Kaffrine Famine Relief Project

Second distribution complete!

2008-07-31T09:52:00.000-07:00

The second phase of the famine relief project is now complete! Click here or on the photo to the right for more pictures.

Below is Jim's report.

For the second distribution the numbers increased to 785 heads of households in the 8 villages (from 758). We used the chief’s roll to go by and compared it with the sous-prefet's roll. Those who had not paid taxes were not on the roll and did not receive the help. This time they received 100 kilos of millet each and seeds to plant ½ hectare of black-eyed peas. These are fast growing and will give them something to eat soon. Each village also received some improved seeds for millet, sorghum, and black eyed peas to distribute in the village to certain farmers. We were able to get either ‘seed du base, or N1 seed’. Seed du base planted this year becomes N1 the following year. The next year the seeds harvested would be classified as N2. The third year they would be classified as ordinary seeds.
The chief and elders were to provide these seed to the better more serious farmers
to grow the crops for their village. Those farmers would then trade the
good seed at harvest with others who only planted ordinary seeds, so that all in
the village would have good quality seed for the coming year. Also, the
women in each village were given some garden seeds and watering cans to
encourage them to do vegetable gardens. This time a scripture portion
containing the Beatitudes was given out in the villages. The chief of each
village received a set of cassettes in chant form with the book of John.

We were grateful we had decided to go with millet as rice was very
scarce in Kaffrine. We purchased the millet from Lamine (Bara)
Senyane. He was very good about holding it until we were ready. It
was very good seed and it came from some of the villages where Jean Claude Coly
has been working. We ended up with a combination of millet and sorghum,
but the people didn’t seem to mind. The grain was a good enough quality
that they could plant some of it if they wanted to. This allowed every
head of household to at least have seed grain to plant this year.

We purchased the improved seed for multiplication from Yassa
Senghor at World Vision, Jean Claude Coly, and from ISRA at Bombey. They
were limited in the amount they could give us, but they were all very
helpful. ISRA is the government agriculture research
center.

Each of the 12 believers in the disciple group received ½ hectare
of neibi melax [improved beans] and 1 hectare of either improved millet or
sorghum. We are hoping some of this will be certified to sell for next
year. They have been encouraged to trade the seed around so that everyone
will get some good seed for next year.

Before the second distribution we invited the chiefs of each village to meet with us Monday. We had lunch with them and the believers. Then we discussed how the
distribution would go. This meeting went very well and the believers
seemed to have a lot of influence. Jim gave them their vouchers and they
were responsible for collecting the money from their people. This time the
participation was 1.000 CFA. This took care of the transportation and
loading fees for 2 sacks of millet each and the seeds.

At each village for both distributions the grain was delivered and stored until we
or our volunteer teams went out and did a presentation, usually it was that day
or the next day. We told them how Followers of Jesus had heard about their
difficulties in the states and had sent money to buy food for them. Each
time we stressed that God loves them and wants everyone to be saved.
However we are all sinners and our sin must be paid for to go to heaven.
Then Jim presented the chief with his grain and received his voucher. Then
the chief gave out the rest of the grain.

There seems to be more openness in the villages now toward Christians. The believers in the villages say they are respected now. They are bolder in sharing their faith as others ask them questions. They are passing out books to their friends and meeting for prayer and study.

We are encouraging the mature believers in the area to try to follow up as much as possible. We are all sensing that God is at work in these villages. Saidou, Helen,
Youssou, and Ousman have all expressed a desire to help out. We are praying there will be some follow up in these villages.

Saidou has a big meeting planned in Kaffrine for September. We hope this will encourage some of the believers and seekers.

Finally we need to have people praying for a good rainy season and good crops.

Bev and I along with the entire Kaffrine team would like to thank each of you for your prayers and for your generosity. Your generosity has given hope to many people. It is through this food given in the name of Jesus and your prayers that we hope to see the strong holds that Satan has created over the generations torn
down.

May our Lord receive the Glory He deserves!

Update from the field

2008-06-17T08:56:00.001-07:00

I just talked to Jim yesterday afternoon. He gave me a very encouraging report about how things have been going in Kaffrine. The believers have been involved in the distributions, helping and working in selfless ways. They have reported that they have started sensing greater respect and acceptance.

