| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
A letter from Mark Hare in Nicaragua |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
December 16, 2003
Hey Friend,
These have been interesting months for me.
Things started cooking in June, but the lid flew off the pot
in July, when as part of the organizing committee for the First
Annual Regional Agricultural Conference, I was responsible, together
with five other committee members, for all of the conference activities.
Forty-seven men and women, representing six organizations working
in Nicaragua and six from Honduras, met for four days at a training
center high in the mountains in northern Nicaragua to share ideas
and technical information about how to do agricultural development
better. The information we shared ranged from the practical—how
to extract a stool sample from a calf for parasite analysis, for
example—to the more abstract, such as why we all are doing
what we do and how we can inspire more people to get involved.
Five days after the conference ended, I was headed to the States
for a round of “itineration.” My spellchecker doesn’t
recognize that word, and I didn’t either until I started
working with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) six years ago. Apparently
what it means is to travel and talk. This was my third round,
and this time I traveled and talked a lot. In ten weeks, I spoke
at five churches in Ohio, at a missionary conference in Pennsylvania,
at one church in Michigan, at Warren Wilson College in Asheville,
North Carolina, at several church functions at St. Mark’s
Presbyterian Church near St. Louis, and at a women’s circle
near Athens, Ohio. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Uriel, from Rancho Ebenezer, showing some of the conference participants
how to collect a stool sample for parasite analysis. |
|
Everywhere I went, those who hosted me received
me very graciously. I was fed and housed and generally welcomed
well beyond my expectations, although I did notice that it was only
in Amesville, Ohio, that someone was thoughtful enough to provide
me with a quart jar of fresh goat’s milk. It surprised me
to find how exciting it was to talk about the work of Ebenezer.
Not because we’re doing everything so extremely well (we aren’t),
but because we’re doing everything as a team; together, we
pay attention to our work, learning and improving almost constantly. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
It was fun to talk about all that,
and I found that I could show the same PowerPoint presentation again
and again (albeit with some editing each time) and never get tired
of it. On the contrary, every time I showed it, I became more and
more anxious to get back to work. The second week of October, I
did finally get back, and began the normal work routine almost immediately.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
That said, it may surprise you to learn that
I am finishing out my last months here at Ebenezer. In March 2004,
I will be moving on. During my time in the States, colleagues at
the Worldwide Ministries Division offered me the opportunity to
move to a new position working with an agricultural development
project in Haiti, a collective of farmer organizations based in
the town of Papaye, in Haiti’s central plateau region. Since
I first worked in Haiti in 1997 with PC(USA), it has fascinated
me—the people, the culture, the landscape, the politics, the
relationships with the United States, the land. |
|
Everything about Haiti fascinates me. How do they prepare their
soil? What kinds of crops do the best? How can we incorporate trees
and improve crop and animal production in the systems they already
know how to manage? |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
On my way back to Nicaragua at
the end of September, I spent six days there, checking out (and
being checked out by) the folks of MPP, the Peasant's Movement
of Papaye. I found that the vision and goals of MPP, as well as
the management style, are very similar to Rancho Ebenezer. The
presence of the Kingdom of God can be clearly sensed, although
not all of the landmarks on the road map to get there are completely
defined. Before I left, the director of MPP formally invited me
to accept the position being offered and I agreed. My first challenge
in the new position will be to establish some of the production
techniques that we use and teach here at Ebenezer. The plan is
to develop an area of land within the boundaries of MPP’s
training center, about the same amount that is available around
the houses of most rural Haitian families. Our goal will be to
fill the piece of land as much as we can with different types
of production—animals, trees, earthworms, vegetables, fruits—all
integrated in one interconnected system.
I will continue to need your prayers and support. If you are
one of the many generous people who have supported me with prayers,
thoughts, or funds during these last seven years, I extend to
you my heartfelt thanks and ask you to consider continuing to
support me in my work in Haiti during these next several years.
A few weeks after I returned to Ebenezer in October, I asked
my crew to think about two things: one, to think about the things
that I know that they want to learn before I leave, the things
I need to leave behind. And two, to think about things I need
to change about how I work—positive changes that I can maybe
take with me. They had some observations about both of those questions;
hopefully they will come up with more. One of the things that
I know that I would like to adjust about myself is how I deal
with moments of great pressure. I can feel my sense of humor thinning
as the time boils away. Pray for me, if you would, and for all
of us at Rancho Ebenezer, that I might be able to deal with these
last weeks with faith, with vision, with an inner calm, and most
of all, with a sense of humor.
Wishing you many blessings this Christmas season and this challenging
New Year,
In Christ,
Mark
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
140
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
