Did you know a chicken lays an egg every 24-30 hours?

Farming education is a critical part of raising our children at Project Canaan.

Five years ago I met a man named Chad Gregory who is the CEO of the United Egg Producers in the US.  Chad invited me to speak at an International Egg Commission conference in Venice, Italy (I said yes).  While there we met egg farmers from all over the world, including a bunch of fellow Canadians.  Tim Lambert (CEO Egg Farmers of Canada) was one of those men and next thing we knew the Canadian egg farmers were visiting Project Canaan and learning about Swaziland, AIDS, orphans and the crisis that we are facing.

Tim Lambert (CEO Egg Farmers of Canada, Steve Manton (Chairman International Egg Foundation), Chad Gregory (CEO United Egg Producers),  Gene Gregory (Former CEO UEP), Peter Clark (Chairman Egg Farmers of Canada),                  Ian Maxwell (CEO Heart for Africa).

   

With each visit they became more and more immersed in learning about the culture, the challenges and hopelessness of so many Swazi people. They were even with me when I got the call about picking up a baby at the Woman’s Prison, and went with me to receive that child.  That child was Baby Shirley, and the Egg Farmers of Canada were the ones holding her in the back seat of my car as we drove her home to Project Canaan, burns and all.   That was the day they truly saw the Project Canaan was a place of hope, and there was hope for the baby girl whose mother tried to kill her by burning her.

They made a commitment to do something, and they are men of their word.

On January 4^th, 2016, a flock of 2,500 chickens arrived in to a barn that the Egg Farmers of Canada, in partnership with the International Egg Foundation, built.  They have ordered a second flock of 2,500 chickens, which will arrive in July to the second barn they also built.  That means we will have just under 5,000 eggs, every single day, “with no off switch” as we are told.  Did you know that a chicken lays an egg every 24-30 hours? Now you do.

Did you know that brown chickens lay brown eggs?  And that hens "sing"?

As you likely know, Ian and I know nothing about chickens or eggs, and the egg farmers knew that, so help arrived a few days before the chickens did.  Kurt Siemens, a Canadian egg farmer from Manitoba and Aaron Law, a Canadian egg farmer from New Brunswick, came in January and got the flock in place, feed supply rolling and continued the training that our team had already begun with the largest egg producer in Swaziland and the eggs started to arrive. Kurt was here for 10 days and Aaron stayed on for the whole month!

We currently feed 2,100 children every week through our 30 church partner-feeding programs.  Starting on Monday these children will receive a hard-boiled, PEELED, egg with every meal they get from us.  This will not only help with the issue of malnutrition, but also help providing the perfect protein and assist with the uptake of vaccinations (which is critical to the health of every child).  The egg farmers, thanks to Chad and his friends at UEP, even bought us a new truck so that we can deliver eggs, Manna Pack and maize from Project Canaan to the most remote parts of Swaziland. 

John with Julian Madeley (International Egg Foundation and Worldwide Egg Organization)

Aaron Law, Julian Madeley (CEO World Egg Organization), Dr. Abdul Magdy (Bio-security expert from Lohmann)          Ian and our big kids.

We have also partnered with a local hospital to provide two eggs every day to every child in the pediatric ward.  Many of them suffer from malnutrition and getting a “high protein” diet costs extra money. Now they will not have to pay for that extra protein, it will be free, and they will get well faster.

First delivery of eggs to the hospital CEO and CMO.

God is good. He knows what we need, when we need it and we see His hand of provision over and over again as he sends people, expertise, equipment and funding, in His timing.

In addition to the organizations listed above I would like to also publicly thank the Big Dutchman in South Africa, Sonovo Technolgy Group in Denmark, Lohmann in Uganda and Eagles Nest in Swaziland for donation equipment, expertise, time and money.  This is truly and international project and we are thankful for everyone involved.

I am writing this blog on the roadside just before I cross out of Swaziland in to South Africa.  I am heading back to the US for five days for meetings, a few favorite meals and to see Spencer!  Can’t wait (not excited about the snow storm that I am hearing about).

Live from Swaziland … we live in a constant state of awe (that’s Ian’s favorite quote).

Janine

This peacock came and sat beside me while I finished my blog. Too funny.

880,000 hard boiled eggs a year?

