Harvest of hope coming in

BY SARA KEDDY

Kings County Register

Africa has been what the Kramers expected, but also something else.

The Berwick West couple are finishing the first year of a three-year commitment with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, working together to use Sid’s farming, seed selling and agronomist experience; and Audrey’s home economics teaching background and mothering knowledge to spread the hope of amaranth.

This tiny seed grows where other crops can’t in just 70 days, it’s prolific, is useful as both a vegetable green and a milled grain, and it’s full of nutrients and value. “People had seen the amaranth here and there and they knew how to grow it and eat the leaves like spinach, but they didn’t know how to eat the dried seeds,” Audrey says.

The couple arrived to serve in Kenya and Uganda last February. “We knew what we were supposed to do, and we were given a lot of freedom to just do it,” she says.

The Kramers made great connections almost immediately with the local Anglican church: many of the dioceses have their own field worker, helping people with farm skills. “Their vision is, people need to eat and grow their own food. It changes morale and creates a message of hope.”

With the church workers and others they met in communities, orphanages and hospitals around the two countries, the Kramers have far exceeded CRWRC’s expectations: make presentations to 80 people and get basic amaranth plantings in the ground. “We’re reached 2,000 people,” Audrey says. “When they see it and find out its possibilities - the big thing is, they take ownership of the project.”

That showed up within just a few weeks, as an orphanage started a trial feeding either cow’s milk or a mixture of milk and amaranth to babies. By far, the mixture had better visible results. Twenty starving children in another community were given daily amaranth for five months; now, they have been back for their own field day, learning to cultivate the grain themselves. The Kramers heard many stories of sick people recover some of their strength after eating amaranth. One community broke the Kramers’ advice with its very first crop: instead of a few people keeping the seed to plant again and perhaps harvest for sale, they gave it all away so others could grow it, too. “But, the situation was worse than we expected,” Audrey says. They knew there would be travel difficulties, language barriers, uncomfortable living quarters and the potential for their own illness. “Huts are empty, I’ve never seen so many children, there are coffins for sale on the sides of the road - 60 per cent of families have HIV infections.”

The Kramers see families and communities with nothing, but they are welcomed as honoured guests on their visits. “We will be given this feast with the little they have, and right outside there are starving children - a lot of mixed emotions,” Audrey says.

The couple passed one hut with a falling thatched roof. Three children lived there: the oldest, 12, caring for all of them after the death of their parents from HIV. The next oldest couldn’t go to school for the sake of a $3 uniform. “We can’t help all of them, but these little things come our way - maybe there’s a reason,” Audrey says. “That was a day we were fed twice. Really hard.”

The Kramers have been home on a couple of occasions in the past year: Audrey to help with the birth of a new grandchild, Sid with bouts of malaria and blood poisoning, and together most recently for Christmas. They’ve also had a chance to visit their daughter and her family in Tanzania. “It’s been very tiring - no house, living out of a suitcase, a new bed every few days and no personal life,” Audrey says. “You would be surprised how fast you adjust to comfort here again.”

When the Kramers are asked about their project, Audrey says people may not understand, and then “put them on a pedestal. “Everyone has a task that is just as important - there is a need here at home, too. The need is so big, every drop fills the bucket eventually.”

Africa, Sid says isn’t as much of a “mess” as we perceive it to be. “How civilized are we? We have wars and can’t get along, over and over,” he says. “Richness is not always the answer. “Africans - their joyfulness, the sharing with each other, their working together and the sense of community - haven’t changed.”

WEBLINK: www.crwc.org