As far back as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by nature. I enjoyed wandering around alone in the forest and watching the ants tending their burrow. That was then also one of the main reasons why I trained to become a forester.
In the fourth grade of forestry school, I had a life-changing encounter with Jesus. The moment I met him personally, it was clear to me: that's what I want to do! (Even though I didn't know at that time what exactly this "whole" meant).
Since then, these two "red threads" have accompanied me in my life: On the one hand, love and enthusiasm for the wonderful message of God's love that reaches us in Jesus Christ; on the other hand, enthusiasm and interest in everything related to nature.
Unfortunately, in the evangelical world (my spiritual home), the idea of creation care is treated at best as a "distant memory", so these two red threads in my life were not linked for many years.
Then in 2014 we met Ed Brown, the leader of Care of Creation in America, one of the few evangelical organisations dealing with creation care. First through him (and then through theological study of the Bible), I realised that creation care is a consistent theme in the Bible, and also one of the logical consequences of God's personality.
Through a friend from Tanzania, we then came into contact with the leadership of the Anglican Church, who had been praying for several years to get staff for a sustainable agriculture and creation care project. They had over twenty hectares of unused land as well as a training centre with guest rooms, we had the vision to build a training centre for sustainable agriculture. A typical win-win situation! So now, since 2017, we have been here near Dodoma and together with our farm staff and colleagues in the Anglican Church, we get to build this site in a way that glorifies God, makes His love visible, and brings hope for better harvests to the people of Tanzania. Every day I walk the grounds, I am filled anew with the joy of this project - and at the same time with a sense of humility. There is so much to do, so much to consider, so little time, far too little funding, and we still know far too little. Nevertheless, we go forward joyfully because we know that our great God is with us!
