Campus Revisited Four Years Later

Editor’s Note: Last week, JBFC Founder and CEO, Chris Gates, Executive Assistant, Amanda Winge, and US Expansion Coordinator, Travis Purser, returned from a two-week trip back to JBFC’s flagship campus in Tanzania. This was the first time back for all three in many months (and years in Amanda’s case). While some things never change, like the excitement and joy of seeing the residential girls, students, and staff, there were also many big noteworthy changes on campus which we feel we need to share!

This was my first trip back to Tanzania since 2013 when I worked as the Guest Coordinator on campus for 5 months during the summer. It was thrilling to see how much the girls have grown in the last four years, and I was so touched that they even remembered little jokes that we had from back then. I was also really happy to see so many of the staff members again. One thing I can say about Tanzanians is that no matter how long you’ve been away, they will welcome you back with open arms and treat you as if they saw you just yesterday! Even the residential girls who have been added to Bibi Mimi’s home since I left in 2013 acted as if they had known me for years. There are no such things as strangers on campus!

While I couldn’t get over how tall some of the girls were or how mature they looked now, one of the most striking moments for me was seeing the campus in the daylight on our first morning. Talk about changes! Areas where guests helped plant plants and mulch in 2013 are now totally taken over by huge producing plants. It’s actually difficult to see certain livestock pens and views of buildings because the plants are so tall. Bananas trees, pomegranate trees, pepper plants, rows upon rows of lettuce (just to name a few), and kale have totally taken over large parts of the farm. And goodness is there so much kale. While JBFC first introduced permaculture on the JBFC farm in 2012 and I could see some of early results during the summer of 2013, the farm has truly flourished these past few years and it's great to see all of the produce being used in the dining halls and know that our students, residential girls, and staff are truly receiving farm fresh, nutritious meals.

Seth Diemond, JBFC’s Chief Operating Officer in Tanzania sends our US team weekly highlights from campus, and while he has mentioned how much produce continues to be harvested from the farm every month, reading about the amount of produce and seeing it with your own eyes are two very different things. The farm staff continue to do an excellent job maintaining the farm using the skills they have learned in the various permaculture seminars.

Another big change to the face of campus are the buildings. I remember groups of volunteers helping re-build Papa’s café in 2013 when Lake Victoria started to overtake the original building along the shore. The new Papa’s café is beautiful, the staff is well trained, and the food remains incredible! In addition to Papa’s, there is now an administrative building which was just a foundation and pile of rocks when I left. Now, JBFC staff members are able to work and hold meetings in their offices near the secondary school, and will soon be able to watch students coming and going when the neighboring VETA classroom opens its doors in the Fall. Several buildings have received some facelifts (the girls’ dorms, for example, received new glass windows), and it was great to see fresh coats of paint in many classrooms.

It was so thrilling to see all of the amazing changes on our flagship campus, and I can’t wait to return! 

Guest Blogger, Amanda Winge, is JBFC's Executive Assistant.

Farm Fresh

 

Something amazing is happening on the JBFC farm. For the past month, JBFC's farm employees have been harvesting vegetables on a nearly daily basis.

Now, Chinese cabbage, kale, Swiss chard, comfrey, zucchini, eggplant, white eggplant, squash, nutritious local greens called "mchicha" in Swahili, spider plant, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, passion fruit, papaya, banana, are all being harvested on JBFC's 40-acre campus.

And it's all being served up at one of our two dining halls- either feeding our 44 residential girls and 20 staff at our girls' home or helping to feed our 300 students and teaching staff at Joseph and Mary Schools.

   In addition to the immediately obvious benefits- improved nutrition, helping JBFC become more sustainable, and increased variety of food choice- JBFC's permaculture based system is helping to improve lives in other ways.


 JBFC's residential girls can be seen planting in the fields after school, watering banana trees in the plot across from their dorms, and mulching avocado and papaya trees on weekends all the while learning new farming techniques.




