What is "Argoforestry Farming?"

That's a good question!  It's something new that Joseph and Marusu taught a group of 31 new families during agriculture and veterinary trainings in December. 

Joseph described it for families like this during the training:
These are the techniques which involve the intercropping of trees and field crops on the same piece of land.  The trees are grown to provide timber, firewood, fruits, and fodder for livestock.  An indigenous pesticide, trees end up improving soil quality.  The trees provide additional nitrogen for corn and other annual plants.  The main benefits from agroforestry are in terms of soil and water conservation. 

Families have already been taught to contour the land, that is make rows of hills and valleys with the soil, so that rain water collects in the valleys and crops are planted on the hills.  The trees would be planted along the contour lines.  In time, this practice would allow families to get timber, firewood, possibly fruits, and crops from the same plot of land.  Argoforestry also recommends using organic fertilizers such as from goats, which families are already doing.  This practice could open up many hours that are currently lost as families go in search of good land to find feed for their animals or collect firewood.  This time could be used in other income producing activities for families that already have several demands on their time and energy just to survive.

Another topic that was covered during the training was the planting of alternative crops that are more resistant to drought.  Sorghum and Sunflowers are 2 such plants. They don't need much rain and are prolific plants that are ready to harvest about 3 months after planting and offer high yields.  Lab lab plants also are high producers and are a good cover crop that play an important role in soil conservation measures.  Seeds for all 3 of these plants are distributed to families during their training time.  

    


 

Report from Tanzania: Family's goats attacked by bees

    
 On May 28^th Barikeli Basso, one of our goat recipients, came home to a terrifying sight.  Bees were attaching the family's goat in their shed.  Others said the bees had been chased from a neighbor’s property and had begun to spread over the area.  Barikieli, father of four from the village of Qurus, rushed to save the animals.  Barikeli's doe from Food for His Children, the breeding buck and two goat kids were badly injured.  A two month old doe was found unconscious and didn't survive.      

Barikeli's family with Honorina

The other three goats were treated by our veterinarian, Joseph Kwasalema.  The family was also visited by program manager Honorina Honorati.  To treat their stings Joseph carefully rubbed the goats' skin using a rough brush to remove the stingers.  He also administered a bee poison antidote called atropine sulphate.  For three days the goats were unable to eat their typical diet of grasses because their mouths were swollen.  They were fed milk by hand instead and monitored closely.  By the end of the three days the goats were beginning to eat soft grasses again and showed signs of recovery. 

Goats back in their shed

This was a fluke accident but we are so thankful to have Joseph working with us to help families provide care for their animals.  Barikeli sustained a few bee stings as he saved the herd, but thankfully the wounds were minor and no one else was hurt.  The loss of the baby doe was a blow to the family because they depend on the nutritious milk the female goats provide when they are older.  Please keep this family in your prayers.   

 

The Heart of a Child

We received this email recently from 11 year-old Kiera.  Her love and compassion for the families in Tanzania is inspiring!  

December 16, 2012

Jambo (hello) Kerrie!

My friend, Rebekah, and I host a monthly Bible study for nine 11 year-old girls. We enjoy doing service projects, and thought raising money for Food For His Children would be a great idea. We decided to make our goal $200. That meant that each of us had to raise $25 on our own.

For our December meeting, we went caroling to raise even more money.  When we counted the donations, we had exactly $300! :) We raised $90 just while caroling.

The girls were really creative about how they raised the money. One of them did extra chores around the house, another girl held a class on candy making, and some gave selflessly from their own savings.:)

We hope the money raised can help families in Tanzania support themselves.

Mungu Akabariki! (God bless you)

--
Your Sister in Christ,
Kiera♥

A special Thank You to all the girls for their hard work and service!  If you or your group has a fundraising idea, we'd love to hear it!  Contact us by visiting:  www.FoodforHisChildren.org

Give to the Max Day Nov 15th

I know, I know, it's hard to believe that November is right around the corner! 

November in Minnesota means... cold weather... (ick!)...Thanksgiving (yay!)... But First... Give to the Max Day for non-profits! 

Allow me to tell you a little about it and why you should consider joining us online on November 15th. 

