Mbuyuni - 1st Visit

March 4, 2009
Village: Mbuyuni
Pastor: Elia Konga
Companion: Holy Trinity, New Prague
Elevation: 543 meters
Attendees: 16

Mbuyuni is located below the escarpment about two and a quarter hours east of Iringa on the road toward Dar. The church is located a little to the north of the main highway on top a rocky hill. Not a good place for a plot, but the view was great. During lunch in the pastor’s home before the meeting we met Dr. Jayros Mapepele, father of George and David Mapepele and a friend of Arne and Mary Blomquist. David was ordained in January and is an evangelist at one of the preaching points in Kilolo.

There were 16 attendees at the meeting, and the pastor apologized for the low turn-out and said it was because of the late notice of the meeting. He said that he had been able to send out a notice only yesterday, March 3 the day before the meeting. Actually that was a pretty good turnout for such a late notice.

After a brief introduction Ibrahim went through the handouts:
1. DIRA – Institute of Agriculture Village Plot Agreement
2. Plot Management
3. Chronological Plot Management of Crops Planted in December of 2009
4. Frequently Asked Questions
5. Record of Events

The plot is located some distance west of the church and village south of the main highway near the Ruaha River. They plan to irrigate this plot because it is located close to the river and they do not get enough rain in this area to grow good crops. Because the plot will be irrigated they will pick the time of year to plant when they the most available water.

There were some interesting comments from attendees:
· Pastor Elia Konga wanted to express his appreciation on behalf of the parish for this project and to their companion congregation, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.
· They are eager to learn new things and hope that they are too late. This program should have been available ten years ago, but it is not too late now, they can still learn.
· They are pleased that we will meet with them often and that the program is for three years. In the past people came through and talked to them, and then never came back. They were real pleased that we gave them phone numbers to call if they had questions.
· There were questions about the Institute’s ability to help with crops other than corn and beans. We said we were starting with two crops so that we did not overwhelm them, but that if they had questions about other crops we would try to provide answers.
· We talked about the advantages of leaving crop residue in between the rows of corn and beans. We said that the residue would increase organic matter in the soil, retain moisture and prevent leaching of fertilizer.
· There was a question about the applicability of soil samples taken at the church site, which may be far away from parishioner’s farms. Ibrahim explained the similarity of soil sample results from within the Mgongo Area and the Dabaga Area.
· Questions were raised about fertilizer, that it could have detrimental effects. Ibrahim responded that just like medicine, if one took all the pills they received from a doctor at once they would likely get sick and could kill themselves. But if you took the medicine as prescribed one would get well. Fertilizer if wrongly applied can give bad results, but if properly applied will increase yields.
· Ibrahim asked a question would they rather be given a bag of corn or taught how to grow 10 bags of corn, they responded they would rather be taught. He then said would they rather be given a bag of corn or be taught to grow a bag of corn, and they responded that they would rather be taught. Better to train them than to give them corn. This reinforces their hunger to learn new and better ways to do things.

Photo link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21557421@N08/sets/72157615106868836/detail/