Missions

Mission of the Month

Temba

In Zambia, Africa, the Majila Falls Agriculture Center began in 200 when Chief Kanyama, a Christian chief, offered the United Methodist Church 3500 acres of land including a river and a waterfall. He was aware that the Methodist missionaries had helped others in Zambia. It was his request that basic agriculture practices might be taught to his people.

Paul Webster was relocated from the D.C. Congo to just across the border to serve similar Lunda people in Kittau, Zambia. Paul grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and he and his wife were in the Peace Corps before they signed up for Africa. The Lunda people suffered from a very poor diet and had 50% infant mortality and a life expectancy of 35 years. There was little protein in their diet since all animals had been killed except for rats. Paul and Roxanne started growing chicken and rabbits housed in cages made from sticks and vines. The eggs and the meat were very popular. Before, if the family by chance got an egg, the egg was eaten by the father. Now there were enough to share.

Suddenly Webster’s success was halted by Roxanne’s diagnosis of cancer. She was treated but died in the U.S. Paul returned to Zambia in 2005. He was fortunate the Tshala Mwengo, a graduate of the African University in Zimbabwe, managed the project for several years. As a team they acquired oxen, cows, donkeys, pigs, etc. They had the Lunda people build barns and places to store grains. The animals housed in barns gave them manure to spread on their fields. They opened up fields with bicycle cultivators and experimented with crops. They gave cups of free milk to children and encouraged them to go to school.

The mission site added more buildings, expanded the fields, and added a tractor and a truck. Students from the African University came to learn more about farming. The chickens laid between 1500-2700 eggs every day. The mission sold eggs to people who then took them to other areas to market. The people living near the mission were blessed with more protein in their diets. 

In 2017, Temba Nkomozepi, an agriculturist with several degrees, came to the mission. Paul Webster took a position in the U.S. and Temba was appointed as a mission assigned to Mujila Falls in 2018.