Michael LeBlanc of Development and Peace – Caritas Canada, and Myron Rogal, Coordinator of Justice and Peace for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, were among those on a recent solidarity trip to Rwanda with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, as part of their involvement in the Grow Hope Saskatchewan project.

This reflection was previously published on the Development and Peace – Caritas Canada website and is reprinted with permission.

By Michael LeBlanc, Development and Peace – Caritas Canada Animator for Saskatchewan and Keewatin-Le Pas

What happens when a Baptist, a Mennonite and a Catholic get on a plane to Rwanda?

While this sounds like the beginnings of a joke, it did actually happen! It was a grace and a privilege to journey to Rwanda with 12 of my sisters and brothers of various Christian faith traditions to tour the development projects of the Canadian Baptist Ministries, the Mennonite Central Committee and Caritas Rwanda.

Solidarity – Sown in Saskatchewan

The genesis of this unique learning tour lay in Grow Hope Saskatchewan, a fundraising program through which farmers donate proceeds from the sale of crops grown on portions of their land to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) to help it fight hunger in the Global South. Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada (DPCC), the Canadian Baptist Ministries and the Mennonite Central Committee are all members of the CFGB. Everyday Canadians, including you and I, are invited to sponsor the farming, which costs about $350 per acre.

Partnering farmers and donors in this way rapidly raises large sums―$250,000 in 2024, and cumulatively over $1.35 million in the past seven years for Grow Hope Saskatchewan alone. CFGB projects, including those funded by Grow Hope Saskatchewan and other growing projects across Canada, serve those in the direst need. An example is the lifesaving care provided to young children in Somalia by DPCC’s partner, Trócaire.

Hope – Reaped in Rwanda

Because the essence of growing projects is “farmers helping farmers,” our learning tour involved introducing three Saskatchewan farming couples to see the fruit of their hard work in fundraising: the changed lives of farming families overseas.

Rwanda was chosen because partners there have strong connections to each other and because the country’s robust transportation infrastructure made if feasible to cover a lot of ground over a 12-day trip. Rwanda’s great natural beauty and welcoming people also factored into the choice.

Our travel group also included seven others: volunteers and staff from Canada’s Baptist, Mennonite and Catholic development agencies. We met partners and worshipped with faith communities in Kigali; and proceeded to visit projects in regions to the east, north, west and south of the capital, before ending up back at Kigali International Airport.

It felt like a bit of a whirlwind right from the start. On the first day, we were greeted by singing and dancing farmers, most of whom were from a Mennonite Central Committee project that promotes food security through conservation agriculture.

The mostly women leaders proudly showed us their farms and graciously fed us a delicious nutritionally complete meal from the bounty of Rwandan soil. It was uplifting to see the community thriving under the dedicated leadership of people whose capacities the project had helped enhance.

Lessons brought back from Rwanda

Down the road, we sat in a classroom to learn the “secret” to the success of conservation agriculture from a project officer at the Association of Baptist Churches in Rwanda. He told us about boosting yields without expensive pesticides and fertilizers through sensible practices like minimal tillage; covering the soil with straw to protect seedlings and maintain moisture; rotating and intermixing crops; and using homemade compost.

These approaches had boosted cassava yields 3,000 per cent, from 3 to 90 kilograms a plant! Results were similar for maize, sweet potato, cassava and potato crops across all the conservation agriculture projects we saw. I would not have believed this possible had I not seen it with my own eyes. I am now inspired to implement these techniques in my own kitchen garden this summer.

This was indeed a “learning tour” after all!

There are other lessons we Canadians, who waste nearly half the food we produce, can learn from Rwanda. The projects I saw grow crops that suit nutritional needs, balancing legumes with grains, vegetables and starches. Surpluses are stored in community granaries (one set up by Caritas Rwanda now runs independently) in PICS bags, which keep grains dry and safe cheaply and without chemicals. They can be sold and exported to other communities, earning farmers money that can tide their families over lean periods.

Edifying, exhilarating, solemn and sobering experiences

We learned about Rwanda’s natural, cultural and political history by visiting Akegara National Park, the King’s Palace Museum and the Kigali Genocide Memorial.

We also saw a variety of social projects such as community conflict resolution workshops, village savings and loans associations and a children’s peace library. We learned about the research into disease-free potato seedlings, which are crucial to Rwanda’s food security. We toured local partners’ offices and met so many inspiring people committed to working for human dignity that I was glad there was no test for remembering people’s names at the end!

This trip was a pilgrimage in every sense of the word. It was prayer-filled and exhausting but rewarding. Despite our good humor, there were challenges. Most of us became ill one night and had to cancel the next day’s activities. One person had a shingles relapse but fortunately had carried medication just in case. Two people who were close to members of our team died during the trip, and we prayed together for their souls. We also prayed for our Holy Father Pope Francis, ill in hospital (thankfully, he now appears to be recovering).

We saw first-hand a fallout of the brutal USAID cuts: almost half of Caritas Rwanda staff had been let go. When the world’s wealthiest nation cuts funding because it “can’t afford it,” Rwandans, whose per capita GDP is about US $1,000, have to make up the shortfall for their communities’ development.

More than ever, I was struck by the impact of solidarity, both within our learning tour as we supported one another and through visiting so many local organizations that are improving the lives of Rwandans. As Pope Francis has written in Fratelli Tutti, “no one is saved alone.”

Trips end, pilgrimages endure

As we returned where we started, I asked myself how we can make a difference and grow a better future for our human family in our common home. I continue to be inspired by DPCC’s mission.

Our vision of living together in dignity, solidarity, justice and peace lives in the hearts of our members who raise funds for our partners’ dynamic and lifegiving work around the world. In this Lenten season, you can support our mission by making a generous one-time donation or by joining our Share Year-Round monthly giving program.

My trip ended with the flight back from Kigali, but your pilgrimage of solidarity does not have to, and with your support, neither does our partners’ good work around the world.

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Communications and Catholic Saskatoon News are supported by gifts to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal: dscf.ca/baa.