When having a full bank account limits your diet

      For those who know developing countries, you know that animals are often the way people store their money.  goats, pigs or cattle can be sold for quick cash when money is short. Unfortunately, these animals often are free range, free to go where they want and eat what they want, and there is not much you can do about it.
     A few nights ago some goats got in to Roy’s nursery. They have their favorite plants, such as jackfruit and papaya, of which they demolished dozens, but went after other seedlings as well. In one night, these goats caused a lot of property damage.
      Most villages that have goats and other livestock have no fruit trees at all. Anything that is planted will be devoured immediately by a flock of hungry goats. As a result many villages lack fruit and other kinds of plants that could improve the standard of living.
      So what do you do in a situation where people need their living savings accounts, but also need to be able to plant food? This is a question and frustration on many development workers' minds all around the world, and is yet to be solved.  Just another challenge to working here.

Only two Wheals

      Being back at Gamboula is nice, but since these are not normal times,  e are doing things in abnormal ways. One of the challenges we have faced since being back is that we do not have any trucks. They were left in Cameroon for security reasons, as many trucks in CAR were commandeered/stolen by the new regime. As a result, we go out to the farm and back on a fleet of motorcycles (moto) owned by individuals and CEFA. Typically three people, sometimes four, pile on a moto, and head out to the farm. If there are shovels, machetes, or  anything else that needs to go, those get on too.

      The past few days especially, we have really wished for a truck. There are many construction projects going on at the farm, as the shop, four houses, and the agriculture center are being built. Bricks, water, cement, lumber, and other materials need to be hauled. We have also been getting quite a lot of rain these days. It is perfect planting weather for trees and cover crops, which we need to put in the ground before the dry season comes. The nursery, however, is in Gamboula 5K away. Many of these plants are taken out on the back of motos, in big plastic trunks. There are simply too many to carry out though, and the season is passing us by.
      Finally there are the fish ponds here. The ponds are for raising fingerlings to take out and distribute in the villages. I don’t know why I was surprised to see 2 five Gallon buckets strapped onto a moto and full of fish heading out to be distributed. Hope they made it.
     

      Motos are sure nice to get around on, but when it is your only mode of
transportation, a truck sure is nice.

A few Big Funny Looking Birds

    CEFA , the Center for Education and Agricultural Training, is where I spend most of my time here in Gamboula. The farm is divided up in to many sections with all kinds of experiments going on. The hope is to find things that work and then be able to demonstrate and teach them.

     One of the ongoing experiments is a turkey trial. Six months ago some turkeys where bout as a starter flock. There are now a whole bunch of baby turkeys out at the farm, and 30 eggs in the incubator!
We have lost all our adult hens however. They have died from a combination of snake bite, and some kind of sickness, leaving 4 big toms all alone. We decided that since the chicks are still small, it was decided to thin the flock of a few of these big toms.
     So I spent the afternoon with Alexander, the one who takes care of the chicken and turkey projects. Living in here all his life, he has butchered chickens and other birds, but never any this large. He
was quite impressed.
     The enclosure where the adults have been living is next to one of the missionary houses, and is visited regularly by locals, and people passing through Gamboula. They make a special detour out of
their way to view these big funny looking birds.
     Hopefully this project will eventually succeed, and there will be a lot more of these large birds around for people to enjoy. 

Back at Gamboula

    Exactly 2 months from the day my team and I were evacuated from Gamboula because of a coup that unseated the government of the Central African Republic (CAR). A sense of stability in Gamboula has allowed few of us to return. We were welcomed here with many hugs, smiles, and head bumps. We have been back for almost two weeks now and all is calm.
    During the time we were away the people of Gamboula kept their faith in God and their community. It has been encouraging to hear about how people prayed together, worshipped, and kept things functioning, despite violent upheaval in the rest of the country. Schools are in session, the hospital never stopped functioning, and people looked forward to the day we would return.
    Two days after we returned there was a prayer service held in downtown Gamboula to pray for the country of CAR. Three churches were represented and a large part of the community turned up, along with head government officials. There was a program with singing and speeches about unity and lifting up the country to God. All this was followed by almost an hour of prayer. It was incredible to be a part of this event. Gamboula is probably the only place in the country where this kind of meeting would be possible. Being able to come together to pray for the country without fear brought a sense of unity and power.
    There is definitely something special about Gamboula that can, be attributed to the long history of missionaries working with the Church and hospital. Another unique thing is that the commander who was put in charge of the troops here wants peace and stability. He has not allowed his troops to run wild and keeps order in this region so people do not have to live in fear of the military.
    On Sunday I attended the first soccer game that has been played in Gamboula since the war. It was a great game with a lot of laughing and everyone participated in the fun; glad for the entertainment.
    As long as things remain calm our plan is to remain here and carry on our work and ministry as normal. However, our internet system was shut off and will not come on again for few months more it seems. In the meantime we are using tethering-through phones. It is slow and cannot handle sending or receiving attachments, but it is better than nothing.

    It is great being back,
   

        Here is a link to Reach Global news, where there is a story about the missionaries from Gamboula. http://reachglobalnews.org/missionaries-narrowly-escape-after-central-african-coup/
Threw communication with Gamboula since March 24th, we have heard testimony after testimony about how God protected missionaries, and the nationals, and continues to do so.

What is the Gamboula Garden of Eden?

      Here is a short video that tries to explain in short, why there is a garden of Eden at Gamboula. What is there, and why it is needed. Due to having to leave shortly after filming a few of these clips, I was not able to get as much quality video as I wanted, but I think what I do have will give a good idea.

Living in Cameroon

Timothy on the ferry headed to Cameroon 

     On Palm Sunday, the missionaries at Gamboula felt it was no longer safe to stay in CAR due to the unrest. We loaded our few belongings into several trucks and crossed the border into Cameroon.   We chose a more remote border crossing, but since they didn't normally handle much traffic, the crossing took longer than we had expected. Eventually we got across and drove to the Eastern Cameroonian town of Baturi. The plan was to wait there and if things in CAR calmed down we could easily return.  After a few days we felt it was better to wait things out in Yaounde. 

      As of right now I am staying with some great friends I knew from Congo and getting to know the large missionary community here in Yaoundé.

      At this point I don’t know when I will be able to return to the Central African Republic. The country still needs to set up a recognized government and there has to be some level of governing authority in the countryside. Right now, the plan is to stay here until I can return whenever that may be.

      Although I don’t know the length of my stay, or even if I will stay in Yaounde for the whole time, there are many possibilities.

      Rainforest International School (RFIS) is here in Yaounde. It has an amazing campus with many trees and plants that Roy Danforth, who I was working with in CAR, has planted. The campus is two years old, and there is still a lot of landscaping that needs to happen. The buildings are all there but there are trees that need to be taken care of, weeds to pull, and ground to protect from the torrential African rains. I am staying at one of the missionary hostels and can try to help out with as much as I can.

       Cameroon’s national language is French and although I understand French, I do not speak it well, so this is an opportunity to improve my language skills as well. I will be in communication with people who work in and around the city on a variety of projects that I might be able to get involved with.