Happy New Year!

January 1st marks three months since I arrived at the Asian Rural Institute. As I look back at 2009 and the events that brought me to Japan, I must give a huge shout of thanks to all my supporters for enabling me to come and work with this incredible community of activists. Thanks to your generosity, I will enter 2010 with over $9,600 raised – only $400 to go! Thank you for your financial support, for your kind emails, for your thoughts and prayers. Your warm and generous partnership in this mission makes living 6,000 miles from my family and friends possible.

By sponsoring this farm volunteer, you are helping ARI provide thirty dedicated activists with the technical training and leadership skills necessary to realize their dreams for their communities. Their dreams are big. One woman wants to start a demonstration poultry farm for her village, so that farmers will have both a secure source of protein and a reliable source of income. Another participant wants to teach farmers in his community to make and use organic fertilizers, which are safer and cheaper than the conventional chemical fertilizers. And another participant wants to establish commercial contacts between churches in his rural diocese and the city, eliminating the need for the middlemen and helping farmers in his community to break the cycle of debt and poverty. This class of participants graduated on December 12th, proud of their achievements at ARI and impatient to return to their countries to start their work. Thank you for supporting them in their training at ARI!

Some pictures from the Commencement ceremony:

Pre-Commencement gathering

Kingsley (Ghana), me (in Sri Lankan sari), and Reverend Edo (Togo)

Josephine (Sierra Leone), Swae (Thailand), Christy (Cameroon), and Edo (Togo)

A proud Kini (Myanmar) with ARI staff member Tomoko-san

Kingsley (Ghana) and Ruth (Myanmar) with their diplomas!

I’m looking forward to the adventures that 2010 holds in store. The spirit of ARI has already challenged and inspired me, and I expect it will continue to do. Best wishes to all for the New Year!