One man said that before the distributions he would just look at the ground on his way through the village, and no one would greet him. Now, following the distribution in his village people greet him almost as a hero! Pray that the believers would take the greater respect they are receiving and turn it into a chance to speak about the gospel.

Another Christian man who has been very involved in the distributions even though his village (and so he himself) is not covered by these distributions (World Vision works in his area) has brought his Muslim wife to several meetings recently. Pray for the men that have non-Christian wives and children that they would be more and more open to sharing their faith with their families like this man. Pray for those family members that they would listen to the words of life.

Still another very open Christian has been approached by the local Muslim religious leader with questions about Jesus. His questions were raised by the evangelistic tract that was distributed with the food help. Other villages are asking for still more books, because more people want to read what the Quran says about Jesus. Pray for those that are reading the booklet that their hearts would be opened to Jesus.

The price of rice continues to go up. Jim reports that there has not even been any rice to buy in Kaffrine for several weeks! The second distribution will go forward with millet rather than rice. The second distribution will take place soon and consist of 100 kgs of millet to eat, enough improved bean seed for 1/2 hectare--ready to eat in 45 days--and enough improved millet seed for about an hectare of millet. Continue to be in prayer for Jim and Bev as they carry so much on their shoulders right now.

Thanks again for your generosity--your gifts have made these praise reports possible. Continue to pray for all the goals of the project, physical and spiritual.

From the field...

2008-06-06T07:53:00.000-07:00

Here is a message from Jim and Bev, who are continuing to administrate the project on the ground in Kaffrine.

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into
practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came
down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it
did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”
Matthew
7:24-25

Dear Family and Friends,

We praise the Lord
for the first phase of the distribution of rice and literature for famine
relief! We started in the villages in the middle of May and finished up 2
weeks later. We were grateful to have Tyson and Bill from Adventure of
Faith to help us in with the distribution. They went to the different
neighborhoods in Sorokogne to distribute booklets along with the vouchers for
each head of household. Later they helped us along with Saidou, Modou, and
Ousman to deliver the rice. Because of the shortage of rice it took three
deliveries to have enough for the villages. Each head of house received a
50 kilo sack of rice and a camel tract that talks about what the Koran says
about Jesus. When the people gathered to receive their rice, Jim explained
how followers of Jesus in America heard of their plight and sent money to buy
rice. We also shared that God loves them and wants to have a relationship
with them. The people said they were very grateful for the help.
When we offered the booklets, the people were glad to get them. Jim put
the Wolof into Arabic script so most of the people could read the
booklets. It was exciting to see so many people eagerly accepting the
booklets and beginning to read them.

[The distribution
of the second round of help] will take place the middle of this
month. We have a team from Mountain View Church coming to help with the
distribution in Diagle. Then the last week in June Saidou has a team
coming that will help us in Ndoj and Wande. This next time we hope to
distribute a sack of millet for food and black eyed peas to plant a half
hectare. We will be passing out scripture portions from Matt. 5-7, The
Beatitudes.

Pray with us that this food distribution will
break down the barriers that Satan has built over the centuries: the thought
that followers of Jesus are bad people and Muslims should not read the Word of
God ‘The Bible’. We have already received reports from some of the
believers that they are receiving more respect in some of the villages.
Our second prayer is that as each head of family reads what the Koran says about
Jesus and the Bible that they will go to the believers to hear a clear salvation
message. Please pray with us about these two items.

It
looks like the rainy season has come early this year. We had good rains on
Saturday and Sunday evenings. Unfortunately most of the people are not
ready for the rains. In our disciple group many don't have seeds or a
horse or a planter. One of the men just finished building several mud
huts, and one fell down in the rain. Please pray that God will provide
their needs. Also pray that they will obey God in all things so that they
will be able to stand firm through the difficulties and depend on Him for all of
their needs.

In His Service,

Bev and
Jim

Project Fully Funded

2008-06-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

We have received news that the project is fully funded and then some! We will be able to do both distributions in full despite the rising price of rice and unfavorable exchange rate. Praise the Lord for His provision!

More pictures from the first round of distributions

2008-06-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

We have received some more pictures from the field of the first round of distribution of food and gospel tracts. Click on the photo to browse the pictures.

Message from the field

2008-05-24T08:11:00.001-07:00

I just received this email from Jim and Bev Vaughn, who are on the ground in Kaffrine running the project. Pray for them as they have alot on their shoulders.

