Africa is a daunting place, a place where most westerners don't dare to visit without a pharmaceutical arsenal of anti-malarials, antibiotics and anti-diarrheal tablets. Now, thanks to ebola, they don’t dare visit at all. [worse than ebola]

What makes the current ebola epidemic especially devastating is that it's just one more debilitating setback in a region plagued by HIV/AIDS, malaria, maternal and child mortality, and a plethora of other contributors to poverty in Africa.

As we're preparing to move our family to Africa, one of the most frequently asked questions right now is if we aren't worried about the ebola outbreak? So we did a little research. Our home base in Iringa is over 7000km or 100hrs driving time from the epicenter of the ebola epidemic (double the distance from our current home to the nearest case of ebola in Dallas, TX).

We also came across an interesting diagram of the leading causes of death in Africa [VOX]. Having lived in Africa, we would have identified the top killers as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and cholera. We're not far out, but interestingly, respiratory infections is the leading cause of death after HIV/AIDS.

Including illnesses such as pneumonia, bronchitis, and tuberculosis, a major contributor to respiratory deaths in Africa is household air pollution. The World Health Organization (WHO) calls it "the forgotten 3 billion" who still cook and heat their homes using solid fuels (wood, crop wastes, charcoal, dung). [WHO] Smoke is the silent killer in Africa. Can fuel efficient stoves make a difference?

At this time of Thanksgiving, we will indulge in a decadent feast with our family and give thanks for our health and wealth. We are thankful for so many things, and mindful of the abundance we are privileged to enjoy and often take for granted in this part of the world. We give thanks to God for how richly he has blessed our family and we will pray, "Make us a blessing even as you have blessed us."

We also give thanks to the farmers who produce the variety of delicious foods we get to enjoy for Thanksgiving dinner. We remember that so many around the world don't have such a surplus of food to indulge in and feast on, even for a special occasion with family. Many are subsistence farmers scraping a meager existence from the soil that barely feeds their family.

Farmers in Africa and throughout the developing world are striving for the same things our farmers work tirelessly for here: the resources and skills that enable them to grow nutritious, bountiful food to feed their families, their neighbors, and their communities. In Africa, most farmers -- the majority of whom are women -- are striving to achieve these goals on a budget of less than $1.25 a day, without adequate training, supplies or access to markets. With farming employing nearly two-thirds of the population of sub-Saharan Africa, a focus on training farmers and providing them with sustainable agriculture skills has the potential to move millions out of extreme poverty and onto the path to a financially sufficient and stable life. [huffingtonpost.com]

In Tanzania we hope to help farming families access nutritious food through sustainable farming so that they can escape poverty and experience health and prosperity. We share only from the abundance that has been entrusted to us.

We are thankful for the opportunity to serve in Tanzania. We are thankful for a supportive community of family and friends. We are thankful for those who have already partnered with us. We are thankful for prayer warriors. We are thankful for God's beautiful creation; for abundance, diversity, resilience, and creativity. We are thankful for God's redemptive plan; for hope, transformation, renewal, and abundant life.

Praise the Lord for his great love... 

For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

-- Psalm 107.8-9 --