9 minute read
A NOBLE CALLING
By Adam Calaway
A NOBLE CALLING
Soak It Up: Steve Swigert assists in adding irrigation lines in a Ugandan field. Assisting with agricultural needs such as this is just one part of the mission. The program also offers medical care, education, and spiritual discipleship. Photos Submitted By: Steve Swigert
Afew years back, if one needed to find Steve Swigert, most days he’d be working in the Noble Foundation’s Agricultural Division. If you weaved through the building towards the back hallway you'd find his old office. You would have known it was his, because some of the pictures and knickknacks seemingly didn't match the man or the industry. Sure there were photos of his two grown daughters and wife, Vicki, but there was also memorabilia from the University of Oklahoma (which he usually wore). If you paid close attention there was a small, Africa-shaped memory box on the corner of his desk, and pictures of a lush green land that is clearly not Oklahoma. Steve is an unassuming man, one of those guys that would do anything to help anybody. He has a bright smile, a hardy laugh that strikes a pleasant tenor, and a grey mustache that could win a contest. For more than 22 years, Steve served as an agricultural economist for the Noble Foundation, assisting farmers and ranchers in the Southern Great Plains with financial advice and business planning. He now provides these same services for Great Plains Kubota! His background is completely Ag (He holds two masters degrees in Ag-related fields and managed a farming operation for almost a decade before he started at the Noble Foundation). His livelihood is Ag. His passion is Ag, and as it turns out, Africa. For almost 25 years, Steve has circled the globe, participating in and leading more than 30 mission trips for faith-based organizations. Two years ago, Steve’s local church, First United Methodist in Ardmore, Ok., came to Uganda to support the Watoto
Childcare Ministries (Watoto is Swahili for “children”). Ardmore physician Mike Carnahan led an effort to construct a new medical clinic in one of the Watoto villages. Steve was all in. This particular mission trip, however, would be different.
Watoto background
For a little background, Watoto Childcare Ministries sprouted from the Watoto Church in Kampala, Uganda. Thirty years ago, Gary and Marilynn Skinner who were poor missionaries, not billionaires as I originally assumed, arrived at Uganda believing they were called to bring life to a dying land. This couple had zero resources, only a few connections, and three children in tow. The couple founded Watoto Church during the then leader Milton Obote’s, while in his second tenure as president/ dictator. To put this in perspective, in the early 1980s Uganda resembled America’s Wild West except with oppressive poverty, massive corruption, and genocide mixed in. Hundreds of thousands of people were openly imprisoned and murdered, while the AIDS epidemic further unraveled an already tattered societal fabric. However, these atrocities didn’t happen over night. Decades of coups and genocide left Uganda broken. Obote was eventually exiled, and the Watoto Church grew steadily. One day, Gary Skinner visited a woman who had lost 6 children and a husband to AIDS. Soon after the Skinners founded the Watoto Childcare Ministries. The concept behind Watoto is direct and profound. The Watoto model focuses on orphaned children and vulnerable women. The program offers physical care, medical intervention (including treatment for HIV/ AIDS), education (formal and technical), trauma counseling, and spiritual discipleship. The goal is raise the next generation of African leaders, who have a solid moral compass and academic/technical training. Watoto leadership believes, and is being proven right, that you can change a country from within if you provide capable leaders. Today, Watoto Childcare Ministries has more than 2,500 children (ages 3 months and up), living and learning in villages across Uganda. Once the children are accepted into the program, they are a part of the family for life. War and AIDs have left 2.6 million orphans in Uganda, of which Watoto can only assist 1 percent. Their goal is to reach up to 10,000 children within the ministry. This where Steve Swigert and Kent Donica, an agriculture producer from southern Oklahoma, came into play.
Steve and Kent go to Africa
Two years ago, Steve and Kent joined their first mission trip to Uganda, expecting to assist in a small agri-
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A NOBLE CALLING culture project. What they found was a calling that matched their particular skill sets. After the first day of touring the facilities, Steve and Kent realized the profound impact a sustainable agricultural program could have on the ministry. The idea was simple: help Watoto raise as much of its own food as possible. This would put vegetables and protein into the mouths of the orphans, while providing products to sell at market, thereby generating a revenue stream and further fund the mission. Steve and Kent sat together that first night, with tears in their eyes, knowing the substantial task before them. “It’s like trying to take a sip from a fire hose,” Steve said. In the beginning Steve and Kent helped the organization map out a plan to better utilize their land resources and to build infrastructure, while providing valuable education to Watoto workers about crops and animal husbandry. Since their initial trip Steve has returned to Uganda eight times in the last 24 months. Each time, he answers more questions, and provides counsel and support, while helping trouble shoot everyday problems. If he doesn’t have the expertise, he knows where to find it. Often, Steve calls or emails the Noble Foundation office, and his fellow agricultural consultants to provide the answers. Between each trip, Steve, Kent (who has returned twice), and their church have marshaled resources. Agricultural producers and business owners, who hear the Watoto story, have donated equipment that is loaded into giant containers and shipped around the world. Additionally, special fundraisers have yielded funding for the missions agricultural needs. What started with a single goat barn and 30 goats has now blossomed into an agriculture endeavor very near to full scale production. Each Watoto sight has a different project. The goat barn at Suubi now holds 120 goats and provides enough milk for the Watoto babies at home. The once-never-imagined chicken facility at Buloba is mere months from going online. The Buloba site also houses a feed mill and a 15,000- bushel grain storage facility. The eggs will provide protein to the children, as well as be sold for profit. The grain storage will save the organization tens of thousands of dollars by holding grain for use in the dry season. The 200-acre vegetable garden at Lubbe produces corn, rice and vegetables for the villages, and at the urging of Steve, Watoto is preparing to turn 200 acres of high quality land into working farm. The speed of change has awestruck all involved. “I’ve seen hundreds of operations progress and grow, but nothing has ever come together so quickly. It’s been less than two years. It's truly a God thing," Steve said. The relationship between the Noble Foundation and Watoto grew as well this year. Supporting sustainable agriculture and advancing the industry has been the cornerstone of the Noble Foundation mission. As the organization furthers its international reach, the connection with Watoto’s sustainability and educational efforts was a natural fit. Watoto, the Noble Foundation and two agricultural universities, Oklahoma State University and Texas A&M University collaborated on a pilot program that will send one skilled student from one of the schools to Uganda for three to five months of on-the-ground experience. The Watoto-Noble Fellows will be integrated into all aspects of Watoto’s agricultural production system, including animal management, crop production, land stewardship, agronomy, water management, harvest, storage, distribution, food system development, marketing and economics. Things have changed from eight years ago to today. The work has grown and many children are being fed. And although Steve and friends returned to Uganda in October 2021, Steve now serves the customers and employees of Great Plains Kubota. This year Great Plains Kubota joined the mission allowing Steve to continue feeding children in Uganda. If you would like to get involved with this mission, please contact Steve at sswigert@gpkubota.com
Let it Grow: A field of beet root gets watered with the aid of the mission. Photos Submitted By: Steve Swigert
