It is with great pleasure that we officially announce that we have entered into a formal relationship with Samaritan’s Purse Canada.  We are excited for the commitment they are showing to The Beer-Sheba Project and we anticipate that the joint partnership will enable and further both of our organization’s goals and interests.

Samaritan’s Purse Canada has provided the funding for two buildings, one dormitory for students, and another multi-purpose classroom building.  In addition, there is also funding for the installation of an irrigation network, water tower, and a generator so that we can begin pumping water.   We are very grateful for this level of involvement and we look forward to working together.

We have already begun some preliminary work as part of this funding as the water installation will be the first priority.  In addition, next week, we have a project engineer coming out here to Senegal from the U.S. to provide some professional advice on these building projects and then he will return early 2012 to oversee the construction.

In a related note, Canadians wanting to donate to the activities here at Beer-Sheba and get a tax receipt can now do so through this relationship with Samaritan’s Purse.  As soon as all the details are available, we will post them here on the website.

Eric and Dr. Ben Tura exchanging gifts

The new Israeli ambassador, His Excellency Dr. Eli Ben Tura, has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors by supporting The Beer-Sheba Project with his presence. The ambassador spent the morning of 17 November at the Project to gain an understanding of the vision as he viewed the different areas of interest within the Project. Local village chiefs were present to welcome him as he arrived.

The reforestation of the Project area being obvious, the ambassador was then given an explanation how eco-charcoal is produced as part of our forestry management plan by using the selective cuttings of a single variety of mature trees. The process is then completed using a new method of carbonization from the Casamance (south Senegal). He was even invited to partake in some pruning himself, as part of some active Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration.

After his visit to Beer-Sheba, the Israeli ambassador went on to see two other TIPA projects in the region.

The market-gardening area at Beer-Sheba which is now being established will use the Israeli TIPA irrigation system, with technical support from the Israeli Embassy.

Israeli ambassador visits Beer-Sheba from johannesnorg on Vimeo.

The Tabaski festival in Senegal is a big Muslim event, comparable in importance to our Christmas celebrations. Every family (or often every person who earns enough money to be able to afford it) buys a ram as a sacrifice for their sins. It is related to the story of Abraham sacrificing his son (for us Isaac, for muslims Ishmael). With the whole country busy with their Tabaski rituals our Christian young people decided to organise themselves with a sleep over and a day’s work at Beer-Sheba. The aim was to earn some money to use for future evangelistic events.

The team at Beer-Sheba expected some 20 youngsters to stay overnight, and about 40 to work for the day, the actual numbers were around 40 and 80 respectively!!

Jambaar meeting in the village

The Beer-Sheba Project in partnership with Peracod/FASEN has undertaken an extensive village tour in the Sandiara area, visiting women’s groups to introduce the improved cooking stoves. The representative from Peracod/FASEN has extensive experience in promoting the stoves, and she was assisted by the President of the Sandiara women’s groups as well as a former nationwide president. The aim was to make the women aware of the advantages of the stoves, and the launching event at the Sandiara market on the Saturday of that week.

Some of the women were so pleased just to see the stoves, that they did a little dance of joy. This same reaction we also encountered at the market, when one of the women’s groups came to buy four stoves. We even had one of the women singing at the microphone. (Sorry, we enjoyed that so much, we failed to take a photo in time.) The sale of stoves didn’t fill up the bank, but then again we probably should not have had such high expectations, because in a week or so the Tabaski festival requires muslim families to buy a ram and prepare it for the feast. You can easily buy four or five or twenty Furno Jambaars (stoves) for the kind of money they need to spend on a ram!

The village groups were encouraged to organise a system whereby each household pays a small amount each week, from which they can buy a stove en distribute it to one of the members of the group. This means it will take a little while before all the households have their own furno jambaar. We will have regular sales at the Sandiara market, as well as from the Beer-Sheba office/guest-house in town.

Sandiara market event

Pastor Jokel, Mr. Binoua, and Eric in front of beef stable

Worldwide connections led the Minister of the Interior of the Central African Republic, Josué Binoua, to take time in his schedule to visit Beer-Sheba and learn all about the vision of the project from Eric Toumieux. Having spent time in France to study business as well as theology, Mr. Binoua has kept close contacts with the pastor of the church in Mulhouse, who in turn encouraged him to meet Eric and Jokel (the pastor of the protestant church in Mbodienne) during his visit to Senegal.

