Napula, Mozambique Field Visit.

After the meetings in Maputo, a small group of us traveled to Nampula, Mozambique for two days to visit a rather unique chicken processing operation.

This is common in small airports in Africa. It is simple, you land on the runway, walk out ONTO the runway and walk a bit into the terminal to exit the airport.This is a historic cathedral built during Portuguese control that is pictured in all the travel books when you look up Nampula! We only drove past it.

Once we exited town, we went about 20minutes drive into the bush to get to New Horizons Farm. There were many rock formations like the one pictured above. This one is informally named "God's Thumb" because it looks like a giant "thumbs up!" formed naturally by the hand of God.Upon our arrival to the New Horizon's Farm, Andrew Cunningham (business owner) began giving us a tour. This picture above is of the chicken feed processing center.Something unique about New Horizons is that it is built literally on "bush land" so much of the area is still just overgrown bush and other areas have been cleared away to build upon. The company has a unique blend of simple and complicated structures developed based upon necessity. Many structures were very simple. This combination of simplicity and scenary made the farm a quite charming place to visit.
The entire purpose and mission of New Horizons, is to involve rural African farmers in commercial industry that provides them an avenue out of poverty. Currently, rural farmers are hired as out-growers. The company loans the out-grower feed and chicks then buys back the chickens at a contract set price. Andrew is zealous about running a business committed to God and to reaching out to benefit the community. When asked if they could raise the chickens for less themselves, the response was, "Yes probably but that's not the point of our business. Instead, we try to make changes internally so as to never have to move away from the out-grower model." Above is a photo of one community out-grower. The New Horizons team is careful to involve traditional and local governing authorities in the process of selecting out-growers. Below is a photo of the inside of this man's chicken run.

This photo is another example of simplicity and the utilization of local resources. This device is a simple way to control the warmth of the chicken run. It burns charcoal and the chimney allows the out-grower to adjust the temperature. It makes the electric heat lamps unnecessary in communities without electricity as a power source.

On day two we had the opportunity to visit the hatchery. Due to the expense and unreliability of transporting "day-old" chicks to the farm for distribution, NH designed and set up their own hatchery.

Here you can see the eggs in the incubator.

Here the building supervisor explains how chicks are chosen and distributed to the out-growers.

The director of the hatchery and the building supervisor share a moment of light-hearted humor.
Finally, we toured the area where the breeder chickens are kept. These are specialized chickens purchased and carefully raised for the purpose of laying the eggs to hatch in the hatchery.

NH had a chicken processing plant much like the one pictured in the previous blog. On the day we toured it (thankfully) it was not running. That was definitely a one-time experience for me! Above is pictured the New Horizons' packaged and frozen dressed, whole chicken.

Our trip to Nampula was truly inspiring and challenging for Kyle and me. It is powerful to hear the testimony of people who are pursuing the heart of God for their lives and more incredible to witness the fruit of their labor. We left this place with a desire to know the heart of God more deeply than we did before we went.

I have included a snippet from a reflective article I wrote about our trip to Nampula:

"My time at New Horizons was inspiring and convicting. It is a powerful experience to see the spiritual fruit of people who love God deeply and zealously pursue HIS seemingly impossible calling."

Finally, we had to make the long trip back to Zambia. This included an eight hour drive from Maputo to Johannesburg, South Africa.

Border crossings in Africa are always an experience!

What an incredible experience to be able to drive and see so much of the beautiful scenary in South Africa. Although we only spent two nights total in South Africa, the level of development is quite shocking, especially when I was not expecting it!

Real eight lane highways with signs, exit ramps, and enforced speed limits!

You rarely see American trucks in Zambia, but there were many in South Africa and Mozambique.

Condos and townhouse developments with beautiful hilltop views...fancy office buildings...these were common sights in South Africa as you neared Johannesburg. I most appreciated having REAL rest stops where you could find clean, tiled bathrooms while on that long drive!


This completed our hectic travel schedule around Southern Africa. We are so thankful to those who prayed. Our time spent on this journey was valuable to our work and ministry. Thank you for your continued love and support.