Community farms:
To train, to educate, to work, to live and to have a base from where to launch missionaries into the community. A community farm is where the community corporately owns the property. In our case it will be the believers of that area running, managing and corporately sharing the property. In my grade ten class we were about 30 farm children. So, country wide we would have been hundreds of thousands who have a longing to go back to the farm but as 80% of people are just working for a salary most of us can’t. That is where the community farm comes in. Here twenty people can corporately finance the cost of the farm, the infrastructure plus the accommodation for those working on the farm to stay. Now we can get investors in to invest directly in the crops and other projects to secure food for the people. Doing this thousands of jobs will be created where people could be evangelise, reconciliation can take place, unity will be restored between groups in communities and the community’s worldview will be changed to a Biblical one. The community farm will act as a place where we are all employed and have a basic income, a missionary training School, an orphanage and a launching pad to send trained missionaries in to the world to go and duplicate this idea and to network with everybody involved globally. To have the infrastructure to feed and employ those new born Christians in our communities and give them shelter to stay with us in a secure environment till they are mature and trained.
The Three legs of the Project standing separately:
1. Accommodation and employers Lodges/Hostels on farms with infrastructure:
2. Education, “Skills” development, Discipleship training & orphanages.
3. Agricultural project –investment arm. (Project financing)
Accommodation through Lodges / Hostels, farms & infrastructure: 1)
Farms will be bought from willing sellers. (Farms that is in the market). On the farms accommodation will be erected with 80 rooms on .25 hectares (50 X 50 meter). Place strategic between agricultural activities so that workers will be able to walk from lecture rooms or living quarters to the fields under irrigation or where a project is run. The accommodation is temporary structures to avoid rezoning to enhance the process to build enough accommodation all over, but will be five star accredited because of the finishing we will put on it and will be financed through shares in a Shammah-accommodation Trust. These shares will make the investor a co-owner of the farm and have the use of four rooms in the lodges and share as owner in 25% of the net profits of the agricultural projects. Secondly the investors can be working on these farms themselves, get a salary and share in a further 25% of the net profits as partners of a co-ops. This leg and its finances will provide the infrastructure and the platform to farm commercially and provide food security for Christianity in Africa.
Education, “Skills” development, Discipleship training & orphanages: (2)
Everybody must have the opportunity to study and to be educated through Universities and Agricultural Colleges, to train, to educate, to reconcile, to disciple and to transform the people to a Biblical worldview. This will be the spiritual leg with discipleship schools, community development courses and people will be trained in skills to support and sustain their communities and to create as many jobs as possible. Our members will be taught to impact our community positive and to chance their worldview to a Biblical one as well. To create a model to be duplicated all over Africa as a launching pad to evangelise Africa with the necessary infrastructure and support.
The Agricultural Financing Leg: The financial Arm: (3)
Where we must get all the experience and business skills in Christianity to raise all the funds needed and get all the investments to build the infrastructure, to plant and harvest the crops, to ad the most possible value possible and get the most kilometres out of this world for the Kingdom to evangelise the world. To raise funds from investors, the governments, the EU, from donors and from every company or institutions that cares about food security, green foot prints, farming, community development, the poor, the orphans and evangelisation from all over the world. This world is in a crisis they need lots and lots of food fast but they need salvation first. Through this arm a network of Christian business people will be establish to network and to cut out all possible duplication. Secondly this will take the ownership of the land to the people and out of the hands of the rich and single people which is a serious problem to the people of Africa. Thirdly it will be a huge capital boost towards commercial agriculture which is so needed to build infrastructure to empower the individual farmer and make things affordable to them. Protecting them against the bigger role players and people with finances available to pay for infrastructure the individual small farmer can not afford. Here existing farmers can get involve as investors, advisors, project managers and even teachers of others and make sure investors get value for their money. Here farmers can farm without having to buy their own farm and existing farmers can expand their activities by running projects on the community’s farms while teaching our people to farm. Donor’s money will be used to build accommodation for the orphans and the widows.
The Shammah Foundation: Marius Brand: Cell 082 9210 275, e-mail – [email protected]. www.koevoet4christ.co.za