DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
A few years ago, our benefactors saved the communities of Tsilomba and Munkamba from hunger and starvation. Their support enabled missionary Fr. Joseph Bataona to start a training program promoting the importance of farming. The three hundred unemployed young people who completed the program applied their skills in their local villages to grow vegetables, roots,and crops for their own consumption, and to sell in the markets. The success of the project did more than provided the people with nourishing food. It also encouraged them to believe in their capacity to help themselves.
The success of the farming project in these communities reached other neighboring villages and even the governor. Showing his support for their efforts, the governor awarded the young farmers two tractors in order to increase the area under cultivation and produce more food. Though ecstatic about the award, their enthusiasm faded when they realized that they could not afford the cost of fuel and the drivers needed to operate the tractors.
Once again, our generous benefactors enabled Fr. Joseph and the young farmers to expand the training program: cultivate more land, put more unemployed young people to work, and feed more neighbors.
