JBFC: Turning Need into Opportunity

During Chris and my recent fundraising trip, I heard someone refer to Africa as a “bottomless pit” of need.

The phrase snapped me into mental alertness. It didn’t set right with me. And I couldn’t figure out why.

True, there is a lot of need in Africa.

JBFC’s home of Tanzania is one of the most impoverished countries in the world. We, as an organization, are constantly struggling with how we can meet the most need without sacrificing the needs of the people we’re already helping.

But, “bottomless pit”?

And then I realized why the statement didn’t ring true for me.

It’s because that’s not JBFC. That’s not what we’re building in our little corner of the world.

When you give to JBFC, you’re not tossing your dollars into a bottomless pit of need. We’re not just feeding the hungry – which we do, serving 128,000 meals last year – we’re helping a community develop the tools and trades to feed themselves.

At last year’s JBFC fundraiser, we had 15 people buy a tile to purchase chickens for our campus. With that $375 donation, we bought and raised 53 broiler chickens and sold them for $535. That’s a 40% return on their investment.

And that’s just the return on the dollars. That doesn’t count how many people we employ on our farms, who can now provide for their families. That doesn’t count how our 43 girls know more about raising poultry, cooking poultry, and learning how to manage a farm to not only feed themselves, but also turn a profit.

That’s not bottomless need – that’s a priceless opportunity.


I look around our 69-acre campus in Tanzania and I see it time and time again.

Our girls learning restorative agriculture techniques that they're applying to their own vegetable gardens.

Our Mamas learning new ways to cook, so they can better utilize produce like kale, that’s being grown in our backyard.

Our solar freezer full of meat – just one cow can feed our entire home and employees for six weeks.

Because of your purposeful donations, we haven’t bought any meat or produce in 7 weeks – because we have raised and grown everything we need. And our children are healthier for it.

And the ripple effects don’t stop there – our village has been enriched. Not just because JBFC provides jobs, employing 69 people full-time and another 120 part-time or on a contract basis. No, we’re an employer, we’re a market for goods and services, we’re an educator and training site, and we’re an example of what can be done.

And it’s starting to pay off.

There’s still need. There are still little girls who need homes. There are still too many kids piled into classrooms at our village school.

 But there are also more tin roofs in our village where there only used to be grass huts. Our managers have started their own businesses that are contributing to the Tanzanian economy. Our students are bringing their lessons in nutrition and farming home and they’re growing stronger and better fed.

 Our rising tide is raising all ships.

 And there’s no bottomless pit in sight.

Ashli Sims is JBFCs Director of Development. She joined the team in 2012, after volunteering with the organization for four years. 

KFC: Tanzania Style

Guest Blogger, Kris Mills, joined JBFC in December as assistant to Executive Director Chris Gates.

It is undeniable that Fried Chicken is a favorite dish among Americans. I mean who doesn’t love to bite into a juicy piece of white meat coated with a perfectly seasoned crunchy exterior? And how could one forget those fluffy white mashed potatoes covered in butter and gravy that are also in company?

Well even though I may be living in the far distant land of Tanzania, I for sure have not forgotten this traditional southern meal I’ve grown up eating. In fact, yesterday Chris, Kayci and I successfully made this favored dish. However, unlike in America where one can easily drive over to the local grocery store and buy some chicken, in Tanzania it’s done a little differently.

And yesterday, I was given the unsettling task of killing our dinner.

Though I’m not a vegetarian, the idea of killing another breathing creature is unsettling to me to say the least and rarely done on my part besides the occasional spider or cockroach. I was not thrilled about killing our chickens to then be fried to savory perfection but having lived at JBFC for the past month or so I’ve gained a new perspective on food, particularly livestock.

Here at JBFC, we have an extensive livestock and agriculture component that is necessary in keeping the organization sustainable. From spinach to pigs to potatoes and chickens, the agriculture and livestock programs provide food for the JBFC family as well as a source of income. Now being able to view these animals more objectively has made me gain a better understanding and appreciation for their role at JBFC and enabled me to overcome my personal inhibitions in killing livestock.

While I won’t go into too many details about the killing itself, I will say that I did not have nightmares the following night and may even do the deed again if the opportunity arises. All I can say is at that night’s dinner, I had some of the best fried chicken I have ever eaten in my life!