-keeping for about six of the thirty-six hour class.  It's a good start with simple skills but for businesses that really want to grow, it doesn't go deep enough.  This past week, Dr. Lynn White from Trinity Christian College in Chicago, came to teach thirty of our high impact entrepreneurs accounting.  Twenty-five hours of double entry journaling and ledgers, adjusting entries, closing entries, trial balances, and post-closing trial balances.  It was great!!  Not only did our SME members learn a lot, but the Hopeline staff also benefited from this.  

We looked specifically for our members who could handle higher level math and had access to a laptop.  Everyone was given excel documents as well as paper copies of the material and they had a great time learning this new language together and learning how the computer can do much of the work for them.  Each day ended with some level of frustration for the business owners but it was amazing how much people understood by the end of the week.  I believe this will have a great impact on their businesses.  Our thanks to Dr. White and Trinity College!

Dea and Amy, in the hospital, before surgery.

Côte d'Ivoire:  Dea Lieu, the director of our partnership in Danané, came to the Partners Worldwide Conference in Michigan, in October 2010.  During his visit he went for a routine visit to the doctor, only to discover that his kidneys were failing.  He was told he would have six months to live without dialysis and needed a kidney transplant.  His Global Business Affiliate (GBA - every Partners Worldwide group has one), based in Sioux Center, Iowa, sprang into action.  As an Ivorian, and not an American, he could not go on the regular kidney transplant list for a cadaver, but would have to find a live donor.  Funds had to be secured for an operation that would cost upwards of $500,000 including anti-rejection medications for the rest of his life at around $1000/month.  Showing a persistence and diligence that was nothing short of miraculous, this GBA was able to find insurance to cover most of the cost, raise over $100,000 for the various tests, medications, as well as anti-rejection medications for the next five years, as well as find numerous people who were willing to be tested to be a match for a kidney donation.  But then two more miracles happened:  the third person tested was Amy VanderBerg, one of the members out of a group of six in the GBA, and she was a match.  Normally, they say, a match is found around the 30th person, not the 3rd.  Plus, to have a match come from within this group illustrates the depth of partnership and commitment of this GBA to the work in Côte d'Ivoire and to Dea.  Amy is a wife and mother of two small children and wants this gift to be seen as one from God, not from her, so praise God!!  The surgery took place last week and went very well.  Both Amy and Dea are back home - Dea's kidney is working well and fifteen months after arriving in the US, he is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel for when he can return home to his wife and children.  The second miracle comes from Côte d'Ivoire:  Dea has been praying for his parents to come to Christ for some time.  About two years ago, his father became a Christian.  Last week, his mother gave her life to Christ, stating that if a woman in the United States was willing to lay down her life for her son because of her faith, then she too wanted to follow that same God.  It may be some time yet before Dea is able to return to his work, but we are hoping it will be before the end of 2012. 

Liberia:  Today is the inauguration ceremony for President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.  Thirty heads of state will be there to celebrate this day with the country.  The highest priority for 2012 is the high number of unemployed and uneducated youth, with an emphasis on vocational and technical training. This vibrant, strong 72 year old woman will serve this country for another six years, Lord willing, and bring it further down the road of peace and development.  The work with LEAD continues to go well.  I am planning to return to Liberia in February to do an intensive week of training with the staff, reviewing policies and procedures, the business curriculum, as well as spending time reviewing Business as a Mission and why we do what we do. 

Home for Christmas

Weather:  The Harmattan winds have arrived, starting last Monday.  That means every day is hazy as the air is filled with a fine sand coming from the Sahara desert.  It also means that humidity has dropped to about 55%, from an average of 75%, and the temperatures are averaging in the high 80s instead of the mid 90s. 

Greeting Hannah at the airport...

Hannah has come home for Christmas.  Those were her words - "I can't wait to come home for Christmas."  She had been saying for some time that she is homesick.  But she had lived in Grand Rapids for twelve years before moving to West Africa and lived in Ghana for only two years...so how is she defining home?  I think for Hannah, home is Noah and I.  Home is the rhythm of our house, no matter where the house happens to be.  That is a pleasant thought - home is not a place as much as it is the people.  I know that she also missed West African food, and has already put her order in for peanut soup, jollof rice, and kiliwili.  I know that she has missed her high school friends and it looks like a good number of them will be around for the holidays.  I know that she also missed the sun as she adjusts to West Michigan winter (although she will be leaving the freezer and entering the oven - no in-between here:-).  But most of all, I think she missed us.

