Living in Africa, you are confronted with one thing over and
over again. Things have been done the same way for hundreds of years, and
change does not come easy. In a third world country with little to no resources,
you realize the hardships of those ever cycling climates. A drought one year
can and does send the entire country into a desperate situation that takes
years to recover from. Sadly many times before recovery is realized the country
is hit once again. This is nothing new, and unfortunately has been accepted by
Africans as “the way things are”.
I have never been much of a science guy, but I must admit
that I am fascinated by it. I would laugh when I would listen to Alex
Beurenger, the science teacher at Hollywood Christian School in Florida, as he so
excitedly explained something he was working on which was so far above my head
that it would make me dizzy! Then he would slip me a piece of paper during
church with a sketch on it in an attempt to help me understand. Science guys kind of have their own language,
ya know?
This is why I was interested in a very dear friend of ours
new project. This is a friend that owns a mechanic shop, not a science guy.
This guy speaks “my” language. But God had put a project on his heart. Not
anything he had ever thought about, nothing he had ANY training on, but a
science project. It started as a thought of using hydroponics to help feed the
homeless of Broward County. As he began
learning and experimenting on a small storage lot that he had, God moved in and
started to bless it.
The project grew, the owner of the property saw the mission
and gave him more property, the equipment started to arrive, and the science
started to happen. I must admit, I was overwhelmed when I first walked onto the
project, but again, he spoke my language. He started talking of simple things,
made with simple materials that produce food, lots of food with little water,
and little effort. We are talking fish to vegetables, it was a sustaining
system that could feed a family even in times of drought, or monsoon. His
project that he thought was local, went global.
We are in the process of beginning our project here in
Burkina with the help of John Mears and the team at “Together We Stand” . They
have already started building education facilities and new environments with
new ideas. Just finding all those other little details God has hidden in His
creation to provide for those who He loves. When it comes to an unending quest
to seek out God’s hidden treasures, and to provide for the least of these, I
would say to my friend John, Together We Stand.
www.togetherwestand.org
www.togetherwestand.org
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