The Lulu Tree prevents tomorrow’s orphans by equipping today’s families through the local church — with resources including sustainable farming methods and tools.
SIERRA LEONE
Pastor Sonnel Kamara is from Sierra Leone and has a heart for his people. Having overseen 40 evangelical churches, this humble farmer is seeking an abundant harvest for his heavenly Father. One of his greatest desires is to equip the local church by training up men and women in 12 different villages to care for their own children. He does this by teaching them sustainable farming methods, by providing microloans towards tools and fruit trees for the men, and by involving the men and their families on his farm.
In addition to equipping Pastor Sonnel with a seeder, thresher, plow, trailer, cassava machine and a storehouse to keep the produce and tools, in November of 2017, a 1979 Ford tractor was donated by the California government. Sonnel and the village men are now able to plant acres of rice, cassava and fruit trees. They also lend out the seeder and the plow to surrounding areas in order to plant seeds of the gospel.
In January of 2019 a rice mill was provided and over four rice farms were threshed and harvested by local villagers, sustaining more than a dozen villages during the famine season. By 2019 the number had extended to 18 villages being equipped by Sonnel’s community rice farms.
Pastor Sonnel is just one example of countless pastors across Africa who are investing in their communities through sustainable farming initiatives.
UGANDA
In Uganda, the Lord has provided 22 acres of land — two acres near the teen mothers’ dorms in the fertile land of Jinja, and 20 acres in the remote villages. The goal of these farms is to sustain the training and nurturing of teen mothers and pastors.
SOUTH SUDAN
In the South Sudan refugee camps, and across the border in the town of Nimule, South Sudan, both Pastor Santos and Pastor Francis are teaching sustainable farming techniques through Foundations for Farming in Zimbabwe. Above is a group of mothers and widows from the refugee camps who’ve started a poultry farm and are thanking God for the provision. Below Pastor Santos is harvesting groundnuts alongside the orphans he’s adopted from child-headed homes. Oxen and plows have also been purchased to plow the land and prepare it for planting. The ultimate goal is for agriculture to support all of the needs of families in South Sudan and its refugee camps.
LIBERIA
In the villages of Liberia, Pastor Zawu is working with hundreds of men to clear land in order to farm. This farm will support the school he runs, as well as church outreach projects. He is also raising goats.
Sustainable farming not only helps pastors raise up fathers who can provide for their families, but most importantly, it enables them to both plant — and harvest — the seeds of the gospel.