Jan. 12: Schleitheim, Switzerland.
Sun streams through the big windows of our little apartment and upon the roses from Robert’s parents that sit on the antique table before me. Outside the snow almost blinds my eyes.
We landed to blowing snow, almost like what we left in Edmonton, except that it’s not as cold here – nights around -10 C, and just under zero in the day. The Swiss are experiencing a colder winter than they’ve had for years, just as Albertans are. I’m not so sure about this global warming thing ….
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Yesterday we went to church and were asked to make a presentation tomorrow on our work in Zambia. At least we got two days notice! In Zambia we sometimes only get a half hour.
We usually stop in Schleitheim before going to Africa. The folks here take an active interest in our work. We believe sharing our experiences working with the African farmers and people is important, and helps to bring about understanding of each other’s cultures.
Tomorrow evening (Jan. 13) we meet with Roland and Monika Bauman. This couple regularly visits the region of Zambia we are in, and the south Congo. They are representatives of the Methodist church in Switzerland, and are working with a German pharmacist who does seminars in Africa and Europe on tropical healing plants, especially the artemisia plant.
This plant can heal malaria in most cases and is quite easy to grow. I brought seed the last two times we went to Zambia and taught several people how to grow and use it, especially at Heart of Africa Mission.
The Baumans also are trying to promote the solar cooker, to cut down on the use of charcoal, which is deforesting so much of Africa. We bought one last year and tried to do some tests with it and promote it ourselves, but it is a little difficult in the rainy season. There’s often just not enough sun. But we do see the potential for its use in the dry season. The biggest problem is to get the Zambian women to use it. It takes a bit of a mind change and who changes their mind easily?
An e-mail yesterday from our friends in Zambia warned us to be careful about parasites, mostly giardia, when we come. Apparently the city of Kitwe is very bad. The doctors think about 80 percent of the population is infected. The water supply is a problem, and also sewage seeping into the water supply for irrigation systems for vegetables. We were both sick with giardia last year, so we will take the warning seriously and make sure all water is boiled or treated — and no fresh vegetables or fruit without a good bleaching first.
We might be in Switzerland, but Zambia is never far from our minds.
Check out Stamm’s stories from last year’s trip to Africa, here.
Check out photos from last year’s trip in our new WP Photo Gallery.
Photos from this year’s trip are also available in the WP Photo Gallery.
We had a good visit with Monika and Roland Baumann. They spent four days with John Enright in Zambia last November. Enright is a missionary turned farmer who works hard to enable Zambians to create wealth themselves. We always visit him at least once while in Zambia. He is a steady source of enthusiasm and encouragement.
Last time we were there, Enright showed us the beehives he was building in his carpentry shop. He planned to give them to small-scale farmers as an economic opportunity. He felt that beekeeping worked well with the African way of life and would have a good chance of success.
Baumann told us that Enright has sent out 500 beehives and plans to send about 2,000. Each farmer gets five hives and a box to catch a swarm of wild bees.
Enright trains the farmers and then expects them to produce a high quality product. He will market the honey. One thing you have to say about John — he doesn’t just talk about something. He gets it done.
Enright grew up as an American missionary’s son in the Congo and went back as a missionary himself for some years. He started a farming project to help Africans become economically independent.
He began with bananas, which is how we got to know him. We modeled the banana project at Heart of Africa Mission after Enright’s farm and he trained our workers. His newest project is growing aloe vera for its gel. He is setting up a processing and packaging plant on the farm.
All of Enright’s farm projects have grower components. He starts growing the commodity, then teaches the Zambians how to grow it and gives them the materials to get started. His expectations of the Zambians are high, and from what he tells us, he is not often disappointed.
Enright is a charismatic man with big visions. He is well known in Zambian government circles for all he has already done to help the Zambian people.
We look forward to visiting him ourselves next month and seeing how the beekeeping project is working. Maybe some of our farmers can get involved with it.
If you know of any farming projects in Zambia that you think we could visit and profit from, please let us know. We want to help farmers but we don’t want to reinvent the wheel.
Check out Stamm’s stories from last year’s trip to Africa, here.
Check out photos from last year’s trip in our new WP Photo Gallery.
Photos from this year’s trip are also available in the WP Photo Gallery.
