Light at the End of the Tunnel?
How agricultural reforms are set to boost micro economic activities across sub-Saharan African Communities.
The Gelfand food projects began in Uganda and Zimbabwe, and have since expanded to six more African countries and a total of 20+ communities in Africa south of the Sahara. Jewish communities in countries like Ghana, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Nigeria, Tanzania, etc. have been recipients of the life-changing Gelfand food security grants. This will be the very first time we’re experiencing unprecedented agricultural support spreading from the eastern region of the continent and spreading across to the western parts. It is proof of a change, an indication of our slow but steady journey from where we were in the past to where we desire to be in the near future.
Mr. Mark Gelfand, a Jewish philanthropist from the USA, funds the Gelfand food security grants. They are designed to give food self-sufficiency to the African Jewish communities affiliated with the Sub-Saharan African Jewish Alliance, an organization formed in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in December 2022. The effects of climate change induced droughts and water shortages have caused widespread food shortages and famine across the African continent. As a result, many communities suffer from perennial food shortages and have since become chronic donor aid candidates.
The African Jewish communities that are recipients of the Gelfand grants are all affiliated with Kulanu, a US-based organization that supports the development of Judaism in emerging, isolated, and returning Jewish communities across the world. Although Kulanu’s main mandate is the development of Judaism in Jewish communities, Mr. Gelfand‘s approach is slightly different. Before hanging the Mezuzah on the door, we must first achieve economic empowerment; otherwise, we won’t have a community to talk about. This has been one of his favorite expressions, and it has inspired him to work for the economic growth of Jewish communities who are considered to be vulnerable. He wants to make sure that Jewish communities have a way to meet their basic requirements as a people.
To that end, the economic empowerment of the African Jewish communities and the development of Judaism in the African Jewish communities are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, these programs serve to complement each other. The projects range from poultry production, animal rearing, fish farming, and irrigated crop production. Each community comes up with proposals that support agricultural activities that are suitable to its climate, skills base, as well as traditional food source preferences. All of this greatly boosts the project’s chances of success.
The Gelfand food projects are helping create united, focused, and highly organized Jewish communities, held together both by their religion and economic development projects. Where there was despondency and hopelessness, we now have Jews who are very positive about both the present and the future. We have been empowered by the projects to hope and dream again. The execution of these projects is intended to yield outcomes within a specified timeframe, and by progressing through each phase, the roadmap of the venture is maintained. The primary objective is to execute the plan to attain the expected outcome ultimately. Should successes be achieved, the micro economies of beneficiary Jewish communities would be significantly boosted over time, transforming them from dependent consumers into self-sufficient producers.
We experience our share of setbacks, but that’s the tuition we pay for experience and hands-on learning. That is the very definition of living to work, sometimes failing and sometimes succeeding, learning from our mistakes and trying again differently until we succeed. That is life. In a way, the Gelfand food projects have taught us to live again. They have given us the dignity that comes from working to earn a living. Because whether it’s hectares of farmland, a crop plantation, a poultry facility, a fish pond, or an animal ranch, what counts is control and ownership of the means of production. Knowing that this is the community’s property and that every contribution is intended to generate products through these community owned means of production cultivates a positive sense of duty in everyone. By concentrating on how the anticipated outcomes would address the challenges and limitations, project managers would be inspired to take all necessary actions to ensure the system operates at its best throughout the year.
What does the future hold? We are positive that through the Gelfand projects, we can keep on working to spread hope and positivity in the SAJA communities. We are becoming a coherent community of African Jews, bound together through common hopes, aspirations, and dreams. Through the Gelfand projects, we are learning new skills, and we are sharing and exchanging the different skills we are learning from our diverse projects. The sky is the limit; we are hoping to see more and more Jewish communities receiving the lifechanging food security grants. We can now see the light at the end of the tunnel where we had lost hope.
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