Meeting at Bumala with You Feed Them from Osgoode (Ottawa)

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This was the day I feel the Lord has been leading us toward. The visit to Yogo on Saturday set the stage for the visit today by the YFT team to asess the potential of Bumala to be a YFT project in the future. The meeting was set for 10 o'clock and the borrowed church near the project site was full when the team arrived in their van. They were given seats across the front facing the congregation. First Fred, the chairman of the project, spoke a welcome. Then the groups, first the women then the men, introduced themselves and spoke about their work. Ben spoke about the needs of the community in terms of education and opportunity to break the cycle of poverty. Then the team responded in terms of what YFT can offer to the community. Several members spoke with tears on their cheeks. The community responded with enthusiasm.

The team adjourned for lunch prepared at Ben and Lillian s house nearby (This is the house on the family grounds Ben uses when he is in Bumala) by the Women of Faith Catering Group. The men went out to explore the land Ben has bought. It is two acres and slopes down to the river so that it can be irrigated. YET has experience of solar pumping systems. The soil is good and no problems were envisaged in developing it. Roland had also spoken with enthusiasm about new fodder systems for sustainable agriculture. The assessment was that the term would recommend adoption of Bumala as a YFT project.

After they left I felt drained. This was a conclusion I had been working towards for years, ever since I started encouraging and supporting Ben and attending YFT meetings at Osgoode. The new relationship with Hungry For Life adds a new dimension to YFT I don't fully understand but it seems to open new possibilities on every hand.

I returned to the hotel to rest some more and to prepare to move on in the morning to Ahero, the next stop. I went straight to bed. I had not found supper at the hotel to be satisfactory and Ben did not want me out alone after dark. Indeed, I don't think I would have found an alternative. Just as well I wasn't hungry.

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