Conrad Van Dijk has just returned from a very fruitful trip to Sierra Leone (July 29 to August 14) and after six months of planning, the pieces are starting to fall together!

• Farmers will soon be planting 60 acres of corn for chicken feed.
• New chicks are being ordered to replace the current layers and to increase our number of farmers.
• The team spent time in prayer and discussion to stand against the obstacles that are keeping the farmers so poor.
• A more holistic approach is being used to help farmers, including teaching about how to break the cycle of poverty which, besides generating income, includes paying off debts, saving money, and educating children.
• Microfinance principles are being utilized in which the farmers form groups and are accountable to each other in  in repaying the loans (cost of chickens) and proper management of the chickens.
• A participatory decision making process has been implemented whereby farmers and the community leaders, such as chiefs and elders, are included.

Please continue to pray for our work in Sierra Leone!

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Here are some photos of Conrad’s second week in Sierra Leone which he spent visiting the three small churches that have developed as a result of the Alpha Program in our farming communities, holding brainstorming sessions for the next two years of the Poultry Project, visiting the Network for Children in Need and the community of polio victims, and making preparations for the Container items to be distributed as soon as it clears customs!

Please keep Conrad and the Project in your prayers!

Cutlasses made by polio victims

Having discussions as part of our planning process and workshops. We have had a lot of planning sessions this time, to plan the expansion of the poultry project for 2010.

Local cooking stove they (polio victims) made as a gift to the sierra leone president to show him what they can do.

Part of our workshop as we are discussing the flip charts on the wall regarding plans for 2010.

Polio victims leadership group on their new land.

Conrad Van Dijk is now back in Sierra Leone once again enjoying the sights and sounds of Freetown! His first week has been full of activities including spending time daily in devotions with SCHDO staff, holding planning meetings for poultry production and project management, delivering sponsor gifts and a meal to the children at the Wellington Orphanage, and visiting the poultry farms! Contact the CVMCanada office if you would like to receive Conrad’s Trip Updates!

Alpha, Schdo director, and Joseph, Schdo poultry manager, with van in front of Schdo office and guestroom house where I am staying

Children at wo eating the meal bought by the sponsors

Farmer family in front of their layer chicken house

I am handing out the presents to the wellington orphans

This is a picture of the inside of the model chicken barn. We plan to build one like this for the wellington orphanage village as well as other villages

Vendors selling bread to people in small private buses called poda podas trying earn a little bit of money for food for themselves

As of December 22, through your generosity, the Chickens for Christmas program has received $ 48,302.34! This is a significant step toward helping impoverished farmers in Sierra Leone become self-sufficient through raising chickens.

Chickens for Christmas – All Year Long

The Sierra Leone Poultry Project still has a long way to go to raise $165,000 to set up at least 70 farmers in 2010, so the Chickens for Christmas gift program will continue throughout the year. Continue checking this blog for important updates!

There’s Still Time

Send a special gift in the name of your loved ones for Christmas. Click here to donate online or contact the CVMCanada office.

We’ve made the motto of our Chickens for Christmas program, “Give a farmer a chicken and he will eat for one day, teach him how to raise chickens and his family will eat for a lifetime,” with the hope of helping poor farmers provide food, education, other basic needs for their families.

In 2005, I met an American who asked for advice for someone who was starting a poultry farm in the same area where our Poultry Project farmers were. Upon visiting this farmer, I discovered that it was a divine appointment. This man, Albert, had a calling to minister to the people in Sierra Leone through poultry. This was my calling too! What a divine coincidence to find someone with the same calling and who was living among our farmers! With his pastor, Pastor Conteh, they started an Alpha Program. Every Saturday afternoon for 4 years now, a meal is served to approximately 100 people from our farm community. They hear the word of God and participate in lively discussions. Two small churches have been started are being led by Pastor Conteh. These farmers and their families are now fed spiritual food for eternity.