This is a comfort to me because I don't know where I will be next year.  Next Christmas will find both Hannah and Noah at Calvin College (Noah was just accepted), and since I will be leaving Ghana in June but do not anticipate being in North America, I will make every effort to join them in Michigan.  We will have to redefine home again, but if the people are the main ingredient, we can probably make it happen.

Ghost of Christmas past...

Of course, the glaring reality here is that not only does the location change, but the people have also changed, given the absence of Bob.  This is our second Christmas without him - without his insistence that everyone wear one green and one red sock (despite the heat!), without his great cherry and apple stuffing, without his loud singing along with Nat King Cole's Christmas album,  without him stringing Christmas lights in every possible place, without his presence that filled our home.  In many ways, we are still trying to figure out what to do with ourselves.  Last year was about survival - this year is about reconstruction.  What does the Reed Christmas look like now?

The pain level continues to be high, as I'm sure you can imagine.  When people talk about family Thanksgiving and family gatherings for Christmas, we not only miss our extended family get-togethers, traditional food, decorations, and snow, but our father and husband as well.  But we will get through it - and eventually we will figure it out.

In the meantime, I'll get some hugs from Hannah, Noah and Hannah will have a chance to debate and tease each other, and Hannah will hopefully get some sleep and a tan!

Hannah and Noah, yesterday at the airport.  If you look very closely, you will see blue hair around Hannah's neck.  Yes, she dyed the back, bottom portion of her hair blue - not very noticeable, but this is what happens when the cat is away - the mice do play:-).

White Men CAN Dance

Calvin College holds a semester in Ghana each year in the fall.  On average there are approximately 20 students - usually more females than males.  Most of the students are juniors or seniors, and many seem to be from the International Development or Social Work departments, although there is often a variety of majors represented.  I have had the privilege of getting to know the professors and students over the past three years, as they live and attend classes at the University of Ghana, and study the land and culture of Ghana.  Each prof that leads the course has a different emphasis, depending on the prof.  The Reed family has struggled with envy over the fact that this group gets four months to study the culture in depth, tour all ten regions of the country, learn the local language of Twi, take African studies and religion classes, participate in festivals, and more.  After four months they leave, having seen more of Ghana than we have in thirty months we have been here.  Hannah has been tempted to take this semester in Ghana - providing that we are still living here.

Melanie and John, in the center, with

This year the semester was done a bit differently, with the classes condensed to three days per week, and pairs of students being sent out to various schools and nonprofits to conduct various studies on ethnography (the scientific study of the customs of people and cultures).  Two students were assigned to our partner, Hopeline Institute:  Melanie Evans and John Veneklasen, who both had a special interest in business development. 

In addition to studying ethnography, these two had specific objectives for Hopeline.  The first was to conduct an impact assessment on the Village Savings and Loan (VSL) program (see earlier blogs for more info on this program) from the perspective of the individual, family, group, and community.  The second objective was to help collect some media on the program - write some stories about individuals and VSL groups and create a brief video on the program.  John and Melanie gallantly set out on motorcycles to drive with the field officers out into the villages where Hopeline Institute is doing their work.

They observed twenty VSL groups and then focused in specifically on four groups:  one made up of young adults, one women's group, one generally diverse group, and one group that had significant challenges.  In general they found that these groups work very well, with both individuals and communities benefiting, not just financially but also through trust, compassion, and the strengthening of communal ties.  They found that women especially are benefiting.  One person shared, in talking about their savings, "We are sitting on gold!" They had not recognized their savings potential before and have been able to increase their family's economic standing.  They had a lot of other great feedback as well.  These results were not surprising to us - it is what we also have seen - but to have independent persons come to do their own assessment and find similar conclusions is reassuring.  The funding for this program comes to an end in June 2012, so Hopeline is working hard to figure out how to make this program sustainable so that they can continue to reach the 4000+ persons.

We are thankful to John and Melanie and wish them success as they return to the US!

On Monday, December 5, the students had their farewell dinner and showcased their new dancing skills as can be seen in the video below.  The very first couple to do their solo number is Melanie and John. (The dance was performed outside in the evening, so unfortunately it's a little dark.  Sorry!)

  Click here to see the dance.

Take a Walk with Me

LEAD staff, guests, and farmers, gather to discuss farming.

Imagine yourself walking through bushes in Liberia, ducking under branches, following a farmer down a thin dirt path.  You have just spent a couple of hours with about forty farmers at a workshop, and now you have a chance to visit some of the farms.  You duck through the final palm branches, which have been set up as a makeshift fence, and before you is spread about one-half acre of pepper and bitter-ball plants.  The air is full of the clacks of grasshoppers and is heavy with humidity.It's about 110 F in the sun and you can feel the sun baking your skin.  And you know that if the sun is baking your skin, it is baking the plants as well.   

