It takes a bunch of small steps to make large advances. While Mark and Reba were home for a short fall school break we watched Tom Hank’s mini-series “From the Earth to the Moon”. One episode dealt with the lunar lander and the myriad small contributions that team members made to produce a perfectly functioning machine capable of landing a team on the moon and getting them back to earth. They started off with a carefully defined goal and step-by-step they fashioned solutions for reaching that goal.

When the idea of going to the moon was first proposed many of the experts still had doubts about whether they could put together the technical know-how and the organization necessary to accomplish the mission. Much of the science and engineering hadn’t even been explored yet. Less than ten years later, astronauts were driving cars on the lunar surface, gazing back over a quarter of a million miles of space at the earth, the birthplace of the dream.

Ending malnutrition and absolute poverty in one small corner of Congo is another dream. To those in this region it may seem at times about as daunting and remote a possibility as putting a man on the moon was in 1962. The means and the know-how seem so limited. But the leadership team of the Lusekele Agricultural Development Center sat down three weeks ago to define the dream, the changes they want to see in the central Kwilu Region.

This was more than making up a list of “feel-good” themes about fighting poverty and hunger. For the first time in many years, the technical staff has begun to talk about concrete goals, measurable changes in the farming system.

·Making disease-resistant manioc varieties available to thousands of farmers.
·Identifying and multiplying peanut varieties that yield 30% more than the best current variety.
·Getting a larger proportion of women to follow the example of the best traditional farmers.
·Finding more productive, sustainable alternatives to shifting agriculture – intensive agriculture based on an ethical of stewardship of God’s creation.
·Identifying ways to add value to agricultural commodities so more wealth remains in the rural economy.
·Helping farmers to increase their bargaining power when marketing produce and purchasing manufactured goods.

And it won’t stop there. Over the next few months they will move on to outlining the specific tasks to accomplish on the road toward the objectives.

Lusekele’s Timothée Kabila and his technical team have a hundred thousand more discrete tasks ahead of them if they are to bring life to this dream. Many of those tasks will require that partners with special means or technical know-how contribute their part. Lusekele has an infinitesimal fraction of the means that put a U.S. team on the moon. But they have a special asset: trust in the Lord, Creator of the universe, who tells humankind that enough food, pure water and right livelihood are part of the promise of his kingdom. Their dream draws its inspiration from the promises of God.

Defining a goal certainly doesn’t ensure it will become reality. But it certainly is an essential step in that direction. We praise God for the small steps his people take, putting their trust in him. We continue to pray that God will help them to persevere in the many small steps to come.