We have run into a fair amount of problems getting rice locally, but the
Lord is providing. Last Thursday we distributed 65 sacs of rice to east of
us. Thursday 70,000 sacs [that 35 metric tons of rice] arrived of medium
quality rice so we paid an extra 250 CFA per bag or 13400 per sac instead of
13150.

Today 400 sacs of rice arrived [at the local store in Kaffrine] and we
bought it all and Omar [the store owner] stated that there were some very un happy people because of this. We took this rice and delivered it to 3 villages [total of 5
villages]. This rice was even more expensive. Even thought the
government has fixed a ceiling on the rice it seems like it is coming out of the
port at a higher price. It sounds like the government who said they would
pay the difference in the rice is not honoring their word. This rice was
14000 per sac instead of the 13150. We are hope another truck comes
in tomorrow morning. If so we will buy the rest of the rice to complete
the final 2 villages.

Please pray that the rice does arrive and please pray that the lower quality [less expensive] rice will come in.

In His service,

Jim and Bev
Vaughn

First Distribution!

2008-05-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

All your giving and prayer has started to pay off--the first distribution took place this week.

To see pictures, click here.

Watch this space for more details.

Food Crisis in Senegal?

2008-05-06T13:33:00.001-07:00

The political leadership in Senegal for a variety of reasons is making the case that there is no food crisis in Senegal. Is there or is there not a famine?

Excerpts of an artical from April 29 on this question from Kenya Today:

"There is no hunger in Senegal and there will be no hunger in
Senegal,” President Abdoulaye Wade declared at the end of
April, annoyed that the main topic of discussion
throughout the country is the ongoing food crisis that affects
countries worldwide. ... In response to the president’s
statement, and using strong symbols, thousands of protesters held a
peaceful demonstration in Dakar last Saturday, carrying empty
rice bags, tomato tins and other foodstuffs to show that they
were hungry; the items also served as a “red card”,
symbolising their desire to see Mr Wade go. ... The protesters made
it clear that there is hunger in Senegal, adding that they wanted
more food and a lasting solution to the food crisis.
Ever since a demonstration called by a couple of
consumer associations to protest against the high cost of living was
severely suppressed by police on March 30, the government and the
opposition have been engaged in a tough battle of semantics.
... But for the millions of ordinary citizens, the bottom line is
that the price of food has shot up beyond their means. President
Wade was elected on the promise that he would improve the living
conditions that seriously deteriorated in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
That means the current situation is a personal
matter for Mr Wade and for the past two weeks he has
been at various functions defending his position.

For the whole article, go to http://politics.nationmedia.com/inner.asp?sid=1833

22 March

2008-03-22T02:44:00.000-07:00

Just received a note from a church in the Northwest that has collected almost $8,000! That was after we heard from another church that they had collected $5,000, so we have a total of a little more than $22,000 now. Keep praying for us for wisdom and for the folks that are into lean times already here.

We heard from World Vision briefly about their plans to intervene in the areas they cover (see Project Plan post from Feb 13 below), and they are moving forward. We are going to continue to try to move in concert with World Vision so that the different areas will be helped at the same time.

Keep praying,

Corey

Kaffrine Famine Project update

2008-02-23T02:16:00.001-08:00

Hi to all,

Just a quick update--it's been 10 days since we sent out the first information about the Kaffrine Famine Project, and we've received pledges for a total of $3500. That's great news. Keep praying for us and those who will be assisted by the project.

Corey

Project Plan

2008-02-13T00:44:00.000-08:00

Dear friends of the Wolof,

As many of you know, this past rainy season was disastrous for the Kaffrine area. The rains started late and ended early, and many crops didn’t get the water they needed to fully mature. Fields of millet that would normally stand 10 feet high stopped growing at 5 feet, the immature stalks preparing to form grain but then drying where they stood.

As a result of this failed rainy season, some organizations are warning of food shortages as early as March. At the moment, if you were to visit Kaffrine, you wouldn’t see any signs of famine. But all the organizations around us as well as in West Africa as a whole are warning of widespread food shortage as food runs out in the next few months. This has been verified as we’ve talked to our friends and local government officials as well as the World Vision office here in Kaffrine. [For more background on the famine in West Africa, go to http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=76323.]

