“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither though goest “(Ecclesiastes 9:10).
My parents were self-supporting missionaries in Africa since I was age 14. In early 1992 when I was 18, I was invited to accompany another missionary traveling from Zambia to Tanzania to spend a few weeks working on a mission farm there known as Kibidula Farm. I jumped at the opportunity for some travel and to see some place new. After six busy weeks I headed home, only to be invited back to work full time in Tanzania just a few months later.
I spent the next 20 years as pilot, maintenance man, building director, mechanic and doing just about anything else that needed to be done at Kibidula until in 2011 I was made mission director.
Kibidula is a large farm of 4,776 acres located in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The property belongs to the trustees of the Seventh-Day Adventist church since it was donated by a colonial farmer as he exited the country in 1961.
Since that time, the church had tried a few attempts at farming but the climate and soil were such that farming proved to be generally unsuccessful. The church leadership at the time had noted the success of Riverside Farm in Zambia at using agriculture to support mission activities and put a call to Riverside in 1978 and again in 1989 to start something similar on Kibidula Farm in Tanzania.
In 1990 a team was put together and a small beginning was made. The same experience of unprofitable farming was realized by the new team and over time, the work shifted to donor supported outreach. A primary school, an agriculture school, a school of evangelism, clinic, medical aviation, church planting and church building were some of the endeavors through the years.
After becoming director, I set my heart to the original idea of self-supported mission work. How could this be possible? It had been noted that avocados seemed to do well in our high-elevation climate. I decided to try increasing our small orchard to 10,000 trees. While some people questioned what we would do with the produce of 10,000 avocado trees, it was clear the Lord was leading. Doors began to open. ASI donated a tractor. Someone else shipped it here at no cost to Kibidula. Another person donated some money for irrigation.
One day I was sitting in my office and I heard a knock at the front door. I turned to look and through the glass I was surprised to see a white man who I did not know. I answered the door and the man introduced himself. He was scouting around Tanzania for avocados. He just happened to be the president of the world avocado association and the largest avocado distributor in Europe. And here we are well in the bush with no electricity and here he is at my front door. God knew that we would need a market and expertise to help us achieve the quality needed for avocado export. This man’s company now sends an expert at least once per year to inspect our orchards and advise us on avocado growing at no cost to us.
One day, after the 80-acre orchard began to take shape, some wealthy visitors spent the weekend at Kibidula. The evening before they were to depart, one of them asked me what needs Kibidula might have. What should I ask for? I thought briefly and then blurted, “I need one hundred thousand dollars to do this orchard properly.” The man looked incredulously and said, “well, you aren’t going to get that.” But a seed had been planted. A few weeks later he called me on the phone and asked what it would cost to put in the dam we needed for irrigation. I had no idea. I promised him I would look into it and get back to him. I had no idea where to start but I began talking around the local farming community and someone said there was a dam engineer visiting another farm, would I like him to visit us. Wow, providential. After establishing a cost and agreeing with the donor to move forward, another providence occurred. Two brothers wanted to know if we had any project they could help out with. Turns out they were experienced with both work and heavy equipment.
After building a dam, the Lord provided for a pump system that would match the amount of water available in the dam. With that much pumping capacity, we then needed to increase our orchard to utilize the available water. 500 acres later with 62,000 trees planted, our thoughts turned toward the harvest. How on earth would we be able to handle the packing and exportation of 4000 tons of avocados annually with no facility available in our region? Our donor friend who had originally said we wouldn’t get $100,000 generously offered the roofing materials and the foundation/floor for a pack-house. We began drawing up plans for a 16,000 square foot facility. God opened the doors for building the walls and provided through different avenues a brand-new pack-line that can process 25 tons of avocados per day and a cold room complex for cooling and storing the packed avocados.
By the grace of God, we managed to pack-out and export a small first harvest last October. This year we see a bigger harvest coming. The pack-house is just about ready to take on commercial packing for other exporters which will keep us busy and bring some income while we await our next harvest. There are many more miracles, providences and multitudes of struggles & obstacles which keep us on our knees.
Kibidula continues to operate an English medium primary school that serves about 130 children from our local community. Our School of Agriculture offers hope and a future to about 120 young people from all over Tanzania who have either failed primary school or dropped out of high-school. Our School of evangelism continues to provide two 5-month courses per year in health and evangelism. Our humble wellness center brings healing through natural remedies and life-style changes to the sick. Our printing press keeps busy full-time printing Swahili bible studies and Swahili Glow Tracts.
Our publishing department translates and edits books for publication in Swahili to keep colporteurs supplied with books to spread like the leaves of autumn. Bible workers and church planters continue the work of spreading the gospel in places hard to reach. It is my goal to be able to increase the outreach work through the means generated on this avocado farm. God has opened the doors thus far, I trust He will see the vision to fruition.
In the big picture, I am nobody. I came into this world with no resources. I have no education to brag about. But I put my hand to the plow and have worked with all my might and God has chosen to honor this earthen vessel and has blessed Kibidula with development and opportunities far beyond our dreams.
My hope is that God can use this brief article to inspire you to put all you have into His work and He will surely abundantly bless you too. Here is a 4-minute video which gives a brief picture of where we are now.
Jason Fournier and his family serve as missionaries at Kibidula Farm, a supporting ministry of the Seventh-Day Adventist church in Tanzania. Jason has been working in supporting ministries in Africa since 1987.