JBFC's farm employees- Mzee Kitula, Markus, Suzie, Elizabeth, Luka, Philipo, Emma, and Mathias, can now talk about water management techniques, the advantages of farming a mixture of annual and perennial crops, the importance of crop rotation, and the impact of soil erosion.


JBFC's village neighbors- long accustomed to farming mostly maize, cassava, and rice, have started to diversify their production of food for obvious benefits.

JBFC's many guests can be seen planting avocado, banana, pomegranate, grevaria, or passion throughout the year- a gift that will help JBFC continue to become more self-reliant for years to come.




JBFC's scholarship students participate in a work-study program helping to water, mulch, manure, and plant trees throughout the week, and learning yet another skill in our quest to  ensure they have productive, self-reliant lives in the future.


 It has been over six months since JBFC has had to buy greens for our school or home- something that we used to have to do twice per week.

In the past three months, we have been able to produce enough greens to not only feed our school twice per week (lunch) and our home twice per week (usually dinner), but we have also been able to supplement rice and beans with spinach, ugali and fish with eggplant, and breakfast with fruit. In the next couple of weeks we hope to be bringing food from farm-to-dining-hall on a daily basis meaning our girls will be able to eat vegetables seven days per week.










Want to know the benefits of having fruits and vegetables readily available on the JBFC campus? Look no further than the smiling Yonga as she bites into a tart passion fruit or snags a sweet papaya.















Blogger, Seth Diemond, is JBFC's Campus Director and helps oversee our farm operations.

Farm to Table

JBFC’s campus restaurant, Papa’s, was already breaking molds by being one of the only non-profit restaurants in our community. Now, we’re stepping into brand new territory.



For several weeks, Papa’s has been 90% farm-to-table, making it stand out, in yet another way, from other Mwanza restaurants! Our restaurant now features all fresh food straight from our 35-acre farm.



With our farm production booming, I thought it was time to make some changes. While we were able

to provide for much of the produce needed for our previous menu, its rigid nature made it hard to be flexible, when we were out of a certain type of fruit, vegetable, or meat. So, we decided to start shaking things up. Now, every Friday a new menu appears, featuring unique menu items whose produce and meat is from our farm only- not from the grocery store or local market! Not only does this reduce the amount of shopping we have to do for Papa’s, but the new menu has been met with incredible praise from the Mwanza community.


The menu now features a three-course meal, where customers pay one price and receive their choice between two starters, three main dishes (with their choice of sides) and a dessert. Recently, the menu looks something like this…

Starters: Mini Pizzas
Baba Ghanoush

Mains:
Slow Roasted Lamb
Papaya and Passion Roasted Chicken Breast
Pesto Pasta with Grilled Eggplant

Sides:
Basil Chips
Fried Okra
Roasted Eggplant in Peanut Sauce

Dessert:
Passion Tart

*Build Your Own Pizza Menu Available. 

Last summer, JBFC volunteers and our residential girls planted dozens of passion fruit vines. Those vines are now bursting with fruit and we’ve turned that into our new featured dessert – a passion tart.

Our signature pizzas are still on the grill, but now, you have to build your own, choosing only the toppings available from our garden that week. As for the steaks, grilled chicken, and other dishes, those are only on the menu when there is enough from our farm to go around! However, the

Burgundy Beef Stew has been a huge success and much preferred by customers over the steak so far.  

It is the little things like this that are allowing JBFC to inch closer and closer to its goal of self-sustainability. Not only are we reducing the operating costs of the restaurant, but we are increasing our appeal to customers by constantly having a new menu with fresh ingredients. And we’re showing our customers, staff, and students the benefits of a productive farm.


In 2014, as we continue to increase farm production, we plan to open a weekend Farmers Market at the Papa’s entrance gate, as well as various take-away options- so customers can enjoy fresh Papa’s meals all week long! Our updated menu is posted to our Papa’s facebook page weekly (www.facebook.com/papastanzania) and if you are in Tanzania, you can sign up for our weekly texts, as well!



Blogger Chris Gates, officially, is JBFC's Founder & Executive Director, but he also fancies himself an executive chef for Papa's.