Seed Programs Inc. - Success stories

Argentina

Belarus

Ecuador

Mongolia

Zimbabwe

Josh McDowell Ministry (JMM) is a Division of Campus Crusade for Christ International. The Ministry works in former Soviet Union countries helping people through the distribution of food, seed, medical supplies, children's teddy bears, clothing, blankets and books. The transition in this geographic region has created sever economic problems leaving many people in poverty and hunger.

In a four year period, Seed Programs Inc. (SPI), has shipped JMM over 2,000,000 packets of vegetable seed printed in Russian and English languages for distribution in Belarus. Enough for 50,000 families to each get 10 packets of seed each year.

Seed distribution is made to families, schools, orphanages and hospitals by volunteers from the United States, by churches and by From the Heart Ministry.

Many reports have been received on what this program has accomplished. Following are excerpts from a few of them:

LETTER RECEIVED BY JOHN BATCHA
Greetings John:
Here is a seed story that I want to share. The From the Heart organization has given us some seeds for the local people. They planted cabbage, carrots and beets.
They harvested this month a great amount of these veggies and they gave us back enough to be able to use to help 500 elderly ladies whose pension is below $40 US.
So the seeds keep working and our motto is 'keep sowing the seeds!'
Be well,
Sergei [M. Vashkevich]
Josh McDowell in Belarus

You will probably never know this side of heaven all the stories of how this food was the difference between people being able to survive literally and starving...

Below are the pictures of the seeds and vegetables grown in Belarus - the people are really happy to have received them and are glad, because they'll be able to use them during the winter.

... when we go to orphanages, about 6 out of 10 have gardens or some piece of land that they use to grow something to help feed children. In all orphanages (with the exception of ones that have retarded or disabled children) kids take care of their land and vegetables they grow themselves to water it, till the ground, take weeds out and then harvest it. It's a great blessing for both teachers to see that kids are provided for the upcoming winter and for the kids themselves to participate in it!

...this program is a great blessing to the people … besides getting seeds, they will also sow them and then reap a harvest - that saves us of sending and shipping a lot of containers with food...

…Their income is not big - her mother makes about 43 usd working in a heating factory that uses coal that she has to carry. It's been G-d's grace that she is alive and now they are very much thankful for this seed program - it literally keeps them alive and fed.

...one of the best ways to assist a needy person is not to give him a fish, but to teach him how to fish. That makes someone independent. So, your help and assistance with the seed program is very valuable.

BELARUS ORPHANAGE SEED PROGRAM

Seed Programs Inc. provides packets of vegetable seed to Josh McDowell Ministry for distribution in Belarus. Following is an e-mail report received from Belarus in response to our questions about how one orphanage used the seed.

Question	What was the name of the orphanage, location?
Answer	Holholitsa Social Shelter Hope, Minsk Region Borisov District, Village Holholitsa.
Question	Approximate number of children?
Answer	Currently 40, but changes either more or less all the time.
Question	How were the gardens grown?
Answer	They got the seeds from us and kids planted the seeds, watered the garden, pulled weeds, made trenches, carried water when it was dry to water it, and in other words they are the ones responsible for such a great number of veggies that they harvested as you have seen on the pics that Rodney brought back and that I e-mailed you later.
Question	How productive were the gardens?
Answer	It brought a big increase - the seeds were of good quality and germinated well.
Question	How were the vegetables processed?
Answer	They fed kids during the whole season of summer with fresh salads and cut up veggies, made 100 huge jars of pickles and 30 big buckets of pickles (one such a bucket holds from 50-100 liters - up to 250 lbs). They also salted cucumbers for winter. They were making borsch (Russian soup) for kids with beets and lots of its leaves for salads. They were really glad and happy they got the seeds. It helped them cut their expenses and feed kids good food, fresh. They also got a great harvest of carrots, radish, onions.
Question	What did people at the orphanage think of the program?
Answer	They thought it was wonderful and made many god comments. They even were able to feed their domestic animals - 2 cows, 2 heifers, 60 rabbits, [and one] horse. They asked for us to continue doing the seed program.