Feeding the Hungry Scientifically with Aquaponics

Over 80% of the population in Burkina relies on farming to provide food for their families. The growing season is about three months long and if the rains start too late or too early this can devastate crops and leave families short on food.

The main component of most people's diets is a starch and a sauce. Very little protein is eaten because it very expensive. Protein will usually come from dried fish ground up and added to sauce, beans and a peanut based sauce. Because of the lack of protein many children are malnourished and wounds have a difficult time healing.

With these facts in mind we were very excited when we caught up with a friend in the U.S. who has an aquaponics farm. We took this idea back with us in hopes that this could be something used here in Burkina to extend the growing season and to make a plentiful protein source. Aquaponics is a system where water from tanks is pumped through tubes and back into the tanks. In the tubes are plants that grow in a medium that uses no soil. In the tanks are fish. The fish fertilize the water, the plants soak up the nutrients and clean the water and the filtered water goes back into the tanks.

We knew that this was going to be an experiment and that we would be learning along the way. We had many things to take into consideration as the nearest Home Depot for us in on another continent thousands of miles away. What energy source are we going to use to pump the water? What medium are we going to use to grow our plants? How are we going to construct our tanks? What are we going to feed our fish? How are we going to keep the right balance of Ph, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites...well, you get the idea.

Checking on plant growth

Trip to catch starter fish

So every day we feel like we are in science class and every day we learn something new. We are using solar power and car batteries to pump our water. We are seeking out the man who sells coconuts so we can get the husks to try as a growing medium. We are saving egg shells to help regulate the Ph. We have started a worm farm to feed the fish. We are figuring out the best way to construct a tank for holding water. We currently have cement, but that messes with the alkaline so we have painted the inside of a tank to see how that works. In the village we are thinking of something totally different for holding water...maybe animal skins or holes lines with plastic sheeting.

Worm Bed...Fish Food!

Painted tank in front. Unpainted in back.

In the end we hope to have a system that is inexpensive, uses all materials found in a village and runs using wind power. We have a long way to get from here to there but we are driven by the fact that this could be a life changing thing for the people here.

What might we learn tomorrow?

A Place for Women

This country can be a very harsh place for women. From the time girls are young they are put to work, often not having the opportunity to go to school. If girls do enroll in school, they often do not make it past a 6th grade level. Culturally, girls here are very timid and submissive. They would never think to say "no" to a man who tries to take advantage of them. If they become pregnant they have now embarrassed the family and are very often sent away from home and are not allowed to return. When a woman marries and has children, those children become the property of the father. If the father dies, his family can come and take the children if they choose and certainly they can take all of her belongings. If the woman remarries it is likely that this new husband will not accept her children and she will be forced to leave them with relatives or abandon them completely. Many times women will choose not to remarry because of this. Without remarrying a woman can find herself in a very uncomfortable situation. The family of her husband has an obligation to at the very least give her and her children a place to stay, but they often make her life miserable and do not help her in any other way. She usually cannot go back to her parents home because they cannot afford to help her and her children. Sometimes a family member will take her in, but will not accept the children. We have seen mothers leave their children in orphanages or in foster homes or on the streets because they are desperate and cannot care for them. Then there are women banished from their village, accused of witchcraft. This happens when misfortune or deaths occur and village elders need someone to blame and banish a women to "get rid of the problem". We see this usually with older widows, but sometimes with young mothers whose husband have left for neighboring countries looking for work.

Our hearts have been touched by the many stories of the vulnerable and disadvantaged women who we have met. There have been many women who have stayed in our clinic at the orphanage for a few days to a few months while social services seeks out their families and tries to find a place for them. We saw a need for a facility to help women in these situations. A facility that could be a place of refuge and a place of learning, where they could gain skills and be empowered to care for themselves and their children. Most importantly a place that would share with these women that their strength, refuge and hope comes from God. Out of this was born the idea for the Sheltering Wings Women's Crisis Center named "Village of Hope".

