Exchange visit

On the 8th and 9th of July we had an exchange visit with some farmers in small mountain village near Maphutseng. The concept of conservational agriculture (CA) is adopted by many of them. Ilona and I have nice memories of our visits tot his village.
This village is characterized by good leadership and co-operation. Out of necessity the farmers started to use sustainable agriculture; the steep slopes, de remote and therefor isolated location made is necessary for them to support themselves. Many people in the lowlands would have preferred to beg for money, but these 25 farmers had a good work ethic and work well together. E.g. they addressed the illegal grazing. The cattle owners and the herdboys get a hefty fine for their illegal practice.

Last April these farmers had indicated that they wanted to learn more on CA and wanted to have a look on our farm. The visit did not start off that good because the taxi did not show up. In the end the crowded taxi arrived at 21h00: 9 farmers, 2 Growing Nations colleagues, de taxidriver and his buddy. Fortunately we have room enough!

We visited two CA farms, looked at some grain silos, a farm shop and some storehouses As a bonus we got to see a lot of game: wildebeast, zebras, ostrich and all sorts of buck. During these days we talked a lot, evaluated, did bible studies and had a braai. For them it was informative to see how big the cultural differences are. On the other side: we are all one big family of our heavenly Father. We also talked about that and encouraged each other to make a difference in each others lives....thanks to or despite our cultural differences!

On the way back to the village they made stop at the new mall in Maseru. For some of them a whole new world. Mountain village versus big town Maseru. The farmers had to walk another four hours to their village after the taxi dropped them off; they felt that it was worth every step!