Author: Accord us

Planting seeds

In 2022, Susan Smith’s garden saw its greatest yield to date, producing beets bigger than softballs, local mustard greens, tomatoes, eggplants, Swiss chard, and string beans, all sprouted from ECHO seeds given to her by a friend.  

Of her 20 papaya trees, 15 produced green, yellowish, and orange sweet fruit. She had so many papayas she didn’t know what to do with them, so she began giving them away. People came to her from around town to ask about her papaya trees.

Water makes all the difference between a flourishing harvest and a failed one in the Horn of Africa. That year, there was more rain than usual, allowing Susan’s garden to produce an abundance — enough to share with her community. 

Susan and her husband, Robert, have served in East Africa for many years, focusing primarily on introducing drip irrigation and managing a women’s cooperative where local women are taught how to sew.  

Susan has a big demonstration garden and loves to share seeds with others to promote healthy eating. She has also learned several tips from locals, like how eating raw okra can reduce arthritis symptoms.

After their area experienced the worst drought conditions in 40 years, shriveled crops, starving livestock, food shortages, and water insecurity all became commonplace.

On top of this, Susan says, many people in the community are traditionally nomadic, so they didn’t have much experience with farming. As Susan grew her gardening knowledge in the unpredictable East African climate, she welcomed her community to learn alongside her. Her flourishing experimental garden became a place of education and collaboration, where her community could learn about drip irrigation, growing crops, composting, and saving seeds. 

“I hope it can be encouraging to other people who are trying to experiment,” she said. “I found several women gardeners trying to garden for the first time in their life, so I’ve been trying to help them, but the major obstacle is water.” 

After seeing so much success with her sewing program in helping divorced or widowed women, and young girls without fathers or an education, she began to dream about using gardening toward the same ends. “It would definitely help these households because a lot of women are a second wife, or they’ve divorced, and they struggle to make ends meet,” she says.“For parts of the year, we could produce our own food. We import almost everything from outside. The only thing local we have is salt and fish from the sea, camel, and goat meat.”

Today and every day, locals purchase papaya imported from Ethiopia. If the community could learn methods for harvesting papaya, it could mean a brighter future for women and girls in her area. As the government continues to navigate better ways for people to store water, Susan dreams of equipping women with sustainable gardening techniques. But she won’t let the water challenges stop her from sharing and experimenting with what she has. 

Susan regularly meets women who want to learn more about farming. Once she shares what she knows, she encourages them to pass that knowledge to someone else, calling it “domestic discipleship.” Susan’s successes in planting ECHO’s seeds and using drip irrigation practices are beginning to take root in her East African community.

Papayas are one of the few long-term crops Susan, an ECHO missionary serving in East Africa, could continue to grow through the dry summer season. She used drip irrigation to supply water—a method she now shares with others in her community. Of her 20 trees, 15 produced fruit in 2023.

Plant seeds of change today! Give here to make trainings possible in more communities through partners like Susan.

ECHO provides hope against hunger around the globe through agricultural training and resources. As a Christian technical networking and resourcing organization, ECHO builds a diverse, global network and serves that network by sharing validated contextualized agricultural options with technical excellence. ECHO’s goal is to serve and empower its network members to advance food security and sustainable livelihoods. ECHO’s North American Regional Impact Center is located in Fort Myers, Florida with a global presence through four Regional Impact Centers in the USA, Thailand, Tanzania, and Burkina Faso. For more information about ECHO call 239-543-3246 or visit echonet.org or ECHOcommunity.org

The Propagation of Knowledge

When Joel and Carole Goldstein stepped into Josue Matutes’s demonstration farm, they immediately saw the fruit of sustainable farming. Matutes, a professor of agroecology and rural development at a local Agricultural University, showed the Goldsteins how to maintain healthy soil and propagate seeds. They saw the same practices at the ECHO North American Impact Center, where they have toured twice.  

After learning the sustainable farming techniques of UNAG’s program in El Triunfo, a student shows off her garden’s progress.

 

Since 2014, the Goldsteins have served in missions to help fund students needing educational scholarships in El Triunfo, Honduras. El Triunfo is also known as the dry corridor; the area receives little rain and has high temperatures, stunting crop yields for farmers. The climate and unsustainable agriculture practices, such as burning crops and using synthetic fertilizers, increased poverty and lack of food security in El Triunfo. The Goldsteins wanted to find a way to help the people they had fostered relationships with after years of serving in the area.  

