Impact Stories by Farmers: By Mozart Adevu, GBGM Missionary Assigned to Ghana August 2018

Dear Friends,

Greetings from my family and friends in Ghana. I wish to thank you all most sincerely for your prayers

and very generous donations that have kept me and my family in my place of Assignment.

This edition of newsletter provides short life stories of three farmers in Liberia, West Africa as told by

the farmers themselves. I have served several of such farmers over the years through your support.

They have felt strongly to share the stories of the transformation in their lives as a result of your support

and I believe this is the time ripe for these stories. These farmers have benefitted from UMCOR-

Sustainable Agriculture trainings and capacity building using the least of resources. They have not been

dependent on UMCOR thereafter. These farmers have simply used the knowledge gained and shared

such knowledge among other farmers and their families. UMCOR Sustainable Agriculture’s strategy of

providing knowledge to beneficiary farmers who thereafter use such knowledge for transformation has

been very effective. UMCOR-SA&D teaches farmers “how to fish rather than giving them finish to eat”.

1. Story by Samuel Jorkey Bono

“My name is Samuel Jorkey Bono. I am 47 years old and I live in the Community of Upper

Cardwell near Monrovia in Liberia. I have a total family size of eight. My major occupation is in

farming but I have focused on vegetable growing and livestock rearing in recent years. I was

fortunate to have benefitted from training in Integrated Crop and Pest Management (ICPM) in

Upper Cardwell that was sponsored and facilitated by UMCOR-SA&D.

This training lasted from December 17, 2005 to May 16, 2006.

This training helped me develop my agricultural skills that has today become my source of

income and means of my family’s upkeep.

Through my engagement with LICPMAP, a group that was organized immediately after the ICPM

training, my life has been much transformed in many ways

Over the years, I have been engaged in the planting of vegetables with skills I acquired from the

UMCOR SA&D ICPM training. Through this activity I supported two of my children through High

School, they graduated last academic year (2017) and are now preparing for college education.

My daughter will be graduating next academic year. Through this activity I was able to purchase

two plots of land and build a house which we are dwelling in now and with another under

construction for future renting

Samuel Bono and his family Samuel Bono’s lettuce plot almost ready for the market

To make my farming activities more organic and sustainable I am also involved in the rearing of pigs and

chicken and use their manure to fertilize the vegetables.

I intend to improve the housing of the pigs and chicken which presently is a make shift structure

To conclude, I want to extend my thanks and appreciations to UMCOR SA&D for the ICPM training and

other subsequent trainings in LIVESTOCK REARING, BEE KEEPING, THE CULTIVATION AND UTILIZATION

OF THE ALL IMPORTANT MORINGA. All of the above helped me to get me where I am so far. Without

this training I would not have developed these skills in planting vegetables and would have remained in

poverty

My kindest gratitude to Mozart Adevu for his thoughts and concerns about the poorest of the poor.

Thanks Mozart, thanks UMCOR SA&D FAMILY, THE DONORS AND THANK GOD FOR HIS MERCIES”

Samuel Bono’s house built from profits of his organic farm Samuel Bono also keeps livestock such as pigs also for manure

2. Short story by Micheal Tamba:

“My life’s journey to success has been an increditable one. I owe all to the Almighty God and also to my

fortunate encounter with Mr. Mozart Adevu, UMCOR-SA&D Africa Regional Coordinator. I heard of

UMCOR-SA&D and Mozart Adevu about the middle of 2005 when he and his team of trainers visited

Upper Cardwell and Barnesville close to Monrovia on an assessment mission. I had then dropped out of

college due to the war and conflicts in Liberia and life was very difficult for me and my family. I could

barely survive the very harsh life over the post war period as the population strived to survive. I got to

begin a small farm to fend for my family. I cannot recall what exactly encouraged me to enrol for an

UMCOR-SA&D program in Integrated Pest Management (ICPM) that was announced during the

assessment mission of Mozart Adevu and his team. On handsight, I believe I was drawn into the

program also because it offered at least two meals a day for the trainees but I soon found that the

program could be a life saver for me and family if I took it seriously. I am grateful today I did. At the end

of the 16-week training in May of 2006, I together with a few other participants came together to found

the ‘Liberia Integrated Crop and Pest Management Agricultural Project’ and we led a campaign to train

other farmers who did not benefit from the first training offered by UMCOR-SA&D. This commitment to

volunteer myself to train others and to replicate the organic practices that I learned over the 16 weeks

has paid off so well in the transformation of the life of my family. I was identified together with another

person by the group as the leaders. We tried to promote organic agriculture with the little resources at

our disposal with technical and sometimes material support from UMCOR-SA&D. My efforts in

leadership were recognized in 2013 when I was selected to participate in a 9-month training in Rural