Fred, Peter, Kurt, Brad, George and Tim.

Today we said goodbye to a team from the Egg Farmers of Canada (EFC) including their Chairman, Peter Clarke.  It’s been an egg-citing week and today is a good day to share it on this blog.  It’s a jaw-dropper!

We met Peter and his team two years ago when I was invited to speak at the International Egg Commission (IEC) Conference in Venice, Italy.   Since that time we have had visits from the Chairman of the IEC, the Chairman of the American Egg Board (AEB) and other important members of their respective teams.    After many conversations, emails, brainstorming sessions and site visits we now have a plan.

You may not believe this one, but I assure you it’s true.

These multi-generational Egg Farmers want to help the orphaned and vulnerable children of Swaziland by providing one of the most nutritious foods on the planet – hard boiled eggs!  Eggs are one of the few foods considered to be a complete protein, because they contain all nine essential amino acids. Amino acids are considered the "building blocks for the body" because they help form protein*.  The children of Swaziland need these building blocks!

Showing the rural children how to peel and eat a hard boiled egg.

The EFC and IEF have chosen Project Canaan in Swaziland to be the Pilot Project for finding ways to help children around the world who are in need of protein and proper nutrition.

The plan is to build an egg production facility that will produce in excess of 18,500 eggs per week, which will then be hard boiled and distributed to the children who are being fed through our rural church partners. This will provide an animal protein every day to each child we currently feed, in addition to the important vegetable protein that the children currently get through the Feed My Starving Children Manna Pack.  The fundraising, expertise and training will come through the EFC, and in addition the IEF is providing the services of Dr. Vincent Guyonnet**, who is the Scientific Advisor to the IEC, for Project Management and expertise.  

Heart for Africa currently provides 74,000 hot meals each and every month to orphans and vulnerable children in the most rural areas. That is 880,000 meals per year.  If the need continues to grow as it has in the past few years we anticipate that number growing to 2.6 million meals by the year 2020.  Our hope and plan is to grow the egg production to meet that need alongside our Feed My Starving Children partnership.

In 12-18 months from now we will have Project Canaan Eggs, in a big way. Un-boiled eggs will be provided for the children living at Project Canaan, which will in turn reduce our monthly grocery spending.  We will be able to train and employ people to work at the poultry facility and we will start distribution to the children at our church partners. 

This will not be a commercial egg production facility – these eggs are to be put into children’s hands and mouths in the same way we would put TOMS Shoes directly on children’s feet … all thanks to a group of kind hearted, caring, passionate, enthusiastic men who believe that this is not just about Corporate Social Responsibility, it is simply the right thing to do.

CEO of EFC, Tim Lambert, and Baby Timothy.

This was an egg-cellent week and we are more than egg-cited about this new partnership, and more importantly, our new friends.

Live from Swaziland … it’s time Get Cracking!

Janine

Of course they also helped with little road repair.

* www.eggs.ca

** IEC Scientific Advisor - Dr Vincent Guyonnet

Dr Vincent Guyonnet, DVM, Ph.D, Dipl. ACPV, was appointed as IEC Scientific Advisor in January 2010. Vincent is responsible for helping IEC deliver on its commitment to science based positions and guidelines as well as developing its relationships with international and intergovernmental organisations.

Vincent is a native of France, he obtained the degree of Doctor in Veterinary Medicine in 1987 from the National Veterinary School of Lyon, France and a Ph.D degree from The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA in 1991.  He was accepted as a diplomate of the American College of Poultry Veterinarians (US board certification) in 1994.

Vincent joined Burnbrae Farms Limited in June 2005 as Vice President – Research & International Business Development, and in 2007, received additional responsibilities for Quality Assurance.

Prior to joining Burnbrae Farms Ltd, Vincent worked for Pfizer Inc. from 1991 to 2005 in the Animal Health Group.   Vincent assumed a number of positions of increasing responsibilities in research, technical services, regulatory affairs and marketing (Pfizer World Headquarters, NY, NY, USA) and was general manager of Pfizer Australia – Animal Health Group (Sydney, Australia).

He has authored 10 peer-reviewed papers, given 25 communications at US and international scientific meetings and congresses and has been a guest lecturer at universities in Australia, Egypt, France, Malaysia and Thailand.