Mr. Binoua expressed a great enthusiasm for the Project, as development, training and prayer are close to his heart. As a result there was a great sense of connection as we took a tour around the Project, finishing at the building site of the cattle stable.

There was more connection happening later in the day, at a meeting with the pastors group of Mbour. They meet about once a month to encourage each other, and were able to come at short notice to praise God together, and listen to Josué. He compared himself to the donkey in Matthew 21, and spurred his listeners on not to take any of the acclamation meant for Jesus, the rider, to themselves. God’s glory is like VAT, you receive it only to pass it straight back to the authorities.

Earlier in his visit to Senegal, the minister met with President Wade, as well as other dignitaries of the government as part of his fact finding tour of electoral processes.

Church leaders of Mbour

]]> http://beershebaproject.org/2011/11/minister-from-central-african-republic-honours-beer-sheba-visit/feed/ 0 http://beershebaproject.org/2011/10/stable/ http://beershebaproject.org/2011/10/stable/#comments Sun, 02 Oct 2011 12:04:15 +0000 Joell http://beershebaproject.org/?p=877

site of beef stable

For those that haven’t followed the very latest developments on our Twitter feed, last week we began work on the construction of a beef stable that will house the animals for the cattle fattening project.  This will be a simple open air concept stable.  There will be a 10m by 15m covered section with a concrete floor that will be the feeding area for the animals.  The concrete floor will be sloped with a urine gutter in the middle that will drain into the compost pit.  Daily cleaning of the stable will provide the animals with a clean environment and provide us with much needed manure for our compost requirements.  Each animal will provide us with nearly 10 tons of manure per year, so when our requirements for upwards of 5 tons/Ha per crop are taken into consideration, this stuff is like gold to us!  We strongly feel that raising livestock is a very vital component in a holistic agricultural project, with manure production as vital, and also with the margins for profit after fattening, it is also a key for income generation.

The site for the stable is located adjacent to our 7Ha cropping area.  This cropping area is outlined with a 3 row leucaena hedge that not only provides shade and wind protection, but it is also a nitrogen fixing tree and its leaves are excellent cattle fodder.  Connected to the covered portion of the stable will be an outdoor fenced area of 8m by 15m where animals can exercise and enjoy the shade from the acacia trees we have left there and from the above mentioned leucaena hedge.

work on the foundation

The pillars (4 on each side) will be made from red earth bricks that are made locally. The rafters are being built now and hopefully by the end of next week will be on site ready for installation. Keeping checking back here for more pictures and updates as it progresses.

foundation work

attaching the rafters

tin going on

Status as of 08 December 2011

Project: Active

Funding:  We are very excited to have entered a formal relationship with Samaritan’s Purse Canada that sees them funding the addition of some core components of the project.  With this grant, work has begun on the construction of a irrigation network, a water tower, dormitory building and a training/classroom building.

We are seeking like-minded individuals, churches, NGO’s, businesses, and other mission organizations to be part of this project.  Please visit our Get Involved section for some specific ways you to help out with funding, or contact us and we will be happy to further discuss ways for you or your organization to get involved.

Timeline

2011:  Eric and his family have just returned to Senegal from a break in France and have been diligent in promoting and taking this project into the active mode.  They have also been joined by Joell and Nicole Friesen who were back in Canada for the summer and have recently returned back to Senegal.  Aaron and Sarah Toombs have committed their involvement to the Project and have been with us here in Senegal since the end of March 2011.  We are also happy to have Johannes Norg join us full-time in October.  Johannes joins us from the Netherlands and will be a great addtion to our team.

2009: In the spring of 2009, a deep bore hole (100m) was drilled successfully. Fresh water of excellent quality from the deep aquifer is now available in large quantity (estimation of 50 m3/hour).

biodiversity in true color

2008: A large retaining pond reservoir (5,000 m³) was dug to harvest rainwater.

2002: The building of a fence around the plot was done in 2002. As a result, trees now protected have been able to regrow rapidly. An estimated 50,000 trees have been regenerated. Also trees have been planted around plots that will be dedicated to market gardening.  In 2002, biodiversity had been reduced to less than 10 species of plants in the area. Now well over 50 species live in the perimeter. Several species of birds and monkeys have returned too !