The role that we see for ourselves in this time is to try to help in those areas that will be underserved by other organizations. There are some villages in which both the Kaffrine team and World Vision are working, and some areas that we work in but World Vision does not. We will be carrying out our relief efforts in those areas that World Vision will not be serving. For those of you familiar with the area, this is specifically the communauté rurale of Kayi, namely the following villages: Jidda, Touba Keur Cheikh, Niangen Bambara, Sorokogne, Njéré, Khendé, Diaglé, Ndoj, and Wandé.

What we’d like to do in these villages is have a multi-stage and multi-facet response. The crisis is essentially one of too little food, so food distribution will play a role in the response. We’d also like to be able to provide a component of encouragement towards development. Along with the food distribution we’ll distribute dry-season gardening kits that will enable households to grow their own vegetables to supplement their diet with vitamin-rich foods.

We’d also like to be able to do a multi-stage distribution, giving a first round of help as soon as March if possible and another in the time leading up to the rainy season in June. We will monitor the funds received in the project and do what we can with what we have.

As we carry out the project we see it as imperative that the relief go hand-in-hand with evangelism and a clear gospel witness. All of these villages have had chronological Bible storying groups in them, with varying levels of acceptance and interaction. For those villages with Christians in them, this would reinforce the message and the witness of those Christians, and our vision is that those who receive help given in the name of Jesus would begin to think about Him differently. All households in the target villages will be assisted, regardless of their attitude towards the gospel.

Our plan is for a 31,000 CFA (US$70) per household (each household has an average of 10 people) initial gift in the month of March. That would be enough for 50 kgs of rice, 25 kgs of beans, and a dry-season gardening kit consisting of a watering can and several different kinds of seeds. This will not be enough to get a family through to the rainy season, but it would be a help. If we could do a second round of help in June of 35,000 CFA (US$80) that would be a further assistance of 50 kgs of rice, 25 kgs of beans, and seeds for rainy season. If we received more funds, we could do further food distributions.

Month Items Cost in CFA Cost in dollars
1 March Food and gardening kit 28,000 $70
2 June Food and seeds 32,000 $80
Total per household: $150

We estimate the number of households in the eight villages to be 450. The total cost for the first round of aid would be US$31,500; for the second round US$36,000. The total project cost for everything described above for those 450 households would be $67,500.

Although this sum seems large, it is only a portion of what these families will need to get through the rainy season. Even if enough money comes in to do all of what is described here, the receiving families will still be working hard all the way through to make ends meet. For villagers in this rural area, the six months between March and September, when the first crops ripen, will be very long. If the project falls short of the total, we’ll do whatever we can with what we have.

This is a short-term response, with the goal of helping folks underserved by other agencies get through to the next rainy season. The long-term goal of assisting people out of poverty is only partially served by this phase of the work, and through ongoing and future projects we will continue to try to help people get out of the cycle of poverty. In particular, we are developing plans for a large-scale community garden in one area; we will communicate more on that as plans are finalized.

No one of us is called to do this work alone, but as each one gives what God is calling him to give towards this effort to alleviate the results of the famine, families can receive a significant tangible help and an encouragement to see Christ and Christians in a new light. For updates on the Kaffrine Famine Project, go to the project web site (http://kaffrinefamine.blogspot.com/). If you’d like to receive an email whenever this blog is updated, send an email to that effect to corey.garrett@sim.org.

We thank all of you who have already asked how you can help for your willingness to give and for your patience with us as we worked up a plan. You can make donations by check or by credit card.

You can send checks to SIM USA, PO Box 7900, Charlotte NC 28241-7900. Indicate that your gift is for the Kaffrine Disaster Relief Project, project number SN95298.

You can give by credit card by going to SIM’s secure server (https://apps.easydraft.com/Payment/SIM) and again indicating that your gift is for the Kaffrine Disaster Relief Project, project number SN95298.

As you give, if you can let us know by email at corey.garrett@sim.org, that will help us in our planning.

For Christ and His Kingdom,

The Kaffrine Team

Jim and Bev Vaughn (IMB)
Bennie and Maggs Bonthuys (SIM)
Eben and Foong Chan Burger (SIM)
Corey and Katie Garrett (SIM)

Article on the West African Food Crisis

2008-02-09T01:55:00.001-08:00

This is a good article--it gives some of the larger context of the situation in Senegal.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=76323