Cleaning out the well at the CEFA farm

The organization that drilled the well at the CEFA farm passed on the drilling equipment to one of its main employees, Marcellin, when they scaled down their work.  We were surprised by Marcellin showing up at Gamboula last week, with his big drilling rigs.  He offered to do maintenance on our well, graciously at no cost to us, and we certainly didn't refuse!  He and his crew pulled up the submersible pump, and flushed the silt out of the system.  It'll take a few days for all the cloudiness to clear out of the pipes, but there's nothing like the sweet taste of deep well water.  We have been blessed to have potable water in our home because of this well.  No boiling and filtering like Congo days!

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Happiness is jakfruit!

Here's a million dollar smile, because this man knows he's going to go home and feed his whole family with just one fruit.  There'll be sweet fruit to eat straight away, and then peanut like, but bigger, seeds to boil up and salt!  Thank you, Lord, for the amazing variety in your creation!

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STRAWBERRIES GROWING ON TREES?

One of the tastiest little fruits that grows on trees here is the small round and red "Strawberry Tree" fruit. Pictured here next to a rather colorful praying mantis is not only the fruit, but the flower, which is supposed to look like a strawberry plant's flower, hence the name. However wonderful this fruit is to eat, it is one of the most difficult to get the seed to germinate since they are almost microscopic. I have tried so many methods to germinate this one and they have all failed. However, if you put a few nursery sacks with soil in them and place them under the tree, with a little patience, one day God will come along and plant them in the holes in the sides of the nursery sack (not in the sack), then they start to germinate, as pictured here. There is no scientific explanation yet for how this phenomenon takes place, so I chalk it up to a simply a miracle from the Creator himself!

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Mr. BB and Pastor B.

Two of the most Godly men we know are Mr. BB and Pastor B, both refugees from CAR to Cameroon. Pastor B. loves working with the Fulani people group in a nearby town across the border, not only on a spiritual basis, but also has helped CEFA coordinate agricultural co-operatives especially with vegetable gardening with the refugee families. Mr. BB settled in another location farther into the interior of Cameroon. He and not only his whole family but all his village friends from their home town had to flee because of war in 2014 (their village was burned to the ground). They have re-established themselves in their town and Mr. BB has made a tremendous impact with his fervor for helping Fulani and non-Fulani refugees re-establish themselves with crops such as beans, peanuts, corn, cassava, and fruit trees. Kim Cone and I, with Pastor B., visited Mr. BB and his friends the last two days and we were so impressed with not just all the garden work that has taken place, but the comradery that he and his Fulani friends showed to one another. This is truly a witness to the love believers should have towards what some in CAR are still calling "the enemy". Pray that we can all show Christ's love by helping one another with the basics in life.

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CHANGING THE SHAPE OF PAPAYAS

Part of CEFA's middle name is all about experimentation or testing out new varieties for improving yield, taste, or other desired characteristics. The quality of the local varieties of papaya here are less than appealing to me, as many are not very sweet nor do they have a good flavor. So, over the years, I have imported new varieties that I picked up while visiting ECHO in Florida, during my furlough years in the States. I have tried all the Hawaiian Solos and several of the Thai Reds – they are all really good – but for some reason they do not seem to stay alive for more than a few years! Consuming papayas is common here, but CEFA wants to distribute trees to small farmers that are more appealing and more nutritious. Then came the latest in papaya discoveries as one of our workers came with a Papaya fruit from her tree. After tasting it, it was really sweet and had a fabulous flavor. And what is even more amazing is the hole or cavity in the middle is the smallest I have ever seen! I went with her to see the tree and it was several years old and full of fruit. I asked where she got the seed and she said she got it from one of my Thai Reds. So, apparently, this is a cross between a local variety and the Thai Red where it ended up taking on the best traits from both types – good flavor, sweet, lasts years, and grows well here. Thank you ECHO and thanks to God for finally making a papaya that I like and hopefully others will enjoy it enough so that they will plant them around their homes to provide good food for their families for years to come! 

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Bridging the gap

Last year, CEFA needed to connect the field crops/fruit tree area with the large animal grazing area with a bridge that a small pick-up or large truck could go over. I learned from a bridge specialist in the States, Tom Lawson from Oklahoma, that you could build a complete bridge without using cement. The materials we used were basically chain-link fence, local rocks, a truck frame, and thick lumber from our nearby sawmill. It only took two weeks to construct and it is holding out well. So, this year, after establishing almost 80 acres of a reforestation project from Watershed Foundation (New Mexico), we needed another bridge to connect that area with the field crops/fruit trees area. This one took more than twice as long to construct due to the heavy granite boulders that are prevalent in the stream. But this week, it was finished and tested with a very large truck. No longer do the trucks have to travel several miles to get to the reforestation area – now it is only a matter of a few hundred feet! This will save CEFA fuel, wear and tear on the vehicles, and time.  Thank you Watershed Foundation for your partnership with CEFA!

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