Give to the Max Day is sponsored by GiveMN which is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to help organizations, from small organizations to large ones, even public schools and universities, connect with online donors, help spread the word about their work and raise money to be able to further their cause. 
Over 26,000 non-profit organizations are on GiveMN!

How great right?!  Give to the Max Day is an annual fundraising event for thousands to Minnesota based non-profit organizations.  It is THE largest one-day fundraising event in the world- according to Give MN.  This year will mark the 4th annual event. 

It gets even better... on this special Day- Give to the Max- GiveMN has partnered with other organizations like Target, The United Way, The Bush Foundation, and others to be able to offer prizes though out the day.  There are prizes for organizations that have the highest giving totals for the day.  Our category is for "Small Non-profits"  which means we have an annual revenue of under $100,000.  For our category the prizes are as follows:  1st prize is $12,500,  2nd prize is $5,000 and 3rd prize is $2,500.  There are also prizes throughout the day called "Golden Tickets."  Every hour throughout the 24 hour period one person's donation will be selected at random to have $1,000 added to it.  AND at the end of the day someone else's donation will be selected for a "Super-sized Golden Ticket" which will add $10,000 to their donation.  Last year it was a $25.00 donation that won the Rapture Center an extra $25,000!  Every gift is appreciated!

Wouldn't it be tremendous to be able to tell the people of Tanzania that we have raised money to buy more goats and move into more areas?!  And better still to have enough money to really get moving on the Development Center and Goat Farm!  But we need your help!!

Here's how it works: 
On November 15th from Midnight to 11:59pm (that's the whole day of the 15th!)  donations will be accepted at www.GiveMN.org .  Once on the page enter Food For His Children where it says "Find cause or fundraiser" on the upper right side of the screen.  This will take you to the Food For His Children page.  Select a donation level from the suggested donations or give an amount of your choice, then click "Donate."  This will take you to a page where you fill out your payment information and leave us a note if you wish.  Your donation will be processed and a tax receipt will be issued from razoo.com (the online fundraising platform). 

You'll be hearing about Give to the Max Day plenty as it approaches, and especially on the day of.  If you're at the Mall of America on that day there will be live coverage from 9am to 9pm with interviews from local non-profits (not us this time- maybe next year!) and performances by local artists and musicians.  You can also look forward to updates from us throughout the day on the 15th if you're our friend on Facebook.  Should be a good time! 

Help us help the people of Tanzania who are waiting for an opportunity to raise a dairy goat and improve their lives! 


All donations are tax deductible
Food For His Children is a registered 501c3 non-profit

Agriculture Training

Did you know....
Food For His Children is so much more than goats!

Meet Mohamed Marusu.  He is a resident Tanzanian who has been in leadership with FFHC since 2008 as Agriculture Specialist.   As a community development organization, our focus is on improving the whole community by enlisting local residents.  In addition to dairy goats we also support families through veterinary and agriculture training.  Our goal is for families to be able to fully provide for themselves apart from assistance.   Marusu is well versed in modern agricultural practices and conducts trainings for residents so they can learn ways to improve crop production.  In this rural society families live off the land, that is they eat what they are able to grow.  Frequent droughts have made growing crops more difficult.  When this happens families have to purchase high priced foods from the market.  For widows, the elderly, disabled, or orphaned earning the equivalent of a few dollars a day this poses a great hardship.  The dairy goats provide needed nutrition in the form of milk and the agriculture trainings will help their farming more effective.  Strategies being implemented are land contouring and fertilizing with goat manure.

In March 2012 Marusu led trainings for each of the 10 villages FFHC serves.
In the village of Karatu land contouring was demonstrated.  Contouring the land reduced erosion and improves crop production.  This contour was constructed on the grounds of our of our church partners.  Elephant grass was then planted.  The grass is a hearty plant that is food for the dairy goats.  By working together, the information the people learned at the training will enable them to improve their farming practices at their home farms.     

In addition to contouring demonstrations the villages were also given seeds to plant.  45 families were in need of seeds and were able to begin planting.  We pray for plentiful rains and a bountiful harvest this year.