In regions of East Africa, as drought robs farmers of their crops and their ability to provide the basics for their families, it’s becoming more and more challenging to find a way forward. Although they knew it wasn’t a sustainable solution, for a while husband and wife Mayala Nyamonge and Chausiku Mayala used credit to buy food. “What can you do?” Mayala says. “You need to eat.”

Through World Renew, the family joined a local Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA). With the other members of the VSLA they set aside savings every week. No one had very much to add to the savings, but little by little the pool grew and soon members were able to take out low-interest loans. Mayala and Chausiku used some of their loan to purchase shoes and pay school fees for their children. Chausiku also used some of the money to start a sardine business. She purchases the fish, fries them, and then sells them locally. This little business is helping ensure Mayala and Chausiku do not have to borrow money to feed their family anymore.

With World Renew’s support, the couple also started growing vegetables on a plot of land on their property. In drought conditions, a small kitchen garden is easier to keep thriving than a large field. Appreciating that the more food his garden produces, the less he has to purchase at the market, Nyamonge decided he had to find a way to keep pests away. So he invented a way to keep the plant beds suspended above the ground, untouchable. Now his family enjoys more nutritious, vegetable-rich meals.

Four years ago, increasingly dry weather made it difficult for them to produce one bag of maize, and that bag often fell prey to pests.

Thanks to trainings conducted by World Renew Tanzania in collaboration with teams from the Tanzanian government and the African Inland Church of Tanzania, Silas and Zena have learned conservation agriculture techniques like minimum tillage and using ground cover to protect the moisture of the soil. They are growing a greater variety of crops to help preserve the soil’s nutrients. Now they store their maize in hermetic bags to keep the grain pest-free.

Their land is producing more, yet they are finding they also have more time for each other as the conservation agriculture techniques are less labour intensive than traditional farming methods. Silas says, “Now I have time to devote to being a church elder and leader, for taking more gender training, and more farm training.” And Zena speaks excitedly about making bricks for their new home. Silas and Zena are imagining more for their family and for their community.

Now farmers from neighbouring communities are coming to Silas and Zena, asking for advice. The Samsons thank God for all that they are learning, the knowledge they have gained, and their ability to encourage others to have faith in God’s love and abundance.

Hunger is on the rise. More than one billion people go to bed hungry every night. But together we can change the story of hunger for vulnerable families in Tanzania and around the world. We can imagine more because with God, all things are possible!