Senegal: Missionaries build Rough Brothers greenhouse in the desert

What do you get when you mix a hot, arid land bordering the Sahara, a population dependent on agriculture, 14 percent of children under age 5 malnourished, a lack of clean water, and the passion of a church to bring about change? The answer: the Joseph Project located in Fandane, 5 kilometers south of Mbour, Senegal, in West Africa.

Through the Joseph Project, Nazarene leaders in Senegal are partnering with the Trevecca Nazarene University Urban Farm (Nashville, USA) to build a model farm in the desert of Senegal, where they can test greenhouse technology alongside improved agricultural methods. By developing and demonstrating sustainable and more fruitful farming practices, the Joseph Project will bring the means for more abundant physical life – and also spiritual life – to the resourceful people of West Africa.

In 2014 a Work & Witness team from Westchester, Ohio, came to Dakar, Senegal, to help with drilling wells, medical clinic efforts, construction, and more. During their travels around the country, they observed that greenhouses in some areas were successful in producing crops – even in the very dry season. Upon returning to Ohio, they gathered the resources for establishing a greenhouse for an area where the Nazarene church was located.

Read more at Engage Magazine