SEEK is on a former missionary base, so the compound is pretty nice. One of the main focuses at SEEK is teaching the local people how to utilize the land around them. In Mbita, there is plenty of arable land, but no knowledge base to make it productive. Or if people know some basics about growing, they believe they need fancy pots and metal tools and fencing.
One of the main goals at SEEK is to dispel this myth, so much of what we did in the way of planting, weeding and gardening in general was done using things that are a natural part of the environment here. We planted seedlings in tin cans or juice cartons. We used sticks to poke at and loosen weeds to pull them. There were watering cans fitted with homemade sprinklers. But I think we found the most fascination in building the fences to protect the newly planted seedlings from the local predators… the goats!! We would plant the tree, then try to stand a bunch of sticks in the ground in a circle around it, and then weave palm fronds through the sticks (apparently goats don’t like palm fronds).
One of the other ways they help out the community here is by sending their folks out into the schools to teach them these things. SEEK is a relatively new ministry, in fact, we were their first team!
