Casandra Yard Garden Project
January-July 2018: A roundup review of the CHE work in southwestern Dominican Republic: Blog #11
As many of you know, Jenny and I are mission workers with the Presbyterian Church (USA), working for their international mission outreach agency, World Mission (PC(USA) World Mission). We have been stationed in the Dominican Republic since 2012, helping promote, support and develop the Community Health Evangelism outreach program of our partner here, the Dominican Evangelical Church (IED--Iglesia Evangélica Dominicana).
Since 2012, our community work has been focused on the area near where we live in the southwestern corner of the Dominican Republic.
There have been many difficult times as we have struggled to learn what CHE is all about and to apply it with integrity and transparency. While we understand that real transformation comes through the actions of the Holy Spirit and not ours, we also believe that there should be real and measurable improvements in the lives of the communities with which we serve. We have seen that CHE can be a tool by which these communities can discover more fully the abundance of life that God has waiting for us--spiritually, emotionally, intellectually and physically. As individuals and communities are transformed, so too are the social, economic and political systems in which they live.
2018 has been an an exciting year, with three of the four communities where we work taking on a number of new challenges. This blog is part of a series of eleven short presentations of the work that has been developing. I am posting them in reverse order so that the images from January will be at the "beginning." This is also represents a commitment on my part to fully complete my blog ambitions.
Casandra's Yard Garden (May-July 2018)
In the community of Casandra, in the southwestern hills of Barahona, the CHE promoters, Bellanira and her close friend, Andreina helped instigate a plumber, a pastor and two or three additional associates to begin a gardening initiative, using the space available in an area that houses a cistern which provides water for about one-quarter of the families.
We began the initiative by doing a workshop in the yard of the house where Jenny, Keila, Annika and I live. We turned tires, mixed soil, created the vegetable tire bench and generally got dirty and had a good time together.
All images are all the intellectual property of the photographer noted in the caption and are used by permission.
The mission of the Casandra garden is to create a visible system for vegetable production that the team can then use to move the most successful techniques into common practice among the neighbors. Please pray for persistence and perseverance on behalf of all of us involved.
As many of you know, Jenny and I are mission workers with the Presbyterian Church (USA), working for their international mission outreach agency, World Mission (PC(USA) World Mission). We have been stationed in the Dominican Republic since 2012, helping promote, support and develop the Community Health Evangelism outreach program of our partner here, the Dominican Evangelical Church (IED--Iglesia Evangélica Dominicana).
Since 2012, our community work has been focused on the area near where we live in the southwestern corner of the Dominican Republic.
There have been many difficult times as we have struggled to learn what CHE is all about and to apply it with integrity and transparency. While we understand that real transformation comes through the actions of the Holy Spirit and not ours, we also believe that there should be real and measurable improvements in the lives of the communities with which we serve. We have seen that CHE can be a tool by which these communities can discover more fully the abundance of life that God has waiting for us--spiritually, emotionally, intellectually and physically. As individuals and communities are transformed, so too are the social, economic and political systems in which they live.
2018 has been an an exciting year, with three of the four communities where we work taking on a number of new challenges. This blog is part of a series of eleven short presentations of the work that has been developing. I am posting them in reverse order so that the images from January will be at the "beginning." This is also represents a commitment on my part to fully complete my blog ambitions.
Casandra's Yard Garden (May-July 2018)
In the community of Casandra, in the southwestern hills of Barahona, the CHE promoters, Bellanira and her close friend, Andreina helped instigate a plumber, a pastor and two or three additional associates to begin a gardening initiative, using the space available in an area that houses a cistern which provides water for about one-quarter of the families.
We began the initiative by doing a workshop in the yard of the house where Jenny, Keila, Annika and I live. We turned tires, mixed soil, created the vegetable tire bench and generally got dirty and had a good time together.
All images are all the intellectual property of the photographer noted in the caption and are used by permission.
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Abel, the plumber responsible for the Casandra water
project and an enthusiast for the garden work.
Abel arranged for a group of us to come up to
to the top of the mountain where he also serves as
security for one of the telecommunication antenas. Abel
and his associates make use of time an space on top of
the mountain to raise a small flock of sheep. And sheep
manure makes excellent fertilizer for vegetables. May
2018. Photo by Mark Hare
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| Bellanira (left) and Andreina, the CHE promoters for Casandra, piling up the sheep manure. May 2018. Photo by Mark Hare |
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| Lolo (left) and Abel (right) bagging up the manure before they loaded it up into the back of the Honda Pilot SUV that Jenny and I now have available for our work. May 2018. Photo by Mark Hare |
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| Four of the six members of the Casandra manure team. Abel (left) and his assistant, Ishmael (behind, right), with Bellanira and Andreina. We were able to come back with the equivalent of 6 or 7 full sacks. Sheep manure is particularly good for plants because it is generally high in phosphorous, as well as the other nutrients, unlike cow manure, which has good amounts of nitrogen and potassium,but is very l ow in phosphorous. Not in the photo but present in the work: Lolo and me. May 2018. Photo by Mark Hare |
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The view from the antena mountain, looking towards Barahona, which would be behind the ridge. Going up the mountain
was a test of the Honda Pilot. It made it up and back, but not without some quirks. May 2018. Photo by Mark Hare.
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| Also part of the beauty of the mountains. May 2018. Photo by Mark Hare. |
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| Putting the manure to work back at the Casandra garden. During a work day in June, Lolo (above), Bellanira and I mixed up a load of soil for two or three tires to begin the process. June 2018. Photo by Bellanira Matos |
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| Planting pepper seeds. June 2018. Photo by Bellanira Matos. |
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| Pepper seeds coming up. June 2018. Photo by Bellanira Matos. |
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| Pepper plants developing in the sheep manure soil mix. July 2018. Photo by Bellanira Matos. |
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| Work day at the Casandra garden. Pastor Belkys (behind) and Joselo. July 2018. Photo by Bellanira Matos. |
The mission of the Casandra garden is to create a visible system for vegetable production that the team can then use to move the most successful techniques into common practice among the neighbors. Please pray for persistence and perseverance on behalf of all of us involved.
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