Strengthened by God’s words in Developing the Lands

Posted on by 施達基金會

Garo is an ethnic group in Bangladesh that lives in poverty with scarce resources. The lack of technology also restricted their resources management, and their living condition is hardly improved as a result.

Dhairpara is one of the places that Garo people reside. Most of them are very poor, and about 30% of the residents have no choice but migrate to the capital for a living. The local Saluatola Baptist Church has some land and an abandoned pond. Yet, they could barely cultivate anything without agricultural guidance.

The Saluatola Baptist Church joined the Umoja Project by Tearfund Bangladesh, a partner of CEDAR. The project equips the churches and their members with a steady Bible reading routine, and mobilizes the participants to raise awareness and respond to the actual needs of their community. The church saw the needs in the Garo community, and they started to develop their land to help them, while also preserving the nature in the process.

They leveled the pond, and planted fruit trees on top, hoping to nurture the land while having some harvest. They were encouraged to further develop the land in their daily passage reading in Nehemiah 2:11-18, where Nehemiah rallied the Jews to rebuild their city walls.

The rainy season came sooner than expected this year and halted their project at around 3/4 of the way, but they were far from discouraged. The members of the church actively contributed in the process by bringing snacks and drinks, and helping with the labor. They planned to continue their work on the lands as soon as the rainy reason stops and were all looking forward to the harvest.

Pray for the Umoja Project of our partner, Tearfund Bangladesh:

  • Pray for the better use of resources of the local churches in order for them to serve and bless more people.
  • Pray for the project participants for their first-hand encounter with God.
  • Pray for the trust building between the churches and the communities, that the God’s people could be great testimonies that encourage the residents to cooperate in further projects.
  • Pray that the local church leaders could engaged in leading their congregations in Bible reading and study routines, so that they could be strengthened by God’s words.