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Seeds of Generosity

Tomatoes, sunflowers and faith – all growing in Uganda

Small things can lead to big change. For Robert in Uganda, those small things were tomatoes. Here’s his story. ‘In 2003, the Lord’s Resistance Army (a Ugandan rebel group) attacked my home area. All my belongings were stolen and I had to run… ‘  When it was safe to return, Robert headed back to his town. He had nothing. But Tearfund partner Pentecostal Assemblies of God had started a project to help communities understand and use their own resources better and to teach people new skills.
 
Robert signed up to the training project. ‘Afterwards, I put some of the teaching into action by planting tomatoes,’ says Robert. ‘This improved my family’s diet and helped us make money for medical treatment.’ But the tomatoes were only the beginning.
 
‘Last year, I sold the tomatoes for about £150,’ Robert explains ‘and used this to buy a cow, which has now given birth to a calf. My family now drinks milk, and all of my school-age children are in school. I have plans for a permanent house, and have already bought the timber and iron sheets.’  The church project also taught Robert to grow sunflowers, ‘I will sell this year’s sunflower crop to buy bricks for the new house,’ he says. Robert has grown spiritually too, and now leads a local church. and is church runs a training programme, equipping others for transformation.
 
‘As a pastor I have learnt to work with my congregation,’ says Robert. ‘I now have the skills to mobilise both the church and the community. I have learnt that God has given us resources that we can use to meet our needs, and that the church needs to be salt and light. And that we need to be people who can be an example to others, so that they can also change.’

Give thanks to God that small things can lead to big change. Pray for the Pentecostal Assemblies of God in Uganda and other Tearfund church partners working to bring about these big changes.

[Clipping from TearFund UK. http://www.tearfund.org/]

Global Nomad

01 March 2010

 Posted on: Monday, March 1, 2010 at 6:15 am
 Global Nomad's Notes.
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