Plant under stress.

The plants seem somewhat scattered, not orderly and in rows.  Weeds compete with the plants for nutrients and water.   The soil is dry and dusty.  Many of the plants are small and show signs of stress; many have been attacked by various pests, including the grasshoppers who are particularly rampant this season.  Suddenly the peaceful sound of grasshoppers begins to sound more ominous.  The farmer shares that he has applied certain pesticides but it doesn't seem to be working.  You learn that he has applied the same pesticides for several years and it appears that the insects have begun to develop a resistance to them.  Survival of the fittest. 


The farmer sweats as well as you look over his farm.  He has a water source a distance away, but the only means of conveying that water is bucket by bucket.  It is dry season now and he doesn't expect much yield from this planting, but he hopes. This is his primary farm to care for; his wife is handling a rice farm on another piece of land.  

Termite mound in the middle of the farm.

You feel tired just standing in the sun, thinking about watering and weeding.  The water table is high here, and it's possible for the farmer to hand dig an open well about twenty feet down for more available access to water.  The agriculture coordinator from LEAD (who works with over 100 farmers), Zoryou, is asked why this farmer has not done this.  Zoryou shows some signs of exasperation as he expresses how so many different techniques have been taught - composting,  mulching, crop rotation, irrigation - but getting the farmers to implement these has been difficult.  Zoryou has been unable to prove the effectiveness of these techniques.  He would like to start small demonstration plots on some of the farmers land but faces challenges.  

While this is discussed, you suddenly hear loud voices coming from the path.  Apparently some other farmers from the workshop want to come in to see this farm, but there are some beliefs that if certain people look at your farm, the farm will come into some bad luck.  The farmer suddenly disappears from the conversation to join the voices outside.  You are later informed that the next visits have been cancelled as the farmers are afraid of those who will come along to visit as well.  You head back to the path, and back to the village, where you sit under a tree on a bench, and enjoy potato greens and rice with the farmers.

Zoryou and Todd studying the bean plants

This happened on my recent trip to Liberia.  It's frustrating.  Good soil, high water table, plenty of sun, lots of land, and yet such poor yield and food production in Liberia.  How do we proceed?  That is where the research farm comes in.  I've written about this in previous blogs but had a chance to see it in person for the first time.  Twenty-five acres of land to demonstrate and research new technologies and new crops for the Liberian market.  When we started talking about this project, people told me that "demonstration farms are so 1980s."  Until they came to visit Liberia, when their response changed to, "oh, now we see why you want to do a demonstration farm."  When farmers live on less than a dollar a day and only have the resources to farm a small piece of land, asking them to use a piece of that land for what is considered risky, since it is new and unknown, doesn't happen. And so we hope to demonstrate year round farming, using several different irrigation technologies.  We hope to research several new crops which are not currently grown in Liberia but our research farm advisory team believe has great potential.  We hope to have several animal husbandry projects, reintroducing animal husbandry back into Liberia.

When grasshoppers attack...

To date, we have planted about 400 moringa trees.  We have planted and harvested a high quality maize seed (called QPM) which we imported from Ghana.  The seeds from this corn have been distributed now to about 10 farmers who will grow this corn during this next season.  LEAD has made a commitment to these farmers to buy back most of that corn for hog feed, as we also have 10 hogs.  We expect to mate these hogs in about two months, and be able to sell the pigs to other farmers, and be able to provide the appropriate pig feed to allow for rapid growth.  To this end, we also hope to begin building a palm kernal processing machine for added protein for the pits.  Construction for that should begin shortly.  This small business will be turned over to a Liberian to run after working alongside LEAD staff for an appropriate amount of time.

These are just a few of the ideas and plans.  Recently Rick Slager put up a hoop house in Liberia to see whether the yield of tomatoes can triple.  He also worked with Henry, our assistant farm manager, to plant onions, garlic, and ginger, crops that are not currently grown in Liberia.  The UN has agreed to clear several acres of land for us (way to go, Megan!) which will allow us to put up dorms and a training center.  Our goal is to bring farmers to the research farm for a week, to learn, observe, and work alongside with farm staff to be able to take this practical knowledge back to their farm. 

Drip irrigation being set up in hoop house.