After the Goldsteins’ second tour at ECHO North America, ECHO reached out to connect them with Matutes, a professor of rural development, agronomy, and agroecology at the Universidad Nacional de Agricultura (UNAG) in Honduras, who also worked with ECHO, training farmers in Latin America since 2016. The Goldsteins received a personal invitation from Matutes to visit UNAG. 

After receiving a warm welcome, the Goldsteins shared their experiences in El Triunfo and the help that the area is seeking. UNAG set up a needs assessment for El Triunfo to see the level of interest people in the area had in sustainable agriculture education.  

The Goldsteins returned to El Triunfo in February of 2023, during soil and seed preparation season, when the UNAG needs assessment and sustainability workshop was to take place.  

“We didn’t really know how extensive the need was,”  Joel Goldstein said. “Through help from people we work with there [we] got the word out.”  

November 9, 2023:
Joel and Carole Goldstein visit the El Triunfo community nine months after soil and seed preparation season, finding major shifts in agricultural practices after connecting El Triunfo with a local agricultural university.

80 people attended the first training workshop. From the swell of interest in learning sustainable farming, UNAG set up four additional trainings in rural communities of El Triunfo throughout 2023.  

In November 2023 the Goldsteins traveled to El Triunfo for a follow-up of how far the program had come, and witnessed the final training from UNAG. They saw a major shift in the community’s agricultural practices. They were no longer burning crops, but enhancing the soil. They tended their crops by creating organic fertilizer with common resources like Chaya. Most notably, the new farming practices had become a community effort that included women. Small gardens became not so small due to women collaborating and sharing seeds, which has led to an immense collective pride in the people of El Triunfo for their sustainability and agriculture.   

Today, one year after the first UNAG-led training, communities in El Trufino are cultivating and caring for their lush gardens sustainably, passing down their new farming practices to the next generation through school gardens.

ECHO provides hope against hunger around the globe through agricultural training and resources. As a Christian technical networking and resourcing organization, ECHO builds a diverse, global network and serves that network by sharing validated contextualized agricultural options with technical excellence. ECHO’s goal is to serve and empower its network members to advance food security and sustainable livelihoods. ECHO’s North American Regional Impact Center is located in Fort Myers, Florida with a global presence through four Regional Impact Centers in the USA, Thailand, Tanzania, and Burkina Faso. For more information about ECHO call 239-543-3246 or visit echonet.org or ECHOcommunity.org

Broadcasting Sustainability

ECHO on the Radio

A West African radio broadcast connects growers across Tanzania to ECHO’s proven farming techniques. Spoken in Swahili and run by Charles Bonaventure and Venance Mollel, the bimonthly show airs on Radio Safina, a Christian radio channel that reaches listeners nationwide. Fun fact, you too can tune in to Radio Safina! The show began in 2014 to educate the community about the importance of sustainable farming and share a holistic gospel message. 

Listeners are taught many different farming strategies related to conservation agriculture, agroecology, energy conservation, and reducing food waste. The hosts also educate listeners on invasive species of pests and diseases. 

Sharing Success Stories

“Through radio programming, we can share information, tips, and success stories related to sustainable agriculture,” Bonaventure shares, “ultimately inspiring more people to make environmentally conscious food choices.” 

Radio technology has allowed ECHO to reach people quickly with farming techniques, and at a much larger radius than in-person training ever could alone.  

Listeners with questions can call or send messages to the hosts during and after each show. “We get at least seven responses as follow-up questions in the session and not less than 10 calls post-interview,” says Bonaventure. The radio program has received only positive feedback from those who listen. He said the show has even inspired many people to visit the ECHO demonstration plot and seed bank for further education. 

Connecting with Communities Across Tanzania

“Radio programming can yield a variety of outcomes and impacts, both in terms of raising awareness and driving tangible behavior change within communities,” Bonaventure says. 

The radio broadcast continues to help growers across Tanzania produce in abundance as it openly shares the good news of the Gospel and how to glorify God through sustainable harvesting. 

