Owalei Celebration

By Sara:

After meeting with a group of pastors and church leaders in Owalei (near Soroti) for over 5 months to study the Bible and agriculture, Anthony and I had the whole group over to our house for lunch and a final celebration/wrap up of our time together (in November).  There were eleven people who had faithfully attended the group and rode over on their bicycles.

When we began meeting together months earlier, the group had requested to come see my garden, so they were excited to get a tour and see the way I am growing plants we talked about, such as mucuna, jackbean, fish bean, moringa, and pigeon peas.  They also enjoyed looking at my smaller vegetable garden and clay oven (see pictures below).

We had to rush inside after the tour because it started raining, but it was time for lunch anyway.  We all ate together, then spent time sharing testimonies about what everyone learned and put into practice over our time together, then discussed how they are going to continue using their knowledge in the future.

There are so many good stories; I can't share all of them, but here are a few of the testimonies:

Emmanuel made a plan to visit an old man from his church who is blind, to share with him about how God cares about him.  He said it made the man very happy and appreciative that the pastor would come spend time with him.

Peter appreciated learning about making plans and putting them into practice.  He made plans to visit at least two people from his church every week, plans which he implemented and intends to continue doing.

William said he learned about the characteristics of soil in the lesson on soil science, which will be helpful when he decides to buy land - now he knows how better to look for good soil.

Sara, Stephen, and Emmanuel all changed the way they treat their animals after studying Proverbs 12:10-11.  Sara and Stephen both said they now check on their animals every time they go home, to make sure they have enough water and food and shade.  Emmanuel said he used to beat animals when they were bothering him, but because he now recognizes how God cares for all creation, he has changed his attitude towards his animals and doesn't mistreat them any more.

John used the Bible study method we practiced together to study the Bible at home with his family.  His family appreciated it so much they told him they should study the Bible every time like that, which he said brought joy to his heart.

Some months ago, one of the group members asked me a lot of questions about moringa, so I taught a lesson on it - the ways that adding moringa to your diet can help with good nutrition - and we ended that lesson by cooking millet porridge together and adding moringa leaf powder to the porridge.  Previously, the group members had only been disappointed by moringa - years ago they were told to grow it to make lots of money selling the seeds to Europe, but that never happened.  Most people chopped down their trees after that, thinking they were totally useless.  They were pretty excited to learn how it is useful as a very nutritious food.

Clearly that lesson had a big impact on a lot of people - almost half the group shared about how they went home and started teaching their family and neighbors what they learned about moringa.  Benard, unfortunately didn't get a good response from the people he taught - they said moringa was just a charm from witch doctors and so refused to eat it.  The rest of the group encouraged him to keep talking to those people and teaching them about how moringa is food, a plant God has given us to eat, just like collard greens or other vegetables they already eat.

When we concluded, the group decided they would divide themselves into three smaller groups, based on where they live, so they can continue visiting those people who live close to them, encouraging and praying for each other.  And then they can help one another teach what they learned to others.  They also suggested that I come back occasionally to check on them and hear how they are doing.