WATER TOWER IN POSITION

At the CEFA Center, the water tower was finally put to rest into its useable position. It was not easy to get the heavy tower raised up from the bed of the truck then settled into its final verticle position. Now, the solar powered pump needs to be installed and the distribution pipes put into place before any water can be used. We had one good rain over a week ago, but we are still in need of watering the important trees so that they do not dry up. This is also very timely as we are getting ready to begin construction on the general CEFA ag building that will be 14 meters by 10 meters. We will be making 3,500 cement block brick at first and that will consume a lot of water.

HAVE MOTORCYCLES WILL TRAVEL

Kim Cone, Roy, and Benoit headed up to a Fulani refugee village north of Gamboula and found out that there were 3,600 of them in that area that need help in planting field crops, fruit trees, and vegetables. We also visited one of the five villages that CEFA is connecting with this year, Godawa, and met with the local officials and people to begin the process of estasblishing three development cooperatives in their village. With the other four villages, contacts have already been made and the questionaires distributed. Today, Benoit and Dieu-Beni have ridden up to Godawa to begin the teaching seminars on a well-functioning cooperative. This is not an easy task as the people in the area need to develop a sense of ownership and responsibility for determining their own level or standard of living. This must all happen before CEFA begins their projects with manioc, corn, beans, and peanuts.

NEW CEFA STAFF MEMBER

CEFA has hired a new agricultural specialist to help with supervising the activities that Roy will be vacating when he leaves for the US in May. His name is Dieu-Beni which means "God-blessed" in French - and so far, we have been blessed by having him join the CEFA staff. Already he has gone out to the various villages to begin connecting with the leaders of the community that want to learn about becoming a development cooperative. He has also been supervising the gardening work out at the center, especially the preparation for planting the 15 ha of peanut, corn, and beans. Pray for him as he settles in to his new community and works hard at getting the new year's activities underway.

Outdoor Learning Center Shelter

A training center certainly needs a training facility, so CEFA has almost finished its first teaching nook located on top of a small hill overlooking the 100 top tropical fruit garden. This learning shelter will be the starting point for discussions of ideas centered around topics in ag development. After the orientation session into that topic is finished, then follows either a tour of the experiments, such as what would happen on a scheduled field day open to the community or the participants would move on to a particular field and learn further by seeing and by doing. Once the participants have grasped a new concept in farming or have learned about new species of plant or animal, they will take this knowledge and practice it back in their own villages.

A VERY DRY SEASON

We have had 55 days of no rain - and with 5,000 trees to water, that can be a difficult task! However, most of the trees are not in need of water yet, witness to this single oil palm tree (upper picture), thanks to all the composting we did around the tree before the dry season began. Many people are preparing their fields for the coming planting season by cutting the grass, drying it, and then burning it. However, we at CEFA have not burned any gardens for a year now, and it is proving successful in maintaining the fruit trees even through a hard dry season. Some trees are more sensitive than others, so they are being watered by hand, depicted in the second photo. Pray for rain!

CEFA's new Director - Benoit Zangao!

At CEFA's first official Board meeting November 18-19, Benoit Zangao was elected Director of CEFA's operations. We are grateful that Benoit accepted this post, knowing he will face many challenges and difficulties, but he knows he will always have my right-hand support, is backed by the CEFA Board, and that his God will give him the strength and wisdom needed to carry out this huge repsonsibility. My (Roy) official title is technical advisor to CEFA. Remember to pray for Benoit - especially during the time I will be gone to the US for my year home assignment of speaking in churches from May '11 to May '12. Hopefully, some day, some of you will have the chance to meet this fine man of God whose heart is focussed on serving Him by serving others through CEFA's agricultural development programs.

CEFA officially had its first Board meeing - as you can see seven out of nine attended on November 18-19. After visiting the CEFA ag center and the model farm, CEFA Board members Baba Zokoe, Bertrand Ngama, Paul Noren (top row): Roy Danforth, Josephine Messako, Benoit Zangao, and Clarisse Nguebe all met to hear progress reports on the year's activities. Later, discussions ensued on the ministry plans for 2011 including work on CEFA's fish ponds, starting up a layer chicken program, and beginning CEFA's outreach to 5 selected villages for training in

cooperative development. CEFA, though now is established as an official NGO, is still waiting for the land papers for the 1000 acres gifted by the national and local governments.