For many across our Diocese, our link with Tanzania is something we value and support—but stories like this remind us just how powerful and life-changing these partnerships can be.
Later this year, Mike Morley, a farmer from Bradfield St Clare, will embark on an extraordinary next chapter. At 72, as he retires from farming in Suffolk, he is choosing not to slow down! Mike will travel to our link dioceses in Tanzania, where he plans to spend up to two years sharing his knowledge and experience to help improve farming and livelihoods.
Mike said. “The people there have so little, life is hard, it is subsistence farming – one family - one plot of land. Yet they have so much joy with so little — compared to people here who have so much, but it is still not enough. Making small changes can reap the biggest rewards, and I know I can help them.”
Mike worked in Africa back in the 1980’s and when he met the Revd Richard Stainer, ex Diocesan World Mission Officer, three years ago, he made his first venture to Kagera. He connected with Thomas Shavu at Church and Community Mobilisation Process. (CCMP) a department within the Diocese of Kagera. Together, they shared a simple but powerful vision: to improve local farming in practical, sustainable ways.
Initially this was focused on pigs because Thomas had six sows and one boar but knew little about pig farming while Mike had pig nutrition and husbandry expertise. With some help from UK partners, together they developed a new pig feed based on local crops, built a new pig weighing machine and along with three vets in the region they could regularly monitored the pigs health. This resulted in healthier pigs, larger litters and increased food production. More pigs meant more manure providing compost for arable crops and doubled the maize production.
This is a powerful cycle, better farming, healthier animals, improved harvests and therefore more food for families. Mike’s work is not about imposing solutions, but about sharing knowledge and learning together.
He is planning to go back to Kagera to revisit his pigs but also look at the husbandry for local cattle. He is also planning to try out new crops to be grown in the area. Typical crops include maize, kidney beans and soya but by growing different grasses such as wheat, oats and barley they can feed the cattle better and of course make bread for human consumption. Mike has even worked with local teams to find a mill to grind the grain!
Mike has this knowledge from years of regenerative farming in the UK. He has a few rules in Africa – no chemicals, and he also wants to encourage people to improve their lives through demonstration and education enabling them to succeed in their own right. So mutual learning is key.
Mike hopes to work with the local government and the Bishops of Biharamulo, Kagera, and Lweru to share the knowledge more widely. The diocese is fully engaged in improving the land in their parishes. Preaching about the land and the need to feed the land is a key message in their churches – the link between land, animals and food is clear.
You are invited to hold Mike in your prayers as he travels to Africa this October. He has promised to update us in the Autumn and we look forward to more stories of faith in action, which show that small acts can have a big impact and transform local communities.
If you wish to know more about our diocesan link in Tanzania please visit:
Kagera link dioceses - Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich