Beer-Sheba was initiated in 2002 by Heesuk and Eric Toumieux, an SIL language team assigned to the Serer-Sine area in Senegal. This project is part of their strategy to promote the use of the newly translated Bible among the young Serer Church, which is mainly comprised of farmers. Heesuk has been working with the Church on Serer literacy and Scripture promotion since 2000. Eric has developed a vast network of contacts and relationships, alongside some very beneficial experience in community development as Director of World Vision Senegal between 2004 and 2009.
Joell and Nicole Friesen have recently committed their involvement to the project and will join Eric and Heesuk in the management and operations of Beer-Sheba. They are currently in Canada for the summer, and then plan on returning in fall where Joell will help out in the business development aspect of the Project. Nicole has great skills in design and photography and will help out with the marketing and graphic design when she has time. They have 2 active girls, Isabel (5) and Nailah(3).
In a recent development, we are excited to announce that we have additional partners joining up with the Beer-Sheba Project in Senegal. Aaron and Sarah Toombs, along with their children, Isabella and Simon, and together with the support of their sending agency UWM, are going to be contributing their time and efforts to the Beer-Sheba project upon their return to Senegal in 2011. Aaron is a gifted and dedicated plant/tree enthusiast and his skills in horticulture and his practical mindset will be an invaluable asset to the Project’s agro-forestry objectives. Aaron will be joined by his family for 5 months of intensive tropical agricultural training starting this August at ECHO in south Florida. Once again, we welcome Aaron and Sarah’s committment and involvement to the Beer-Sheba Project and we look forward to having them onsite when they return back to Senegal in Spring 2011. You can find their contact details here, and if interested you can also follow their personal blog.
100 Hectares (250 acres) of fertile land located in-between three un-reached villages near Mbour (110 km from Dakar) have been allocated by the local Government for this project. The land has been fenced, 50,000 trees have been regenerated and a deep borehole (well) yielding 50m3of water/hr has been drilled.
The Beer-Sheba project wants to address several issues that affect the Church in Senegal, being that:
- Poverty is a major obstacle to the fulfillment of Christians and the development of the Church in rural Senegal. The Serer have responded to the Gospel in larger numbers than other groups of Senegal but Church sustainability is hindered by the deprivation of Serer Christians resulting into massive rural exodus.
- Most Christians practice a form of subsistence farming that offers very little perspectives for long-term self-support.
- Lack of meaningful training opportunities, both technical and spiritual, affects the quality of lay-leadership in the Church.
- The new Serer Bible is rarely utilized by Christians outside of Church services. Most Serer Christians do not know how to use it in their daily lives to grow in maturity and disciple others.
The Beer-Sheba project aims at being:
- A place that exemplifies modern, adapted agricultural techniques and management principles with an entrepreneurialperspective.
- A place of holistic training for young Serer Christian farmers from all denominations.
- A place where the Serer Bible is taught and lived within a community with an emphasis on mindset and worldview transformation.
The project has been registered as a Senegalese association. The three villages have elected a Liaison Committee comprising 9 members.
Priorities for 2010-2011
Acquire and install a generator and a pump to operate the borehole.
- Set-up a model micro-drip irrigation system.
- Install a water distribution network including a small water tower.
- Build a meeting room that can be used as chapel and training facility.
- Build a small dorm for trainees.
- Install a power supply network.
The Beer-Sheba project intends to serve the whole Church in Senegal by building the vision and capacity of a new generation of Christian farmers who are to be transformed into the image of Christ and become the salt and light for their community. Please pray about ways in which you can become part of this God-given project.
Refer to here for our manifesto/creed.
