Cooperation and Ingenuity Help Program and Participants Alike
Local partner ACET and program participants continue to achieve wonders in spite of challenges like drought and the ever-present dangers of political and religious conflict. The Gamboula program in CAR is one of only a handful of international organizations that offer any kind of support in a country of 4.75 million people. So staff and villagers rely on each other, their hard work and their ingenuity to come up with practical solutions that produce results.
More women’s Self-Help Groups are forming, pooling their savings, and purchasing plots of land to grow peanuts and vegetables for food and sale. One group is working on developing a poultry business and fish-pond program.
Farmer co-ops learn from each other in exchange visits and are starting nurseries to promote growing cocoa, fruit trees, and cassava (a starchy root). Palm-oil production by women in their homes, a practice started for safety during last year’s conflict, has proven to be a win-win for families and the program’s continuity. ACET sells palm heads to women, who extract the oil at home for use in cooking and sell their surplus for income. ACET has also started a business of selling its own high-quality palm seedlings to farmers and other interested customers.
Best of all, the program’s promotion of planting jackfruit trees over the years has paid off by providing food and nutrition during one of the worst dry seasons in the country’s history. The largest tree fruit in the world, jackfruit is loaded with carbs, protein and vitamins. Now the trees are growing everywhere they’ve been introduced by ACET and are providing food for hungry people during a climate crisis.
Thanks to Your Support and Generosity
- Communities in this under-served country have a way to create results through their ingenuity
- Years of program promotion of drought-tolerant crops mean hungry people have food available during climate crises
Central African Republic (CAR) Gamboula Program
Led by Evangelical Covenant Church-Covenant World Relief and Local Partner ACET
9/19