Global Food InItIatIve - brethren.org

1 Global food InItIatIve E-news of the Global food InItIatIve Spring 2017. Coffee Exchange: Dominican Republic and Haiti church of The director of the community development program of the Brethren Eglise des Freres d'Haiti ( church of the Brethren in Haiti), 1451 Dundee Ave. Jean Bily Telfort, recently traveled to the Dominican Republic. Elgin, IL 60120. Telfort, Global Mission and Service worker Jason Hoover, and 800 323-8039, GFI manager Jeff Boshart were hosted by Dominican Brethren ext. 332. pastor Onelis Rivas. They traveled to coffee-growing regions of the DR to learn more about coffee production. Rivas shared Jeff Boshart, Editor newly introduced disease-resistant coffee seeds, along with macadamia seeds and seedlings, to be shared with Haitian farmers in mountainous areas where Telfort is working.

2 Soybean Project Progress: Nigeria Kefas John The Integrated Community Based Development Program (ICBDP) of Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the church of the Brethren in Nigeria) is off and running with a new project to promote food security and agribusiness development. In partnership with Brethren Disaster Ministries and the GFI, ICBDP is working to promote soybean produc- tion among farmers across northern Nigeria. The plan includes soybean production, quality seed multiplication, and development of soy products including animal feed and soy milk for human consumption. The initial phase of this program trained farmer leaders in 46 districts. Program Evaluations and New Grants: Great Lakes Africa Following program evaluations by Eben-ezer University, the GFI Review Panel voted to continue funding programs in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

3 The evaluation showed that over the past four years, the GFI-supported work in these two countries has progressed steadily. GFI. partners, SHAMIRED (Shalom Ministry for Reconciliation and Development), a ministry of Eglise des Freres au Congo ( church of the Brethren in Congo), and ETMOR (Evangelistic Training Outreach Ministries of Rwanda), an outreach of the church of the Brethren in Rwanda, are working with the Twa or Pygmy people. The Twa, displaced hunter-gathers, are learning to plant bananas, corn, cas- sava, and potatoes. The new grants of $12,500 for ETMOR and $10,000 for SHAMIRED bring the combined five-year total to $85,000. GFCF 1 5/1/17 2:19 PM. Churches Who Have Received Grants Three New Community Gardens: Ohio and Illinois The Going to the Garden InItIatIve of the Office of Public Witness and the Global food InItIatIve (GFI) began in 2012.

4 The number of churches receiving mini-grants has grown to 38 and stretches across the US. Grants were given to three new church -based community gardens: Potsdam(Ohio) church of the Brethren, New Carlisle (Ohio) church of the Brethren, and Rockford (Ill.) Community church . An interactive map can be found at Slow Kingdom Coming: A Book Review by Christopher Eby Slow Kingdom Coming by Kent Annan, is a thought provoking book by a veteran of Christian justice work in Haiti. It delivers on its subtitle's promise to provide practices for doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly in the world. Annan carefully addresses five practices: attention, confession, respect, partnering, and truthing.. We are asked to pay attention and are encouraged to awaken to justice, opening our eyes to the needs of the world.

5 We are then admonished to confess our mixed motives, desire to feel good when we help, public gestures, hero complexes, compassion fatigue, privilege, pain caused and received, and longing for change (a positive confession). Annan emphasizes that respect must be at the core of Kingdom work and encourages listening, imagining, and pro- moting the rights of others to demonstrate respect. Next, he eloquently explains several partnering strategies. He rejects rescue partnering . and fix-it partnering as insufficient as long term development models, while embracing partnerships that emphasize equality and partnering together with God. The final practice Annan encourages is truthing or accountability to measure how much your work is actually helping those you are intending to help. Annan cites many failed exam- ples of international aid work and points out, The practice of truthing gives us the opportunity to love our neigh- bors with our very best stewardship.

6 I found Slow Kingdom Coming to be a worthwhile read. It is more than a primer on effective justice work. An- nan's practices are rooted in Jesus's teachings on the Kingdom. The challenge to practice them is helpful to all his followers whether they are justice workers or Brethren Nutrition Program not. In the end, no matter how slowly, the Kingdom of our God is coming. Kitchen Upgrade: Washington The Brethren Nutrition Program (BNP), located in the Washington ( ) City church of the Brethren, received a grant from the GFI totaling $10,000. The con- gregation runs a soup kitchen serving meals to guests from a variety of back- grounds. Most are housing-insecure and live on the street, in shelters, or in assist- ed housing. Funds will be used to help replace the stove ventilation system in the church kitchen.

7 The total budget for this project is projected to be $50,000, with the bal- ance of the funds being sought from private donations and grants. To learn more or to contribute to this project, please contact BNP Operations Manager Faith Westdorp, at GFCF 2 5/1/17 2:20 PM.