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“For Malawians, rain and planting mean hope,” says Dean. “The season of hunger isn’t over yet, but, if they can plant and if the rains continue, it means that the end of hunger is within sight.”

Dean and Stefanie Babcock, along with their four children, minister to subsistence farmers in Malawi. Dean and Stefanie served a church in Canada before relocating to Malawi, where they previously trained pastors and church leaders.

“During our first two years in Malawi we were continually confronted with the realities of hunger and poverty in one of the poorest countries in the world,” says Dean. “How could we help churches become spiritually healthy while ignoring physical needs? We began asking God how we might minister in more practical ways, combining discipleship with poverty reduction and addressing food security issues.

“We felt that our best contribution would be to help subsistence farmers (the majority of Malawi's population) improve farming techniques to grow the food they need to feed their families. Not only do Stefanie and I have hobby farming backgrounds, but once we began serving here, we were introduced to Foundations for Farming. This program teaches the gospel, stewardship, and godly character development in addition to the basics of farming.

“The program is designed to heal and protect the soil by using natural fertilizers and ground cover to reduce costs and improve harvests, without the need for expensive chemical fertilizers. Getting better harvests at a fraction of the cost, while at the same time learning stewardship principles, helps families have a healthier diet and a healthier budget.”

In 2014 the Babcocks were privileged to join a team in Malawi which was already deeply involved in teaching these methods, allowing them to both learn from and contribute to something much larger than themselves. Some of the exciting developments for the team include building a training center and a community-based irrigation system designed to help the neediest families survive what Malawians call “hunger season.”

Dean and Stefanie created a mini farm and garden area in their yard where they run trials to discover what grows well in Malawian soil. They are experimenting with bee keeping and mushroom farms to introduce into the village as a micro business. Having recently tried raising ducks, the Babcocks found that ducks perform even better than village chickens since ducks grow quickly, provide plenty of meat and eggs, and are more disease resistant than chickens. Dean and Stefanie hope to try them in a village setting in the near future. They have also created a seed bank that has been a blessing to their neighbors.

Malawi suffered floods two years ago which greatly reduced farmers’ crops. Last year, a severe drought hit the area. These factors have led to a shortage of food in one of the most densely populated and least-developed countries in the world. Aid organizations have been supplying residents with food, and yet many people are hungry.

One of the local farmers with whom the Babcocks work, Mr. Shawa, has found great success with the Foundations for Farming methods. When his neighbors saw his healthy crops despite the drought, they wanted to know more. Mr. Shawa is now training his neighbors in the techniques. Dean says, “The success stories are repeated over and over, wherever people have had the courage to give these methods a try."

A local village headman has been trained in Foundations for Farming and had plenty of food for his family this year. He has been instrumental in training other farmers and opening doors for the Babcocks’ ministry.

“In addition to helping people have adequate food, there are also opportunities to walk alongside these farmers, pray with them, and share what the Bible has to say about their situations,” says Dean. “We know that sustainable, natural growing methods will make an enormous difference in how well people eat, and in how well they live.”

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