Thought for the Week - 26/9/2021

Dear Friends,

Operation Agri is celebrating 60 years of supporting Christian-led rural and urban development projects in three continents, showing the love of Jesus in action. OA was established by the Baptist Men’s Movement (BMM) in 1961 and the initial challenge to was to provide tools, livestock and equipment for agricultural mission workers, and OA grew out of this. Now, a wide range of development projects is linked with OA and support is largely given by the sending of grants rather than goods. The projects provide local people with the means to address their own problems, rectifying injustice, establishing their role within the local community, and responding to their aspirations for a better quality of life, physically, mentally and spiritually. Considerable emphasis is placed on the development work fulfilling two criteria: it should be ‘owned’ by the local people, and where possible, it should be sustainable. With its aim of ‘showing the love of Jesus in action’, OA works with overseas partners who are usually locally based Christians. This year the OA Harvest appeal is Go for Growth in Uganda, focusing on the Sustainable Agriculture Farming Initiative (SAFI). Around 80% of people in Uganda live in rural areas, relying on subsistence farming to feed their families, and many also face the challenges from exhausted soils and climate change, as well as deaths due to AIDS, plus Covid-19 restrictions. The SAFI project started in 2014 training three sets of farmers. Now in phase four, six groups of struggling small-scale farmers are being helped, with two people selected from each group to become Community Farmer Trainers (CFTs). During two years of monthly practical courses, they learn ways to reduce the impact of climate change and conserve their environment, the skills to increase food security with a surplus to increase incomes, and the CFTs share what they learn with farmers in their group, so spreading the impact. Christopher was accepted for SAFI training after failing to get work in the city and at farming in the village. He was unable to afford to send his children to school, but now his farm supports the family and his children’s education. He is now a CFT giving advice and encouragement to others and is so grateful for the blessings that SAFI has brought to his family and others.

Grace and peace,

Neil

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