Seeds of Love Lent 2017 Hello and welcome to week 4 of Lent! Jesuit Missions is inviting you this Lent to focus on FOOD. We are going to be showing you different food, or livelihoods* projects that Jesuit Missions supports all around the world. We hope it will be an opportunity for you to learn more about what JM does around the world, and perhaps even find a cause to commit to/support this Lent! * Livelihoods are the things needed for a means of living. These things, or assets, could be “tangible, such as food stores and cash savings, as well as trees, land, livestock, tools, and other resources. Assets may also be intangible such as claims one can make for food, work, and assistance as well as access to materials, information, education, health services and employment opportunities.” – United National International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) http://www.unisdr.org/files/16771_16771guidancenoteonrecoveryliveliho.pdf During this period, we will be praying, encouraging you to think about food (or fasting) and encouraging alms giving (or fundraising).

“A teacher of the law came to [Jesus] with a question “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus replied… ‘Love the Lord your God’…The second most important is this ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment more important than these two” …” - Mark 12:28-34 Let’s begin this morning’s presentation by reading and praying over the words in this scripture passage. What do you think is the meaning behind the words here? Here are some reflection questions: 1) Look at the words in bold - We know that Lent is a period of time to prepare for the resurrection of Jesus. What is the significance of Jesus saying these words? Think about the fact that Jesus was Jewish and crucified by the Jews. 2) Who do you think ‘neighbour’ could refer to? 3) How would you relate the words in bold to the projects you have heard about so far? These questions are suggested only. As the presentations are designed to be given at assemblies (lasting no longer than 15/20 minutes), the questions should be more of an internal dialogue (similar to an Examen) than a spoken discussion. If there is time however, they can be discussed aloud.

Last week we heard a little about the KATC Last week we heard a little about the KATC. To refresh your memory, KATC is a farming-training centre, run by Jesuits in Zambia. The training centre has 25 staff members, plus 50 support workers. Other than offering things like: Courses in agriculture Research into sustainable agricultural techniques Campaigns and advocacy for the rights of farmers The training centre produces its own organically grown crops, such as: - Barley - Wheat - Oats - Soya beans - Sunflower - Maize PAUSE FOR THOUGHT: How many of these crops do you/have you eaten? How often?

One of the biggest aims of KATC is to become more financially independent ITSELF! This means creating a centre which can fully function on its own without having to rely on funds from donors. How does it do this?

Through buying equipment to own for itself! The picture you can see above is of an organic oat and wheat processing machine made by a British company called Alvan Blanch. The machine did things like: Cleaning seeds De-hulling Roasting And rolling (to name a few) Jesuit Missions helped in the purchase of this particular piece of equipment. But we couldn’t have done it without supporters like you!

KATC has come at a crucial time for Zambia KATC has come at a crucial time for Zambia. The good news is that Zambia is consistently growing economically, but there are still major factors preventing it from growing bigger and quicker and which are contributing to hunger. Food insecurity, malnutrition, poverty and environmental disasters are all contributing factors. Other factors like political insecurity, lack of investment in agriculture and war are often found to contribute to hunger around the world. PAUSE FOR THOUGHT If half a billion farms support 2 billion people around the world what impact could environmental problems have on us in the UK? Let’s look a little more about the causes of hunger in the next slide.

POVERTY CLIMATE INVESTMENT WAR Is there enough food on the earth for everyone? Oxfam tells us that the world produces 17% more food per person than compared to 30 years ago. In fact, we grow enough food for 10 billion people. How is it then that close to a billion people still go hungry? Let’s look at some factors in more depth: Poverty - Poorer households are less able to afford nutritious foods. This results in health issues which make them more unable to work, and thus afford healthier lifestyles. We are even confronted with this poverty cycle in the UK today. We heard proof of this in Zambia where farmers are unable to afford the high prices for farming goods. Resulting in high levels of hunger and malnourishment. Climate – Climate change and disasters happen most and are worst felt in developing countries. The effects of climate change are growing, and developing countries are often ill prepared to deal with them. War – Conflicts disrupt food production. Access to food is also used as a weapon of war as we will hear about in next week’s project in Syria. Investment – The infrastructural capabilities of many developing countries is often lacking. Things that would contribute to strong agriculture (roads, good farming equipment, irrigation) are not invested in adequately.

Sowing Seeds of Love Fasting is feasting Bearing all of the information you have heard in mind, as we wind down this presentation we ask that you turn your minds to the future. As we know Lent is a time for prayer, fasting and alms giving, Jesuit Missions is encouraging you to do 3 things: 1) Pray for the continued success of all the projects you have heard about. 2) Check out your local market or international food shop to find and maybe use some of the foods you have heard about. 3) Continue fundraising for JM’s food projects!

We’ll conclude with a style of prayer called finger praying We’ll conclude with a style of prayer called finger praying. Instructions: The thumb is to pray for those who are closest to you because it is the closest to you! 2) The index finger, or the pointing finger, is to pray for those who lead us in the right direction – teachers, leaders, you name it! 3) The tallest finger is for us to pray for our leaders and those in authority. 4) The ring finger it is our weakest finger. Reminding us to pray for the weakest and the sick. 5) Our little finger reminds us to pray for ourselves. We have spent a lot of time praying for others that we shouldn’t forget God cares for us too! Finger template taken from - http://www.sawyoo.com/post_5-finger-prayer-model_353214/

© Copyright Jesuit Missions 2017 Text by Samantha Aidoo. All photos were taken in Zambia by KATC and Jesuit Missions. Users are welcome to modify the material to fit their needs. jesuitmissions.org.uk education@jesuitmissions.org.uk Facebook: Jesuit Missions UK Twitter: @JesuitMissions