A Home for the Babb Family in Eswatini
A Home for the Babbs
Our family lives and works at Umdoni farm in Eswatini, Africa, where we help Swazi students learn "whole life sustainability." Would you help us finish building a home so we can continue this new ministry?
We currently rent housing on the farm which is actually meant for short-term visiting mission teams. We look forward to welcoming teams again in the future, which means we need a place to live!
We started building late last year, using our own savings. However, this is NOT a house we will technically own, nor can we sell- it's actually a gift for the ministry! Because of this, we need help with a portion of the cost.
Building in Eswatini has been surprisingly expensive, especially since current events have raised the cost of building materials such as concrete as much as 20-30%. Other materials such as steel roofing or timber trusses have simply been unavailable for weeks at a time.
The House
We can't teach our students sustainability and not try to abide by it- we designed our roofline to efficiently harvest rainwater for garden use. Electricity will be mostly powered by our solar panels. The solar power system was a large investment, but we know it will be worth it since power tends to go out on the farm once or twice weekly, sometimes for the whole day. Electricity has steadily increased in price since moving to Eswatini and now rivals New York City power costs!
We took care to design the house orientation and place windows in such a way as to be cool in summer and gather the limited sunlight in winter. This means we don't need electric heating and air conditioning for the home to be comfortable year-round. Most of our construction waste has gone to the program here; our staff and students have found creative ways to repurpose material for low-cost farm projects.
Background
Our family has been with Adventures in Missions (AIM) in Eswatini since October 2015. We have helped this organization in various roles since then, such as admin, HR and IT support for the 39 AIM CarePoints which help feed thousands of Swazi children every week.
We have dedicated the last 2.5 years to taking care of AIM's new Umdoni farm and helping start a four year leadership program in addition to some of our previous responsibilities. This new program is for promising youth who are "too old" to attend CarePoints and offers them a chance to learn sustainability physically, spiritually and economically. Our program teaches holistic leadership, agriculture, life skills, entrepreneurship and trade skills. We ground our curriculum in the biblical concepts of responsible stewardship of resources.
This is a critical time for Eswatini to move forward. We believe in the power of healthy leadership and can't wait to see what our students go on to accomplish in their communities. Please help us finish this house so we can continue to invest here! We are so grateful for your partnership in this home- your support is such an encouragement.
Our personal blog: https://thatbabbfamily.com/
Umdoni Farm vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t615BWqQEao&list=PL6EDBPsWbscYgv_1lG31vRnOUOtiFkTaC
While our more immediate need is help toward the house, we understand tax-deductible donations are sometimes preferred- for this, you can donate towards our monthly needs at AIM's giving website: https://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=staff&desc=Brandon%20and%20Melinda%20Babb&reoccur=1
Many thanks from Brandon, Melinda, Zach and Isa!