Forests and air

• Over 40 percent of the world’s oxygen is produced from the rainforests.
• Forests contribute to the balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide and humidity
  in the air.

Forests and water

• A tree releases 8-10 times more moisture into the atmosphere than the
  equivalent area of the ocean.
• Forests protect watersheds which supply fresh water to rivers.
• Loss of forests could affect rainfall patterns globally, especially in food
  growing regions in Latin America, the American mid-West and Central Asia.
• Deforestation leads to soil erosion and rivers being silted, which reduces
  access to clean wate

Forests and biodiversity

• Forests are home to over 80% of terrestrial biodiversity.
• In the Amazon basin alone, more than 1,300 species of forest plants are
  used for medicinal or cultural purposes.
• 12% of the world’s forests are designated for the conservation of biological
  diversity (FRA 2010).
• Deforestation of closed tropical rainforests could account for the loss of as
  many as 100 species a day.

Forests build resilience to natural disasters

• Nearly 330 million hectares of forest are designated for soil and water
  conservation, avalanche control, sand dune stabilization, desertification
  control or coastal protection. (FRA 2010)
• Mangrove forests act as a barrier against tsunamis, cyclones and
  hurricanes.
• ‘Green Wall for the Sahara’ The European Union and African Union are
  implementing a project to build a ‘green wall’ of trees across the Sahara
  to push back desertification and to secure agriculture and livelihoods in
  the sahelo-saharan zone.

Forests and land

• Forests cover 31% of global land area
• Forests and tree cover combat land degradation and desertification by stabilizing soils, reducing water and wind erosion and maintaining nutrient cycling in soils.

Forests are a key part of the climate change solution

• The carbon in forests exceeds the amount of carbon currently in the atmosphere.  FRA 2010 estimates that the world’s forests store 289 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon in their biomass alone.
• 17.4% of global greenhouse gas emission resulted from deforestation and forest degradation.
• Forests offer the quickest, most cost-effective and largest means of curbing global emissions. It would save the world approximately $3.7 trillion between 2010 and 2200 if we halve greenhouse gas emissions (The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, 2006).

Healthy forests, healthy people

• Tropical forests provide a vast array of medicinal plants used in healing and healthcare, worth an estimated $108 billion a year.
• More than a quarter of modern medicines originate from tropical forest plants.
• Forests curb infectious diseases. Undisturbed tropical forests can have a moderating effect on insect- and animal-borne disease:
  • 40% of the world’s population lives in malaria infested regions. Heavily deforested areas can see a 300 fold increase in the risk of malaria infection compared to areas of intact forest.
  • 72% of emerging infectious diseases transmitted from animals to humans come from wildlife as opposed to domesticated animals. Deforested areas increase contact between wildlife and humans and affect pathogen transmission.

Forests are our livelihoods/wealth

• 1.6 billion people around the world depend on forests for their livelihoods and daily subsistence needs.
• The global gross value-added in the forestry sector is US$ 468 billion.
• The global trade in primary wood products is US$ 235 billion.
• Tropical forests provide pollination services to agriculture valued at US$12 billion per year.
• Given that more than 1 billion hectares of degraded areas throughout the world are suitable for forest landscape restoration, community-based forest management could be woven into other existing rural economic activities.

You can download the report here.  Beer-Sheba is mentioned on page 21 and then the case study is at Appendix C4.

We have already secured from PERACOD (www.peracod.sn) a revolving 50% capital vehicle that they will fund based on The Beer-Sheba project obtaining the remaining 50%.  Our proposal is to purchase a total of 500 Jambaar stoves.  With the 50/50 split we require 1.5 million CFA ($3000 USD).  We already have an immediate market for us to resell these as we have contacted several women’s groups in the communities that we work with that are very eager to introduce these stoves to their communities as they realize the potential savings.  They will save nearly 1kg of charcoal/day (200 cfa) and at the price we are aiming to sell them at they will have the stoves paid off in one month considering the daily savings in charcoal!  We will sell them at a slight margin above cost price to ensure our expenses are covered and provide for more capital as we expand the program.  Each stove costs 6000 CFA ($12 USD).  We are looking for like-minded entrepreneurs who would be interested in this program.

For complete details please download the brochure here.