"The Great African Land Grab"

I caught "Dispatches" on CBC radio last night while I was picking up the babysitter. I found it fascinating listening to a report on "The Great African Land Grab" by Canadian Journalist Joan Baxter. Here is host Rick Macinnes-Rae's introduction:

In Sierra Leone, up on the bulge of northwest Africa, prosperity is measured in rice. They even have a saying: If you haven't eaten rice today, you haven't eaten. The slave-traders who went there centuries ago called it "The Rice Coast," and people from Sierra Leone, known as the Gulas, developed the rice plantations in the Carolinas in the colonies.

Back home, rice is grown mostly on small family farms. Before the civil war that decimated Sierra Leone from 1991 until 2002, it produced enough rice to feed itself and to export some. Now, foreign corporations are taking over vast tracts of farm land. Rice is being replaced by sugar cane. To be converted to ethanol for foreign industries and cars. Any chance these big land deals might hurt Sierra Leone's struggling ability to feed itself again? Well, not to worry.
It's all been arranged, apparently. Even if there are some big questions as to how, as we hear from Canadian journalist Joan Baxter.

For Joan Baxter's documentary, go to: www.cbc.ca/dispatches/ Scroll down to "Joan's Documentary" under "The Great African Land Grab."

Goat For Gold!

BC residents (and long-time supporters of the BC-Sierra Leone Partnership) are at it again. They have combined their passion for people in need, their love of sport and a great program by the CRWRC. The result? Goats galore. Take a look: www.goatforgold.com

Links.

We're working on a growing partnership between churches thousands of kilometers apart. It would be nice to visit daily, but that's not feasible. While we may see ourselves as part of a single chain, it is easy to take this for granted and not highlight these important links. In an online forum, what better way to remember and learn of our chained-togetherness than the following links:

• For more information on the religious climate in Sierra Leone, see the World Council of Churches website: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/sierra-leone.html
• For Henry Hess's article in the May 2007 issue of The Banner, "In Sierra Leone, A Church is Born," http://www.thebanner.org/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=1014
• For Chris Meehan's article in The Banner, "CRC Blossoms in Sierra Leone" http://www.thebanner.org/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=2116
• For a helpful summary on the country of Sierra Leone, check out BBC's profile: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1061561.stm
• Check out the links in the right hand margin of this weblog. One is to the CRC Primary School in Kabala's building program, in partnership with Fraser Valley and Surrey Christian schools in BC. Another gives an angle on the birth of the CRC in Sierra Leone. They're worth perusing. -JR