Leadership and Organic Agriculture at the Asian Rural Institute in Japan in April 2014. Since then, my life

has never been the same. Upon return from Japan in December 2014, I immediately offered voluntary

services to my community and the LICPMAP group. I was again identified as a great potential to bring

change into the lives of others by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and appointed as an agricultural

training instructor at the training Institute in Klay, Bomi County . I have recently been elevated based on

my performance. The following are a few achievements I have chalked in recent years:

• I introduced the chicken feed formulation, using materials available locally. Thus reducing our

expenditure on feed by almost 50%, boosting our income on the sale on chicken

• I also introduced the production of rice and we now harvest lots of rice to feed the students.

• I have built a new home with rooms for each of my children and a guest room

• My life has been greatly impacted, that is, I have become provider for many while in the past I

was a needy person but now I am capable of providing not only for my immediate family but for

others coming to me daily for assistance. What a great transformation in my life!

• Two of my daughters graduated from High school this year, (2018) all because of my linkage

with Mozart Adevu and UMCOR SA&D.

Michael Tamba’s organic vegetable garden Michael Tamba produces healthy organic vegetables

Michael Tamba and the improved poultry project Michael Tamba improves rice farming with skills learned in Japan

Gorvia Beyan and his family Gorvia’s house built from profits of improved farming techniques

3. Short story by Gorvia Yankoi Beyan

“I am a 57 year old man living in the community of Upper Cardwell, near Monrovia in

Liberia. I have a family size of 12 which includes grandchildren.

I joined the ‘Liberia Integrated Crop and Pest Management Agricultural Project’ (LICPMAP)

in 2008. Samuel J. Bono is my neighbor who encouraged me a lot to be a part of a farming

group that today played a major role in many successes in my life. The building of my house,

sending my children to school and the general upkeep of my family are all things I benefitted

from just by learning from my neighbor. All of these were made possible through skills

acquired while working with LICPMAP MEMBERS who benefitted directly from training from

UMCOR SA&D.

I became interested in vegetable growing when I personally saw the level my friend and

neighbor Samuel Bono succeeded with after his training and involvement with LICPMAP.

I am grateful to my friend and neighbor, Samuel Bono for teaching me free of charge the

techniques he learned from UMCOR-SA&D. God bless the donors who made all these

trainings possible”.

PLEASE PRAY FOR ME: My family and I remain thankful to you and your congregations for your prayers and support over the years. We are thankful also for the enormous support received from Churches and friends. I still have profound memories of my itineration last Fall and have great admiration for the hosting Churches and families. We cannot stop thanking you for your very kind generosity. Please bear my ministry in prayer. I am very delighted to inform you that my daughter, Selma who entered Medical School in Ghana last April, after a very competitive entrance examination, is doing very well. She is just done with the first of three semesters of coursework and had credits in all three courses offered. She says it has not been an easy road but God has remained her fortress and fortitude. Her second semester commences in the second week of October 2018. By October of 2019, she would have begun clinical work. Please bear her in your prayers in her journey to qualify as a medical doctor-her longtime dream. I have been hoping to report also positively on my son, Toni’s quest to pursue a Master’s program in Actuarial Science at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He applied for a student visa really very late due to a late sponsorship. We are however hopeful that a visa will be issued to him in the coming days and before the deadline for reporting for school in Canada. Your prayers in these crucial days are solicited. Thank you all again for your kindness and generosity in sustaining your support for me and my ministry. God Richly Bless You All. Please support me through Covenant Relationship: Missionary Advance # (13996Z) You may support my ministry by giving to: SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE & DEVELOPMENT ADVANCE # 982188 Send your gifts through The Advance to your conference treasurer or to Advance GCFA, PO Box 9068, New York, NY. 10087-9068 with the Advance number clearly designated on your check. For more information about developing a Covenant Relationship. Visit www.advancinghope.org Website/Blog: Email: madevu1201@yahoo.com Address: P.O BOX KIA 9195, ACCRA, GHANA Phone: +233-24-454-8732