St. Andrew's Agricultural Team - Success?

~ Team Members Learn About the Kit Greenhouse and Irrigation System at Faraja ~ In the weeks leading up to St. Andrew's Lutheran Church of Cape Girardeau, Missouri's trip to the Pwani Parish in Kenya, a donor from Norway unexpectedly elected to build a kit greenhouse at the Faraja Children's Home in Wema on the Kenyan coast. He had heard the request around the same time that St. Andrew's had received the request for support and training in greenhouse farming. As explained to me (to be taken with a grain of salt), this donor decided to act virtually unilaterally, ordering the greenhouse, arranging for installation, and hiring an agronomist to start the project at the Faraja Children's Home with limited consultation with the parish. This took the Parish by surprise and put them in the suddenly awkward position of trying to redirect the St. Andrew's team that had been preparing for some time to come to Kenya to explore opportunities for greenhouse farming at the Children's Home. Knowing, however, of the good relationship St. Andrew's has shared with the Menzamwenye congregation and aware of the difficult farming conditions there, the parish suggested that exploring greenhouse farming and/or drip irrigation may be quite fruitful for that area instead.

~ Weeding in the Raised Beds with Faraja Workers ~

So as the St. Andrew's team arrived we sent a few of the Agricultural Team members to first see and learn about the kit greenhouse and irrigation systems that had been installed at the Children's Home and then to travel to the Menzamwenye congregation to begin the conversation with the church elders about the possibilities there.

Our excellent Agricultural Team from St. Andrews spent hours upon hours with the church elders of Menzamwenye, talking about greenhouses, drip irrigation, the extreme dryness of the area, the amount of water that would be consumed, the cost of water per liter, the amount of land available, and so forth. Each day they made progress although from the American perspective it certainly felt like negotiations - and slow ones at that! After several days of visits and conversation, both sides appeared to be coming to the conclusion that a drip irrigation system would be a good start, even with the potentially high cost of sourcing water.

~ Evening Devotions and Debrief ~ As our LCMS Field Staff priced out the irrigation system and transportation, though, a message was indirectly passed back through several parties that the local church was, after all, very concerned about the cost of the water that would be necessary for the irrigation system. In short, they did not believe it would be possible to fund that much water over the growing season or to sustain it long term. How frustrating! What a waste of time! How completely demoralizing for this hardworking team! They failed! What are they going to tell the people who sent them? But wait, says our cultural interpreter - that's me in case you're wondering. That's not at all what has happened here. Allow me to explain from the Kenyan perspective.

~ Visiting with the Menzamwenye Leaders before Lunch ~

Time together is a blessing - this is the ministry of presence and arguably the most important thing any short-term team does. Time spent in long meetings with church elders is time together regardless of the topic. While the Americans felt like they were engaged in hours-long negotiations, the Kenyans were happy to be spending time together in conversation. While the Americans were frustrated that absolutely every single elder had to have enough time to speak his mind in these inefficient conversations, the Kenyans were relishing the relationship they were sharing and building with their friends from America. As the parties talked together, they accomplished exactly what they had set out to do. The Americans taught about greenhouses and drip irrigation. The Kenyans heard and understood. Together they explored solutions to the local problems. And together, from the American perspective, they decided to till the land, purchase, and install a drip irrigation system. And, actually, no other solution could have been publicly reached. From the Kenyan perspective, to say to the Americans directly that they are not able to manage the water consumption of a drip irrigation system would have been shameful - essentially admitting that they are unable to fulfill their end of the bargain. There was also concern about shaming the visitors who traveled so far to do this teaching. The irrigation system couldn't be turned down in a face-to-face conversation. Instead, overnight the elders met together. They recalculated the costs to double-check what would be expected of them. They talked, each having a chance to contribute and have his say. And they concluded that they wouldn't be able to do it. The amount of water was just too great. The risk was too high - especially after this year's failed maize crop that resulted in a 10,000 Shilling loss on their self-initiated building project funding system. So they declined the irrigation system in culturally appropriate ways - indirectly. Word was sent through a third party. Pastor Trump then sat together with Pastor Joseph, the parish pastor, to be sure he understood what was being conveyed. And together they rejoiced at the wisdom of the elders who knew their own capacity and valued the relationship so highly. They did not want to shame their visitors by embarking upon a project they knew they could not sustain. They did not want to risk shaming themselves if the project collapsed. When they fully understood greenhouse farming and drip irrigation systems, they realized it was not a good solution for their congregation at this time. So to preserve the relationship, they declined - indirectly - rather than accept and see the project to fail. 

The Agricultural Team from St. Andrew's accomplished their task - and a day faster than the Renovation Team! The Agricultural Team lived a ministry of presence, spent time with people, listened, shared, and successfully taught about greenhouses and irrigation systems. The Elders of the Congregation were so well informed that they were able to decide for themselves that the irrigation was not sustainable in their location and they appropriately conveyed that to the Agricultural Team. To affirm the Elders and the congregation at Menzamwenye and to show how much we appreciated the wisdom of the elders, the St. Andrews team pushed hard to complete the renovation work a day early, allowing one day free for the whole team to visit Menzamwenye. Sending the whole St. Andrew's team to Menzamwenye for visits in the community and a meal together with the church leaders confirmed that no offense had been taken and reaffirmed the strength and importance of the relationship.

Well done, Agricultural Team! And well done, St. Andrews. 

-Shauen