Much of this work and the achievement of our goals depends on funding.  Our goal this Christmas is to raise funds for the research farm and we have created a gift catalog to help achieve this goal.  Please consider this farm for your year-end gift.  For more information go to www.leadinliberia.org, where you will be able to safely give online to help us make strides in this work.

 

This compost pile is about three months old, which I'm told is quite an accomplishment because of the heat and humidity, allowing for faster composting time. 

I know.  How many people put pictures of pig manure on their blog because they think it is cool?  But I love how everything is getting used and reused on this farm.

LEAD's Research Farm current watering hole.  We hope to put in wells soon in several locations. 

College Blog, by Hannah

(written on Wednesday, November 16, 2011)

I have been at Calvin College for about three months now.  It has been a whirlwind of classes, socializing, and homework...lots of homework.  Adjusting to everything at once - the climate, the US, the college atmosphere, more independence - has not been easy.  But through the chaos, I have seen God's blessing.  I am constantly exhausted, but I have seen His promise come alive.  No, I'm not miraculously alert and awake at 8 am when I got four hours of sleep, but He takes care of me.  It's all in the details.

My third or fourth week of class, I woke up at 7 am as always, but fell back asleep by accident.  I was exhausted, and could have easily slept through all four of my classes that morning.  But for some reason, I wok up half an hour later, at 7:30 am.  There was no sudden noise, no sudden light popped on, nothing to jerk me awake.  I just woke up, in just the right amount of time to get dressed, brush my teeth, make myself semi-presentable, and rush out the door.  Thank you God.

I had to pull an all-nighter a week or two ago.  A friend of mine was having some medical issues, so I stayed up with her until 5 am.  I then decided it was pointless to try and go to sleep because I would only get about an hour and a half before waking up for my 8 am Philosophy class.  That amount of sleep is just the right amount to make me exhausted and drowsy for my class, so I just stayed up.  I dozed off for about 45 minutes, got some stuff done, and then went to breakfast with a friend who stayed up with me.  I was bracing myself for a day of difficulty and exhaustion, but then saw on my French syllabus that we didn't have class on that day.  It is the only French class that is cancelled this semester, on the day that I needed it so badly.  So I got done with classes an hour early and was able to take a nap for an hour and a half.  Thank you Father.

Yesterday, my day was packed.  I had work, homework, and Gospel Choir for two hours in the evening and was exhausted (are you sensing a theme with this word?   Yeah, college is definitely as much work as they say).  I had to stay up until around one, because of a paper due today, a quiz, and homework for French.  I got up at 6:30 am, as I've recently begun to go for a quick run in the mornings - every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, hoping thatt the exercise will both wake me up and keep me in shape.  Today is a super busy day, so I was stressed about getting only fie hours or so of sleep.  Then all of a sudden, my Communication and Culture class is cancelled, as well as my French small group, giving me two extra, unexpected hours in my day.  Thank you Lord.

Lately, I am really seeing God working in the small things of my life.  An extra hour of sleep, an extra hour to study, the blessing of friends on a rough day, peace over a stressful event.  He works in all things if we give it to Him.  Too often I get caught up in the frustration and forget that He is there saying, "I am here.  I will fight this battle for you.  You do not have to deal with this by yourself.  Give it to me, I am so much more able to handle these details and love you enough to take these burdens from you." He doesn't take everything from me, but He keeps me from drowning.  He doesn't have to move a mountain to be working and He doesn't have to send a lightening bold for me to see Him.  I just have to adjust my sight.

This is me, dancing with a friend at Calvin's Ballroom Dance Club.  It is always so much fun.  Here, we are doing the Hustle, but we have also learned the tango, the cha-cha, and we will be learning the salsa after Thanksgiving.  I love it.

Eating healthy at Calvin:  This is Nate, eating a milkshake (ice cream, chocolate milk, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream).  We were hanging out on Sunday at dinner.

Chaos Day, where dorms compete against each other:  Everyone dresses in the dorm costume.  This year, Noordewier Vanderwerp (NVW - my dorm) was Pirates of the Caribbean; an adjacent dorm, Beets-Veenstra, was Peter Pan; Shultze-Eldersveld was Braveheart, etc.  It was awesome but crazy.  Lots of games, lots of cheering, and hanging out.

This is me, at a computer in the basement of my dorm.  My "cave".  "My"computer.  I am wearing the dorm t-shirt, Pirates of NVW.

This is Grace and I.  Grace is an awesome friend and in several of my classes.  We are again engaging in healthy college eating, with our Oreo cake (white frosting, chocolate cake, Oreo crumbs on the sides and an Oreo on the top).  Yummy.  Very enjoyable :).