Time for discussion

The two day workshop last week (11-12 Oct) was with a group from a Friends church just outside Kigali. It's the place where the Thomases have their moringa business but they are on furlough in Oregon for a year and I haven't managed to visit the site yet. This congregation is one of four where a programme called Discipling for Development is being taught. This seems to be an international programme whose syllabus teaches the virtues of hard work and persistence as well as practical skills, all in a biblical context. I'm a development worker, not a missionary. What I notice is that these women almost all grow more than one kind of vegetables – an unusual situation.

When we have had the introductions and agenda planning, and I have shown the basic diagramme of the sack garden and a slide show of examples from my earlier groups' work, we have time in hand before the mid morning break, when a participant will go home to get us a sack and a hoe. I invite the group to share their thoughts on connections between food and peace.

The church leader, Safari, our only man today, speaks up immediately. Having enough to eat leads to peace in the home and peace with your neighbours (because your children don't go begging to them) and peace in the community. His wife, Alphonsine, with their fourth child on her lap, adds that selling surplus from the garden can make money for the church.

One benefit of the sack garden which we have already discussed – that evaporation is reduced – is very good, says Philomena. Even having enough food to feel full without vegetables is not good for health: vegetables build up immunity.

Your home will benefit, says Louise. I grow cabbages, amaranth and peppers, to sell at market and to eat at home. With the money made I can buy clothes and pay my debts. I have bought a goat. I can pay my tithe to the church and give to special appeals. I can praise God energetically because my physical health is good. I have enough to share with others.

Gaudance brings us back to the topic. For example, she says, the security people come round asking for money to guard your area. If you are not having to buy vegetables you will have enough to pay them. You will have peace at home and with your neighbours because your children are not stealing from them. Will there still be a need for the guard if nobody is hungry, I ask. Oh yes – there is still your property.

Josepha's contribution is that you'll be able to buy the school materials for your children.

Seraphina says that last year she planted vegetables, sold the surplus, and bought a hen. She has sold some chicks and kept some and now she has eggs for her children. One has breathing problems and has been advised to eat raw egg.

I don't now remember how my next note links to the previous comments, but the conversation has moved on. Beatride (recently widowed and with 5 children) says that when there is not enough at home, children commonly leave home, naively thinking they will do better without their parents. She means children of 16 and 17 who set up house as a couple. Having children before 21 – the age of marriage - is frowned on and the father may go to prison because under-age sex is a crime of violence.

I ask for clarification and we are off! Please will I tell them the position of the Friends church in England on sex outside marriage for teenagers. I do my best to be both honest and relevant. To my surprise they thank me for useful information about how to advise their children. All I said is that we discourage early sexual activity and expect that an individual's conscience will tell them there should be relationship and equality. We all agree that contraception is better than unwanted children, though it is recognised that it's not yet straightforward for pastors to say so in church.

Now we've done sex and marriage we can get back to vegetables without further diversion, I say. Oh, but it was so interesting!