Love+faith=differentworlds: Our Farms and future dreams

Some of you may have noticed I talk about our farms and wonder what I’m talking about.

I thought I should fill you in.

Life as a doctor in Uganda is certainly not like Australia and they receive a very small wage.

Most dr’s need to have some sort of other business or study to become a specialist to get ahead in life.

You certainly do medicine because it’s your passion and calling.

With this in mind, Rob had always wanted to have farms to be able to help him to support his family and future dreams. Rob’s father was a farmer.

So earlier this year with a loan from family members – we started leasing 3 small properties, in different locations in Uganda.

We have a cabbage farm, a maize and tomato farm and a Cassava farm.

Running these farms especially when we are not nearby has been difficult to say the least.

We have had to deal with drought, language difference and communication difference, lack of funds and many more challenges.

We have already had our first harvest of cabbage and maize and have already planted for the next season.

God has been good to us, we certainly haven’t done as well as we would like due to the drought, but we did not lose everything like many others.

Some days, especially when there are problems and Rob has to sort that out with all the normal busyness and stress of his normal work hours I wonder what is the point.

But then I remember that everything good has to start somewhere.

And although we are still working towards that, I am reminded of what our farms are doing already.

We employ 5 people on our cabbage farm that had no jobs before and without us would have no way to support their families back in their villages.

We employ Robs eldest brother and this is way of supporting his wife and children.

It helps us to be able to have the money to pay university fees for Robs brothers and school fees for his other.

These reasons alone are life changing – maybe not directly for us – but certainly for those we employ and support – and that is what we want our lives and our marriage to be about.

We have BIG dreams for our future.

One day our plan is to own a large amount of land where we have one big farm, where people are trained in farming and agriculture and can be equipped to start their own businesses.

We will then use profits of the food to support a school and health clinic.

And one day would love to have other programs running - sewing, mechanics, wood work, jewellery making, English and reading classes, theology classes etc.

All while over the top of that using our profits and resources to help support families that care for orphans.

So many people take in their nieces/nephews or neighbourhood children that are orphans, and would gladly raise them well and give them a family home, if they only had the help needed. Sadly so many don’t have the support so the children end up in orphanages.

Rob being an orphan himself and experiencing being raised in a children’s home is able to bring so much wisdom and dreams into how we hope to do this.

Rob dreams of being a cardiac surgeon – and to be able to offer surgeries that people would normally have to leave country for – and thus never actually get because they can’t afford it. And his work in turn would also help us to support our projects.

Our dream would be that the farm and everything attached would be self sustained, that we wouldn’t have to rely on donations all the time, that the main donations from people in the west wouldn’t be money but their time in volunteering etc. This is turn would allow those in the west to experience life and the people here and to be able to help make a difference.

And Of course we also want to have a house full of children, biological and adopted.

We have big dreams – but all dreams start somewhere –So I have to remember that for now we are in training, we are learning what it means to run and operate farms, employees and to care and support people.

We are thankful for this time of learning, and even amongst the frustration of farming at times, grateful that it gives us a means to employ others, support rob’s brothers and learn through the good and the bad what we need for our future endeavours.

We are especially grateful for those who are helping us in doing this.