Eastern Congo Community Development
Donation protected
Our Story
We are David and Ashley Petersen, Americans who live in a very small village on the eastern edge of the Ituri rain forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I, David, am a missionary pilot and mechanic with Mission Aviation Fellowship and spend my days flying our three small aircraft over the vast forest transporting doctors, humanitarian workers, bible translators, national pastors and missionaries, medical evacuations, etc. I love my work as a part in bringing hope to isolated people using aviation to overcome geopgraphic boundaries.
Ashley on the other hand does the true work as she runs our homestead here in Africa while raising our son. Ashley is skilled in animal husbandry and agricultural development and learns more every day. The past three years we have been here she has built our home from a blank slate of grass to a productive homestead. We have learned so much as we began seeing the hardships of agriculture and raising animals in this tropical climate ridden with obstacles. So much stops progress here including diseases, genetic line problems, driver ants, flooding, pests, and more.
Despite many failures we have managed to test hundreds of different plants from around the world finding ones that do well in this climate and have suceeded in bringing multiple egg and meet poultry lines to fruition.
We are ready finally to look at how Ashley can share her skills and knowledge with the community and help other agricultural and animal husbandry entrepreneurs to begin growing new foods and raising new breeds that could bring families out of the cycle of poverty and often malnutrition so common here. With subsistence farming the norm and the standard wage at $3 per day there is so much to be gained from creative farming.
The biggest obstacle to moving forward with development in the community is now space. We have a very small yard and it is already packed in. By the grace of God we have received permission to purchase the land behind our house. It is another three times what we are using and will make possible all types of otherwise impossible development projects such as permanent vegetable beds and true milking goats.
This 165ft by 230ft plot of land is what we have been dreaming about and hoping for these three years. Right behind our fence, it includes more than ten trees, an old foundation for a barn, and enough grazing and field area to grow hundreds of different test crops and production patches to begin sharing starts with the community. We already have seed donations from a prominent seed company and connections with a milking goat mission in Uganda. We are ready to expand and use our gifts to be a blessing to others.
To attain the land, make fence posts, import fencing from Uganda, source bamboo, and put it all up we need $9,000. Things here are never cheap and easy as you have to fly materials in and do it all with your own hands but we know there are many of you out there who would love to be a part of making a difference in this community in a tangible way. Are you interested in helping us make this a reality? Does community development in remote areas interest you? We see God doing awesome things using Ashley’s gifts to invest in the future of this area. Will you be a part of it?
We are David and Ashley Petersen, Americans who live in a very small village on the eastern edge of the Ituri rain forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I, David, am a missionary pilot and mechanic with Mission Aviation Fellowship and spend my days flying our three small aircraft over the vast forest transporting doctors, humanitarian workers, bible translators, national pastors and missionaries, medical evacuations, etc. I love my work as a part in bringing hope to isolated people using aviation to overcome geopgraphic boundaries.
Ashley on the other hand does the true work as she runs our homestead here in Africa while raising our son. Ashley is skilled in animal husbandry and agricultural development and learns more every day. The past three years we have been here she has built our home from a blank slate of grass to a productive homestead. We have learned so much as we began seeing the hardships of agriculture and raising animals in this tropical climate ridden with obstacles. So much stops progress here including diseases, genetic line problems, driver ants, flooding, pests, and more.
Despite many failures we have managed to test hundreds of different plants from around the world finding ones that do well in this climate and have suceeded in bringing multiple egg and meet poultry lines to fruition.
We are ready finally to look at how Ashley can share her skills and knowledge with the community and help other agricultural and animal husbandry entrepreneurs to begin growing new foods and raising new breeds that could bring families out of the cycle of poverty and often malnutrition so common here. With subsistence farming the norm and the standard wage at $3 per day there is so much to be gained from creative farming.
The biggest obstacle to moving forward with development in the community is now space. We have a very small yard and it is already packed in. By the grace of God we have received permission to purchase the land behind our house. It is another three times what we are using and will make possible all types of otherwise impossible development projects such as permanent vegetable beds and true milking goats.
This 165ft by 230ft plot of land is what we have been dreaming about and hoping for these three years. Right behind our fence, it includes more than ten trees, an old foundation for a barn, and enough grazing and field area to grow hundreds of different test crops and production patches to begin sharing starts with the community. We already have seed donations from a prominent seed company and connections with a milking goat mission in Uganda. We are ready to expand and use our gifts to be a blessing to others.
To attain the land, make fence posts, import fencing from Uganda, source bamboo, and put it all up we need $9,000. Things here are never cheap and easy as you have to fly materials in and do it all with your own hands but we know there are many of you out there who would love to be a part of making a difference in this community in a tangible way. Are you interested in helping us make this a reality? Does community development in remote areas interest you? We see God doing awesome things using Ashley’s gifts to invest in the future of this area. Will you be a part of it?
Organizer
Dave Petersen
Organizer
Nampa, ID
