An own piece of land, with plans for a house
Last month my parents helped me buy a piece of farm land, 12km outside Kabwe. In the near future I hope to build a house here so that I can live there as well. As a result, I hope to build something of value for myself and do some other things to provide myself with some income. This marks a new chapter in my life as a missionary.
Over the last 5 years I have mostly lived on gifts. When I left in 2015, we made sure that we had at least raised enough funds for 2 years. After that, people have continued to support me, but every now and then someone drops out. This is fine and I have taken that into account and we have also done some things to fill in the gaps, but it is not always easy. Within OM, you sometimes hear that we live by faith and that we trust that God will provide for everything. I have friends and colleagues in which I can see that too. But for me it’s been quite a struggle over the last year and I can’t say I’ve always had enough. On the other hand, I’m still here and I’ve been able to continue my work and sometimes receive a gift at unexpected times.
But somehow I knew that this can’t always go on and that in the long run something had to change. So I realized I’d come at some kind of T junction. Either I had to do something myself to generate some income or I had to do a lot more on fundraising. Or was the question of whether God would open another door so I could get more support? Someone motivated me to plant soya. Over the last few years I have thought a few times about planting something during the rainy season, but this never happened. Now I thought, let me not think too much and just buy the seeds, then we’ll see where we come from. Jacob had land that he doesn’t use, so I thought, I can plant it there. Around the same time, I woke up in the middle of the night and was thinking about my future. I had a long whatsapp conversation with Jacob, who was in Germany, about promoting yourself more and raising funds or investing in something to provide some income himself. I said I’d rather invest in something, think it suits me better. 2 days later I had a Skype conversation with my parents in which they offered to buy me a piece of land.
I went to Jacob’s land to make sure it was prepared for seeding, the neighbors there came to me if I want to buy a piece of land. I went to take a look and 2.5 hectares were measured, part of which was on a stream. I was hoping for a bigger piece, but they didn’t want to sell more. A few days later I came back there to see if there had been any ploughing, with in my head also that we could now secure the agreement. This day has become the most productive day I have ever had in Zambia! The ploughing had already started and I walked myself to the piece of land that I wanted to buy to get a better picture. Then we went to the house of the family who wanted to sell it. The yes was given and the ground was cordoned off. They didn’t want to sell anymore, but they wanted to rent more. My parents were willing to transfer a little extra so I could plant more soya. When we were coming to an agreement for renting, the guy who was helping me got a call from someone with a tractor. He was in the area and asked if more land needed to be plowed (the other piece was ploughed with cows). This was better, faster and even cheaper, so when we came to an agreement on the lease of the land we went to the man with the tractor. He wanted to come later that afternoon, but he ran out of diesel. So I offered to get him diesel in town. The man who helped me asked why I didn’t pay for the land right away and rounded it up right away. I thought, yes why not, the money was already in my account, so I went to the ATM right away. Back at the land we gave the diesel and went back to the house of the family. There was the local secretary already and an agreement was put in place, the payment was made and then we went back to the land so the secretary could see the demarcations as well. When we got there we saw that the tractor had already started plowing on the rented piece. I have never got done so much here in one day: bought a piece of land, rented another piece and started plowing.
For me, sometimes it’s quite a struggle, what’s the right thing to do. We say here, we live by faith, but I also can’t always say I have enough. And is investing in something a kind of unbelieve? The day before the sale I talked to a good friend about it, he prayed to me that if this is God’s will He will bless it and if it is not God’s will would take away. It resulted in the most productive day I’ve had, so I also believe that for me this is within God’s will.
Also with planting the soy I have already learned a lot and in many things I also think: This has to be different/better. It’s also a learning process for me.
Next year after the rainy season, when I am back in Zambia, I hope to start building a house. A good soya harvest can help. When I live there I can develop the place further. I’ve already planted 50 orange trees, but there is much more space for more. So in the future I hope to plant more trees. I also build something of value for myself in this way. Now I rent a house, but when I have my own house then everything I put in there it becomes more and more valuable. I’m looking forward to it, I’ve got some plans in my head. The piece of land is on a small stream and I have a nice place in mind for the house overlooking the stream. And when I live there, It’s easier for me to starts some other things there as well.
The way of building is very different here than in the Netherlands. Mortgages and loans are much less here, people build until their money is gone and move on when they have money again. Also, building itself here is a lot cheaper, insulation is not really necessary and bricks are baked locally. So I hope to start building next year and hope to build a good and solid house. If at least the walls are there, the roof is on it and windows and doors are all there, then I can get in. Then I can finish it in my own free time. I’m quite used to living a little primitive here in Zambia. I already cook on gas here with a gas bottle and already have solar-powered lighting, these things can get me going there too.
I am not planning on leaving my other work behind at this time. But I hope I can make it a little easier for myself in the long run. Like I said, it feels like a new chapter to me and I’m looking forward to it. It may not always be easy, but I think something really nice can come out of it. At the moment I can still use any kind of support. We also started a fundraising campaign at OM to raise funds for the construction of the house. A good harvest can get me going, but more is needed. I also hope to expand the number of fruit trees and sow soya (or something else) next year. If you want to contribute to the house, you can do so via the following link: