Pilot Project Part 8: Slow And Steady

Thanks to everybody who prayed for our meeting yesterday. I think it was a real success.

Yesterday, Rebecca came with large posters that showed the results of the market survey. Rebecca designed these posters so that you could look at Tomatoes, for instance, and compare the results in each market for that particular crop (one poster for each crop: tomatoes, melons, green grams, and rice).

What was particularly cool was the way that group members got to basically do everything that mattered in the meeting. I sort of coordinated and introduced the agendas, but different members of the marketing team actually presented each poster, explained the results to the rest of the group, and took questions afterwards. We've said this so many times that it's becoming cliche, but again, this really allowed the group members to take ownership of the process, and to feel proud of the work they had done for the group. And at the end, members were able to share insights from the survey, and even debate a little about what they meant, which markets would be best for which crops, etc. None of this would be possible unless we had such a great group of really intelligent and talented farmers.

Another thing that stood out: at various points in preparing this meeting and in sifting through the survey results, many of which were incomplete or less clear or came from fewer traders than would have been the case if it had been professionally done, I thought, 'gosh, why didn't we just do this ourselves? The results might be better, and it could be more thorough.' But what I kept coming back to, and had confirmed yesterday, was the importance of people being given the opportunity to learn and gain new skills and experiences, and the importance of putting the process even above the result in community work. Who cares if they make scads of money if they go home thinking 'we succeeded because Michael and Rebecca were so great?' Is this the great promise that the poor will become Oaks of Righteousness? I think not.

A huge issue in community work is being willing to go at the community's pace. Jesus always met people where they were, even though He was Word made flesh! How much more should we, who have so much to learn from low income communities be willing to set aside our idols of efficiency for the sake of walking together rather than running ahead?

For whatever reason, I was particularly struck by the beauty of Kenyan meetings yesterday, from the flowing KiKikuy language, to the warmth of the mud-walled church where we met yesterday, to the constant sounds of cows and goats outside and of playing, screaming, and occasionally crying children inside. In Kenya, it apparently really does "take a village to raise a child;" I couldn't ever really figure out who the three running around yesterday belonged to, because they were so warmly received and taken care of by every member.

Next week we're going to discuss the production components of each crop, which come from a survey that I did with two of the members where we went and talked to some different ag experts about how to produce these crops, what yields we might expect, and what they would cost. Please keep this project in your prayers

Peace,

Michael

P.S.- Of course they haven't decided, but I think it will come down to rice or water melons!