Cambine Agriculture Project
Dieudonne Karihano, missioner of hope, leads the effort to feed the many persons who reside at Cambine Mission Station. A lot is yet to be done to win the war on hunger in a country whose past history has been marked by civil war, floods, drought, and other natural disasters. Please pray for Dieudonne in his ministry to provide food for this mission station.
Cambine Mission is located in the South of the Country, about 500 kms north from the capital city of Maputo. In addition to various programs that the first missionaries implemented, agriculture was one that attracted youth. Parents were sending from all four corners of the country their children to come and learn agriculture in Cambine. The first president of the ruling party, Eduardo Mondlane, was also sent to Cambine to learn agriculture. This made Cambine popular as a Christian mission but also as an agricultural station.
However, the agricultural program suffered a severe decline when a war stated and people fled for their lives to the neighboring countries. As the war ended and the peace returned, there was need to feed returning people. The church with other local organizations had to find ways of meeting the needs of these former refugees. In this effort, the UMC in Mozambique through the leadership of Bishop Somane Machado appealed to foreigners.
The program was reinitiated in late 1990s with the agricultural missioner of hope for the children of Africa. With no definite budget, the program has been depending on foreigner donations in terms of monetary, seeds, farm power (oxen), and even some volunteers coming to assist in carrying agricultural activities.
Cambine Mission is located in a rural setting where agriculture is the main activity. There area no industries to employ the local populations. The majority of the population survives on one poor meal per day. The main staple food is cassava, a root crop rich in carbohydrate and poor in other elements. Apart from serving the local population, the agricultural program serves:
- 450 students staying in the boarding hostels. The students attending the secondary school from other districts live in adjacent hostels. A new women hostel has recently been opened hosting about 150 women students.
- 40 orphans who recently moved from Teles to Cambine. Initially, the center was for children of war, but recently as the endemic HIV/AIDS strikes the country, the center has started receiving orphans who parents died of HIV/AIDS.
- 44 students attending Cambine Seminary School,
- 49 students in the Vocational School studying agriculture, whose afternoon practical take place in the agriculture fields.
For more details, view the 2005 report.
Cambine Agricultural Newsletter
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