Living Hope
South Africa: Empower aspiring farming entrepreneurs through training
Living Hope, a certified non-profit, has been serving the people of Cape Town, South Africa for over 14 years through community development on various levels. About five years ago, we began to look at how we can address the issue of poverty. As Africa is well suited for agriculture, farming presents an opportunity for business development that many pass over. Our goal is to train and equip the people of Africa with the skills they need to become successful farming entrepreneurs. To do this we created the Agriculture & Business Training which had its first intake of students in 2011.
The Agriculture & Business training is a long term, three phase program encompassing five “streams” of training. The goals are on multiple levels: individually we encourage people to meet and follow Jesus, to farm productively according to sound business practices, and at a community level, we aim to see increased food security and economic development.
Starting in September 2014, fourteen carefully selected students will journey with us through the first two phases of training for 9 months of learning and practically applying principles in Agriculture, Business, Community Development, Base Skills (including Math, Computers, Personal Finance), and Christian discipleship. Of these fourteen students, 3 will be selected to complete the final 1 year phase. Graduates will begin their own tunnel (greenhouse) farming business with ongoing mentorship.
The organisation currently has 13 sustainable tunnels growing tomatoes hydroponically which provides a platform in which to train students. The students training involves both classroom theory and practical, hands on learning.
The students come from impoverished backgrounds and often times live day to day through odd jobs and occasional provision from family members. Many lack the basic finances to provide for housing, transportation and food required to commit to a training program. Without these basic necessities, attending a full time training program becomes impossible and the cycle of unemployment and poverty continues.
To break these cycles and see Africans empowered to attend training and equipped to become agribusiness owners, we provide each student a monthly stipend of $180 for the 9 months they attend the training. Through good financial management, which students learn in class, this stipend covers their monthly living costs.
In addition to the stipend there are many training costs incurred. Funds are also being sourced through local businesses, individual local and foreign donors. Any money raised above our goal will go towards offsetting these costs and further growing the program.
“We got the opportunity at Living Hope to not only feed our inner man but to also make provision for our families while being developed and discipled.” - Hulisani
Living Hope currently has 7 students (see photo above) who are completing the second phase of training and will graduate in July. Mark Jackson, a natural entrepreneur, is one of these students. A former drug addict and alcoholic, he has a passion for agriculture, business, community development, and sharing the love and hope of Christ with others. Upon completing the training he looks forward to implementing all that he has learned.
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