Growing Hope Globally

At First Christian Church in Burlington, Iowa, we utilize 3.5 acres of our property to grow soybeans. These crops are harvested, sold, and the proceeds are sent to an organization called Growing Hope Globally to support farming initiatives and innovation in other parts of the world. Since I came to FCC in 2019, I’ve been amazed that our little corner of southeast Iowa can have an impact on farmers across the world. In the past 5 years, we have supported farming programs in Guatemala, Zambia, Honduras, and Mexico. I recently traveled to Cambodia with Growing Hope Globally to see first-hand how the partnership works. 

Before this trip, Growing Hope Globally meant farming in my mind. And while this is certainly true, I was struck with a bigger picture as we traveled among communities in Cambodia. More than farming, the work that is being done through GHG and its local partners is about empowerment. The farmers are empowered to support themselves, to grow and to learn and to share with others. This system did not push an agenda of “here’s what you need, do this and you’ll succeed.” Instead, communities and farmers are provided with tools and education to grow successful businesses, support their families and communities, and share their knowledge with others to pass the empowerment on. 

One farm that I enjoyed visiting in Cambodia was a thriving, larger operation. One of keys to the farmer’s success was his willingness to learn new techniques and to immediately put them into practice. Even when his work was going well, he was very open to learning new ways and trying them out. The other key factor was this farmer’s excitement to share with other farmers. He passed along what worked well for him, teaching others and introducing new concepts to them. He was not in his business to get rich at the expense of others. He wasn’t only looking out for himself. He wanted to help others and shared his experiences so that others could find success too. I loved seeing people caring for people.

While visiting various programs with Growing Hope Globally, I was also confronted with my concept of success. As we surveyed farming programs, I looked on with a critic’s eye, and unintentionally evaluated what seemed to be working or not. But when we see things from only our perspective, we attempt to put our own parameters around the work and lives of others. We try to cram someone else into the box of our own understanding, which shortchanges them tremendously. It cheapens their experience and denies others from seeing beauty and success in its own right. When we are open to understanding the experiences of others, we can see that incredible things can happen and be created under a wide variety of circumstances.

From this trip, I expected to visit farming programs. I pictured what I know to be a farm: large, expansive grounds filled with lush, green crops. In my mind, I saw what I thought a farm would look like. But some of the programs we visited were demonstration farms that were created to teach farmers, rather than produce mass quantities of product. Others were brand-new operations that were just beginning their growing. Still others were small because that’s what the farmer was capable of caring for, or what their land was capable of. While I went expecting my idea of a farm, I was reminded that my perspective isn’t the only perspective. Our world is vast, and varied, and our experience is not everyone’s experience. May our minds and hearts be open to experiences others have, and to ways that are not our own.

Rev. Brooke Robbins

First Christian Church

Burlington, Iowa