While sharing women's stories and the vision for this center, God moved in miraculous ways. We received funding for building facilities, for purchasing equipment for the technical center and for monthly operating expenses. People have partnered with us to change the lives of women and rewrite their futures.

The start of the wall being constructed. Now 95% complete.

Walls going up inside old classrooms to make bedrooms.

Murals being painted at entrance.

We have put up a wall, are renovating rooms, and have equipment on order. We are putting together a team of teachers and mentors and we are excited to see how God will use this place.

Undiagnosed

Fatimata came to the orphanage when she was 4 months old. She got sick and was sent to the hospital. She has spent the last three months at the hospital. First they treated her for malaria, then malnutrition. After three months she returned from the hospital looking worse than she went in.

During these three months were any other tests done? No. Is she any better? No. Is there anything more they can do for her? No. Do they have any idea what the problem is? No.

I can't tell you how many times that a diagnosis is unable to be made here. I want to pull my hair out sometimes. How is it that a child can be treated for 3 months and come back like this?

Is there anywhere else we can send her? We are told no. What do we do? This is not the first time we have been in a situation where we feel like we are on a death watch.

There may be hope! One problem that we saw immediately with Fatimata is that every time she has a bottle, she vomits. Maybe we are on to something here. An allergy to milk maybe? Or a digestive problem of some sort? We are just taking guesses.

We received a donation of some special hypoallergenic infant formula specifically for babies with digestive and allergy problems. With nothing to lose, I decided to give it a shot. So far, so good! Baby Fatimata is keeping it down.

Praise God for prompting the person to send this formula. Who would guess that this donation may likely save a baby's life!

It's great to get wonderful news!

There are some incredibly hard and frustrating days here in Burkina. Yesterday we encountered a problem when two of our interns were supposed to board a flight and return home. At the entrance to the baggage check in area a security guard turned them away. We were told that they could not enter and get there boarding passes because the counter for their airline was closed. We clearly could see through the glass that it wasn't. In fact, we witnessed the same security guard allow others to enter and check in at that very counter. We were told to go to the airline window in the lobby. We were told that there was nothing they could do and to go to the Agency in town the next morning. How frustrating it was to know that the plane was sitting there and would continue to be there for another hour while we could not find anyone willing to assist us. Come to find out that this has been happening to other people who are even at the check in over two hours prior to there flight and for no apparent reason. Unfortunately the girls could not fly out that night, but did get new tickets with a different carrier for this evening. Getting them to the airport over four hours early and waiting until they were checked in, with boarding passes and through security we could breath a sigh of relief. What kept our spirits up is that God has a plan and this must have been a part of it. To spend an extra day with us? To have a milkshake from the Rec Center? Perhaps to meet and talk to someone on the new flight?

So when today I received a very encouraging email with a very good report I was so grateful for God's timing

 

We met Florence when her mother brought her to the malnutrition clinic that we hold in the village of Kabo. She was underweight because she wasn't getting enough food do to having a cleft lip and palate. We have been helping the mother with milk and brought them to a pediatric clinic to see if she could receive surgery. We were told to bring her back when they had specialists for this condition in town. We were then told that she should wait until at least the age of two to have this surgery. Florence did gain weight with the help of the milk we were giving and her mom stopped bringing her to the program. Many months went by and then we saw Florence once again at the clinic. She had lost a significant amount of weight again and her mother said that it was becoming increasingly harder to feed her. It became clear that if Florence was going to have to wait much longer for surgery it would be a death sentence for her.

 

Through connections that only God could weave together, we were able to connect Florence's parents with Medical Missions West. This mission helps children receive life changing/life saving surgeries in the U.S. Florence got on a plane and arrived in the U.S. this past April. The email I received today says that Florence has received surgery for her lip which was very successful and is scheduled for the palate surgery in October. If all goes well she can fly back to Burkina in December. In the past four months Florence has gained 7 lbs. and has gained the energy to start walking! I think the pictures of Florence say it all.