Empowering Chicken Farmers in Sierra Leone

Dec 23, 2011

“Give a man a chicken and his family will eat for a day. Empower him to raise chickens and his family will eat for a lifetime.”

Empowering is the key in helping people out of the cycle of poverty. That is what we want to do with the farmers in Sierra Leone. There are at least four aspects to empowering someone.

1. Self – Believe the truth and not a lie. Many poor people are stuck in the cycle of poverty because they believe the lie that they cannot get out. They do not believe in themselves. Their fathers and grandfathers were poor so they are going to stay poor. However, the Bible says “The Truth will set you free.” That is true here – the lie of always being poor must be replaced with believing the truth that they have what it takes to be able have victory over poverty.
   
2. God – They also need to believe that there is a God who loves them and who does not want them to be poor. Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed…” (Lk 4:18). They need to believe that God is able to answer their prayers and can intervene to improve their lives when they obey Him.

   

3. Community – Besides believing in themselves and in God, they need to be part of a Trust Community of like minded people who support each other.



4. Take Dominion – Finally they need to take charge of their environment or take dominion over God’s creation as God called us to do when He created the world. See Genesis 1:26-28. Taking care of their chickens so that they are healthy will give their family food to eat and a profit. This can also be said for any field crops they grow.