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ECHO provides hope against hunger around the globe through agricultural training and resources. As a Christian technical networking and resourcing organization, ECHO builds a diverse, global network and serves that network by sharing validated contextualized agricultural options with technical excellence. ECHO’s goal is to serve and empower its network members to advance food security and sustainable livelihoods. ECHO’s North American Regional Impact Center is located in Fort Myers, Florida with a global presence through four Regional Impact Centers in the USA, Thailand, Tanzania, and Burkina Faso. For more information about ECHO call 239-543-3246 or visit echonet.org or ECHOcommunity.org

ECHO Techniques Shape Zimbabwean Communities

Two Zimbabwean agricultural leaders received training and encouragement after attending an ECHO symposium at the East Africa Impact Center. When they came, they were discouraged by some of the challenges they had faced in their area. By the time the symposium was over, they realized these challenges were not unique to them, and together with other organizational leaders, they found new solutions and innovations to bring back to their communities.  

Victor Norest and Ronald Gondongwe work with Bopoma Villages to implement community gardens in Zimbabwe, equipping locals to manage the gardens through their own education program. The program has a capacity of 10-15 students and teaches them the basics of agroecology (farming that works in tandem with the natural environment) and sustainable farming techniques over a four-month semester. 

Students of the program in Zimbabwe gardening using sustainable techniques.

According to Gondongwe, introducing nutritional gardens has lessened chronic diseases of the elderly and the sick since they now have access to a more nutritious diet and medicinal plants. Rainwater harvesting has dramatically increased the yields of crops since Norest and Gondongwe introduced the technology to the communities. This education is giving young people a life path that leads them away from poverty and substance abuse, which are pervasive in their community. 

“We train them with the appropriate technology to show them they have a future and they are a part of the community and they should contribute to the community in a positive way,” Norest said. “Helping the community at large… that is the stewardship we are trying to develop so that they will bring change into our communities.” 

Norest and Gondongwe wanted to add more localized techniques to the program, so they visited ECHO’s East Africa Impact Center in Tanzania. 

The two spent nearly a month learning about ECHO’s sustainable practices specific to the climate of East Africa, including the use of tree nurseries, biofuel, green manure, cover crops, animal husbandry, and most importantly, community involvement. 

“We have learned a lot from ECHO Tanzania,”  Norest Said. “They were working with the community in finding solutions to give the appropriate technology to the environment and involvement of the community.”

Norest and Gondongwe attended an ECHO symposium in Tanzania with other leaders of sustainable agriculture organizations from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The groups traded sustainable techniques and solutions they had found to similar problems. The groups shared devotional time and connected over their commonalities of work and desire to honor God’s Kingdom. 

Victor Norest, Ronald Gondongwe, and Phinos Manzuma attend an ECHO symposium in Tanzania.

“This work is serving God,” Gondongwe said. “It is fulfilling what He intends for us to do.”

Norest and Gondongwe were able to learn from the groups and return home with new knowledge to share with their students. 

Eager to teach new techniques, they began by implementing appropriate technology. They added a mobile chicken coop, also known as a “chicken tractor,” which allows chicken droppings to be used as fertilizer. It also helps lower the risk of diseases in the chickens. 

They also added cover crops and green manure, which according to Norest, drastically increased the crop yields in a community they serve in Zimbabwe. 

To further community outreach, Norest and Gondogwe began working with churches after seeing the unity of the staff at ECHO and their ministry. 

Now, they continue graduating cohorts of students who help manage successful gardens in their communities. The students take their teachings to heart and dedicate their time to teaching others sustainable agriculture. One student has created “standing” gardens or raised beds in a community of elderly women, teaching them how to propagate their seeds and grow nutritious food and medicinal plants to aid with pains and illnesses. Another student has been running the community gardens that Bopoma put in place, producing large yields. 

“We encourage the youths to help in community gardens because we want to show them that they belong and they can contribute,” Norest said. “It is not only about their development but also the community that is around benefiting from them.” 

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ECHO provides hope against hunger around the globe through agricultural training and resources. As a Christian technical networking and resourcing organization, ECHO builds a diverse, global network and serves that network by sharing validated contextualized agricultural options with technical excellence. ECHO’s goal is to serve and empower its network members to advance food security and sustainable livelihoods. ECHO’s North American Regional Impact Center is located in Fort Myers, Florida with a global presence through four Regional Impact Centers in the USA, Thailand, Tanzania, and Burkina Faso. For more information about ECHO call 239-543-3246 or visit echonet.org or ECHOcommunity.org.