Window on Gamboula Luke, Leanne, Benjamin, Bobby and Timoté Turk with Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship in Central African Republic Volume 5 Issue 4 Gamboula, Central African Republic lukeandleanne@gmail.com PEF P.O. Box 847, Bristol, TN 37621 February 24, 2018 Dear Family and Friends, Because it is where the photographer of the family works, the nursing school all too often monopolizes the pictures of our newsletters. So, in order to correct that, the photographer set aside a day to spend with Luke at the agricultural project farm (CEFA) where he is spending much of his time this term. CEFA was begun several years ago by fellow Gamboula missionary (and amazing visionary!), Roy Danforth, along with his wife Aleta (photo at left). It s goal is to help provide food security by introducing new food plants and farming techniques, while also sharing the gospel with the people and communities it serves. The farm is about 6km from the main mission station and below is a bit of a photo documentary of what is going on there.. Centre d Expérimentation et Formation Agricole (CEFA) Luke s work day starts at 6am with a 6km ride out to the farm on his 1971 Kawasaki bike (that has its origins in Alaska!) Each morning begins with a chapel service for all the workers. Staff members take turns leading, and it has been exciting to watch God at work through those times. What many people don t know about Luke is that he was a poultry science major in college. So he s been able to help with the poultry raising aspect of CEFA. They ve got chickens, guinea fowl, and even turkeys!
FRUIT!! Is the main focus of CEFA introducing new fruits and improving existing varieties to make them disease resistant, Papayas Bananas Jackfruit Passion Fruit...and pomellos, ice cream bean trees, avocados,, durians, mangos, pineapples, and so many more! Then there s the oil palm orchard....from which palm oil is made and sold to help support the farm. The palm nuts are harvested, heated and pressed to extract the oil...then the oil is boiled to extract the moisture and purify it.
The CEFA team has also learned to make chocolate and cocoa butter from the fruit of the cocoa tree that grows so well here. Just recently, the CEFA team worked out a way to use palm oil, mixed with kerosene, as a substitute for diesel fuel. It actually worked! It is dry season in this part of the world right now and it has been arguably one of the driest and dustiest dry seasons we have had in several years. For us humans, it means that your feet are brown and dusty most of the time, your eyes sting a bit when there s a breeze, and you re a lot thirstier. For the plants it just means that they are always thirsty. So one of the biggest challenges for CEFA is to keep its many hectares of gardens watered and alive until the rains return. Without the luxuries of built-in irrigation systems, that becomes labor intensive. 1 2 1. A plastic water tank is loaded into the truck 2. The truck is driven to the stream from which a pump fills the tank with water 3. The tank of water is driven up along the roads between the orchards where people are waiting to fill their watering cans from a spout off the tank 4. The trees then each get their ration of water for the day one bucket at a time! 3 And, until the rains do return, a lot of saplings are taken care of in the nursery where they can be better watered and sheltered from the sun. Once the rains have come, some will be planted at CEFA, and some will be purchased by villagers to plant in their own gardens and yards. 4
Luke s main job is to help keep the equipment working pumps, cars, generators. He has also been helping CEFA get its garage and carpentry shops organized and equipped to service efficiently. But CEFA s not the only place where equipment breaks down! One of the frustrations of this past year has been that the hospital x-ray machine broke down back in February. A hospital without an x-ray machine is a bit crippled. Luke, along with many others both here (including many afternoons on our front porch Photo at right) and in Yaoundé, tried and tried to fix it, but without success. Then, a few weeks ago, Daryl, an SIL missionary pilot in Yaoundé, called us out of the blue to say he had just met the medical equipment technician on the Africa Mercy (operated by Mercy Ships and currently docked off the coast of Douala, Cameroun) who had volunteered to take a look at our machine! So, Luke loaded it back into the car again, and drove to the ship. God doesn t miss any details not only was Larry a medical equipment technician, but he used to work for the company who made our machine AND he has worked on that basic machine! Luke got to spend the night on the ship, got a guided tour of the whole operation (basically a hospital and a village on a boat!), and left the machine for the team there to work on. This past week we got the wonderful news that the machine is repaired and ready for pick-up. God is sooo good! And He knits His people together, with all their God-given gifts, from around the globe (including the air and the seas!) to accomplish His purposes. The glory is all His.
HOPE. I (Leanne) was recently in Bangui for meetings with various government people regarding the nursing school. The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) now provides scheduled flights twice a week between Berberati (a 2-hour drive from us) and Bangui for all NGO workers. We qualify, so the trip is now a LOT shorter and more comfortable with a few less risks involved! But, I was reminded that this country is still at war when a military helicopter landed shortly before ours for a changing of the guard. Bangui is relatively calm at the moment, but a lot of rest of the country remains in turmoil. While there, I had fun visiting with three of our boys kids that grew up with our own boys and have become a lot like family to us. They are in the capital just trying to finish high school. One wants to become a doctor; the other two have their sights set on being civil engineers. They are all smart kids. My heart cried again as they shared with me their dreams and then their frustrations at not having any idea how to make those dreams come true. The educational system in this country is in shambles. The night before, I had watched the movie Finding Forrester (I highly recommend it!), and I feel like these boys are living the movie. I had no solutions. But I encouraged them to be faithful to the Lord in what He gives them to do today and tomorrow and next month..knowing that He will be there along the way, and when they are done, He will show them His next steps for them. That is true for all of us, no matter where we are. Jesus is faithful and true and in that there is always hope. Kids Corner Having water to drink, bathe in, wash with, cook with is pretty important, isn t it? But here, during dry season, finding water is a challenge for a lot of people. And, if you do have water, it is probably not safe to drink, so you have to boil it for 20 minutes, let it cool, and then filter it through a clean cloth. Well, our family is fortunate to have running water most of the time, but not all the time. And, when we don t have it, we have to resort to bucket baths at the end of the day. That means that you have one big bucket or basin of water sitting in the shower that has to be enough for everyone in the house to get clean with! It works best if you have a big cup for scooping and pouring the water. With a bit of practice, you can learn to get pretty clean with less than half a bucket! I challenge you to try it sometime (if your mother will let you!), and see how little water you can use and still get clean. Figure out what are the hardest parts of your body to soap and rinse..(my vote is your arms! ) We have two urgent prayer requests to share: 1) There is an urgent need for hostel parents for the 2018-2019 Here is our shower set-up with the necessary bucket and pourer! school year for the dormitory where our son, Timoté, lives while he goes to school in Yaoundé, Cameroun. Pray with us for God to provide for this important role. If you, or someone you know, might be interested in investing in the lives of 8-10 teenagers for a year or more, PLEASE contact us! We, and other missionaries in several countries, cannot carry on our ministry here without someone to fill this need. Rain Forest International School, where Timoté attends, also has several teaching positions needing to be filled for next year. Visit the RFIS website (www.rfis.org) for details on those needs. French is NOT a prerequisite for either of these positions. Cameroun is bilingual French and English! 2) We are planning a multi-denominational evangelism training seminar in cooperation with Campus Crusade for Christ Cameroun to be held March 5-9 here at Gamboula. Pray for the Lord to bring the right people to attend, pray for safe travel for those coming from various villages in this country as well as the CCC leaders coming from Cameroun. Pray for a fire to be ignited afresh for reaching people with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are thankful for each one of you your gifts, your encouragement, your prayers and your friendship in our lives. May you know the Lord s abundant grace, joy, and hope in your hearts and lives. In His grip, Luke and Leanne in Gamboula, Timoté in Yaoundé, and Benjamin and Bobby in Texas, USA