More McHenry County Blog

Most people can agree that it is better to teach poor people how to fish or to farm than to just give them food.

I’m not sure I have even gotten so up close and personal with someone whose mission in life is to do just that as I did Saturday. I was at United Methodist Men’s Spiritual Congress this past Saturday up on Lake Geneva’s Conference Point. Tshala Mwengo is an agricultural graduate of the Methodist-supported African University in Zimbabwe. He is teaching Lunda-Ndembu farmers how to produce more with oxen.

Because he was so impressed with this approach, Chief Kanyama donated 1,000 acres for the northwestern Zambian projects called Musokatanda and Mujila Falls.

That’s where Mwengo lives with his wife Bette and two-two year old child Lans. He manages the project.

Mwengo’s goal is to attack the root causes of poverty.

"The goals are families who can provide balanced nutrition for themselves and an income from small scale, family-based production in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo,"

says the handout I got.
Mwengo’s education parallels my father’s at the University of Maryland. He was an ag graduate and wanted to be (but never became) a county agent, but his first job was as a high school ag teacher. For those non-farm folk, a county agent in the 1930’s when Dad went to school was the source of advice for local farmers. I have previously published an artlcle with a picture him with a mule.

Sounds a lot like what Mwengo will be doing.

Oxen is the farming improvement of choice. With one a farmer can grow much more.

The land of the Mujila Falls project is 2,500 acres, both forested and developed fields. It is bounded on one side by a river and includes a 40-foot waterfall, which eventually will provide hydroelectric power to the site and surrounding villages.

This area of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north “has some of the highest infant mortality rates in this part of Africa,” the information sheet says.

Mwengo had a wonderfully pleasing description of oxen. I was taking pictures and didn’t write it down, but he pointed out that they do not depreciate, among other word plays on machinery.

He mentioned that chickens were being introduced and that, currently, eggs cost 30 cents apiece. Mujila Falls is now marketing milk and soon will be doing the same with eggs from an 800-hen layer facility.

The desire is to provide more protein for the families’ diets.

Mwengo has sixty days of orientation in New York before returning to Africa

He said that the project is 300 miles from the nearest city and that his biggest need is a 4X4. One can imagine that the roads would not be too good.

A May 8th email from Paul Webster, the Wisconsin missionary who helped Mwengo get his start says,

"Our Toyota Landcruiser has had several breakdowns in the past few months, but each time we have met the challenge…"

Writing about the crops, Webster said,

"Despite many trials and tribulations, we were able to plant…22 acres of corn using only oxen…Many of our workers abandoned us when the weeds got thick and the plowing got tough. Tshala and I often went out and plowed by ourselves and found ways to get the essential work done on time. In each instance, God gave us the strength to carry on…We had only one pair of oxen ready to work and they had been starved and were underweight Yet, through the strength of an ox we can report an abundant harvest."

They held a field day for local farmers (complete with PowerPoint!) and

"Even Chief Kanyama attended and later expressed his satisfaction with the event..

"Poor local farmers are have been bringing their oxen to the training center to be trained in pulling various implements…Now that they have seen our fields, they are convinced that oxen are most practical for their needs."

Webster concludes by writing,

"Running a 1000 hectare experimental farm and training center will require all the skills and skills that God has given both Tshala and me if we are to succeed…Please keep Tshala and me in your prayers. We have both had malaria and with the chicks and the rabbits, we seldom get a full night’s sleep."

Mwengo’s address is
Tshala Mwengo
United Methodist Church
P.O. Box 20219
Kitwe, Zambia

Contributions may be to the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. His missionary number is 15093Z. His email address is tmwengo@yahoo.com.
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Pictures:

The tall man seen speaking is Methodist missionary Tshala Mwengo.

Mwengo is seen with his wife Bette.

Below is Northern Illinois Conference United Methodist Men Vice President Steven Nailor of Rockford introducing Mwengo.

The map is of Zambia and surrounding countries. The project Mwengo manages is in the upper lefthand portion of the country.

One UMM member points at the screen to the man sitting beside him.

Brad Meador and Carl Moon of the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake listen to soon-to-be commissioned Methodist missionary Tshala Mwengo at Lake Geneva’s Conference Point Spiritual Congress.

The bottom head shot is of Tshala Mwengo.