It’s been a while (6 years!) since I posted anything on my blog. It seems a bit odd deciding to take it up again now, but it does feel right. Blogging gets me into the discipline of reflecting on my day, my activities and probably most importantly, the state of my heart. If my blogging helps, inspires or motivates any body else it will be a bonus.
A few years ago I half-heartedly started reading a book called “People in Rural Development” by Peter Batchelor. I say half-heartedly not as a criticism of the book or the author but because my initial reading came at the end of a long period of immersion in similar texts. I think a bit of development literature fatigue had set in by then.
As it turns out rediscovering the book today has proved to be a great blessing (……. cue for a discussion on God’s perfect timing which I’m sure those of you who have experienced it will recognise.) The 2nd revised edition that I am reading was published in 1993. Checking on the details on Amazon I came across the following review - “Don't be put off by the age of this book, it raises some good questions that people considering working in rural development would be wise to consider.” Very much my experience.
I work in Kosele, a rural community in the west of Kenya, not far from Lake Victoria. My wife and I started a project in Kosele in 2002, consisting of a very small children’s home and a fledgling nursery school. Now we have grown into an Early Years class, Primary School and High School. The small Sunday School that we started in 2002 is now a church with a Kenyan pastor and a Youth Ministry. We are working hard developing sustainable agribusinesses in fish and fingerling farming using an aquaponics system and in rearing crickets for food security. It’s been an amazing journey for nearly 18 years now. Our website (www.hopeandkindness.org) tells a bit more of our story (though it is need of a bit of an update!). Our most up to date news tends to be posted on Facebook these days at https://web.facebook.com/HopeandKindnessKosele/ Enough of the gratuitous self-publicity!
In the foreward to the book, Barnaba Dusu writes “In order to make an impact on the majority of people in the developing countries one must remember that they live in rural areas whereas modern development seems to be geared towards cities. This has unfortunate results: people are attracted to such centres only to find that the facilities and the ways of life are different from those they have left behind in the villages. The result is that most of them “drown” in these towns, becoming useful neither to themselves nor to their communities.
Reflecting on our work in Kosele so much that was written in 1993 seems just as true (if not even more so) in 2020. Peter Batchelor dedicated himself to the development of poor communities in rural Africa and shows a deep understanding of the possibilities as well as the barriers to achieving success in this essential work. One sentence at the beginning of Chapter one (appropriately titled “People First”) really inspired and challenged me. It said:
“We do need .. to bring people back to the point of wanting to make the sacrifice that most change calls for.”
It rocked me because it made me face up to the fact that it refers to me just as much as it does to the people in the community that my wife Judi and I are working with to try and bring about change and improvement. Two scriptures sprang to mind.
Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples “If anyone wishes to follow me [as my disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests] and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow me.” (Amplified Bible) …….. This prompted the question is it possible to follow Jesus as anything other than a disciple?
Luke 14:28 “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise you might complete only the foundation before running out of money and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it.” (New Living Translation)
I’m sure that losing stamina and failing to work truly sacrificially are two reasons why it is so hard to make a real, lasting impact in the kind of work that we do. Peter Batchelor’s book is written as a life saver for those rural migrants who end up “drowning” in the city and as an inspiration to those with a heart for rural development.
In the foreward it says “Life in the rural areas should be made attractive and profitable with a view to keeping these people in their homes and in their surroundings. In these pages we find some of the ways of achieving this. The lessons are taught with a Christian bias in order to care not only for a person’s body but for his soul.”
Amen to that!
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