NORTH PERTH – It has been said by many philosophers over the years that it takes a village to raise a child.
This is a story, about a very giving group of people from the Municipality of North Perth, who are doing just that in their own caring way for a community in Africa.
They include two farm families and a farm machinery dealership, who got together to help those hungry and needy children and their families in a far-off part of the world in Eswatini, East Africa.
Del and Bonnie Cressman of Hasta Farms Ltd., R.J. and Tonya Haverkamp of Haverkamp Farms, along with Premier Equipment in Listowel, heard of a need for simple but dependable transportation in this African region.
They got together and donated two John Deere Gators, along with money and other local donations that included children’s clothing, used furniture and even a donated piano, and loaded the cargo in a container in Listowel, bound for Africa earlier this month.
The farm in Africa needed a smaller form of transportation for some of the parents and children that have difficulties getting around the rugged 2,500-acre property.
To give a little context, the Heart for Africa to support Canaan Project was founded by Canadians Ian and Janine Maxwell, a couple who had reached out to Egg Farmers of Canada some nine years ago. Egg Farmers of Canada took up the challenge and partnered with Heart for Africa to support Project Canaan, a large-scale land development project in Eswatini, which brings expertise and resources together to find holistic solutions to complex issues.
Canadian egg farmers could see a need to feed orphan children and others from the surrounding community, creating local jobs and teaching local egg farming staff new skills, including how to manage laying hens and produce eggs sustainably.
Believing that the humble egg can, and will, play a major role in the world’s approach to hunger and malnutrition, Canadian egg farmers kicked off its partnership with the Heart for Africa – Project
Canaan in 2014, working with the local Eswatini community to establish an entire egg operation from the ground up.
The first barn was built in 2015 and the first flock of laying hens arrived in January 2016.
Today, Egg Farmers of Canada continues to support Project Canaan by providing on-the-ground expertise, sending Canadian egg farmer volunteers to work with the community to help sustain the African egg farming operation for years to come.
To date, over 11 million locally-produced eggs for this African community have been produced and distributed by local residents.
More than 360 children age 13 and under call Project Canaan home. The farm employs over 440 local Swazi residents, and more than 4,500 meals per month are supplemented with the eggs that are produced. They are distributed through a network of 30 churches and feeding stations.
This very caring small group of Listowel farmers and residents with big hearts know they will never be able to do it all, but they are sure going to try, one egg – and Gator – at a time.
