I’m privileged to be a part of a small work detail from my home church, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa and also some guys from Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. Our objectives were to get some of the final bits of infrastructure in place at our base camp, so that we can start accommodating our aid teams directly on our ministry property in Jacmel, rather than having to house our teams in an assortment of houses located off-site in the surrounding area. Since we’ve arrived here, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a wide dynamic of projects – digging and setting a 10,000 gallon cistern, pulling hundreds of feet of wire to energize the Quonset huts that will house our teams and staff, wiring my first single-phase transfer switch (while it was live! yikes!), building shelves and a workbench in the generator room to help tidy up a bit, and an assortment of other odds and ends wherever needed. It’s been a lot of hard work at a very fervent pace…..in the sauna-like tropics of Haiti……..but it’s been an absolute blast working with this team, and seeing great things take shape towards the future ministry that will happen from this site.

I’ve also come here to survey this site for a large scale aquaponics installation. I’m happy to report that this site will easily accommodate a vibrantly productive aquaponics farm…..one that could yield large amounts of fish that could be used to feed our staff, teams, local labor, as well as be sold in the markets here. Our hope is to produce consistently high quality tilapia and vegetables in order to help the surrounding community in Jacmel both nutritionally and economically.

Please pray that the Lord would direct our plans.

Below is a small photo gallery of the first few days here in Haiti. I’ll keep adding to it as time (and internet access) permits.

God bless you, and thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Jacob Harman

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Hello friends,

Here are some of my first images from Uganda. The internet is excruciatingly slow and intermittent at best, but I managed to upload a handful of images to flickr. I will do my best to write some form of narrative to these images as I have time, but we’ve been very busy since we’ve hit the ground here.

In the first few days, we visited a high school, a junior high, an at-risk pregnancy clinic, and a bible school/church. These are all related through Bethel Ministries – a family of ministries that is support by our home church of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. It was a real blessing to see how the Lord is working through that ministry here in Uganda.

Today, we will be putting together our second medical triage where we will serve the people of Kajansi with basic medical care and consultation services. Yesterday, we served the people in Namulanda in this way, and it was very well received.

Prior to that, Phil Twente, Ed Cornwell, and myself had the great privilege of preaching to roughly 100 ministers gathered from all across Africa for the ICM Inductive Bible Study conference. It was such a joy to be able to encourage these pastors from the book of Ephesians. Ministers from all over Africa – Sudan, Congo, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Ethiopia – all gathered for worship and the studying of God’s word together during this weeklong conference. It’s been a blessing beyond words.

I have shot thousands of photos in the past week. I will post more photos of the various locations where we are planning to implement aquaponics and biogas production in the very near future. It’s exciting to see how applicable and relevant this technology is to the ministry here. Please continue to pray for direction, wisdom, and continued blessings as we minister here in Uganda.
I”ll post more images as soon as time (and technology) permits. God bless!

Thank you for stopping by!

Jacob

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWyxEZVOdTM

Here’s a short video about one of he sites we’ll be visiting during our ministry in Uganda. New Hope Uganda is a ministry that our church has partnered with for the better part of 20 years. It’s an honor and privilege to finally make the trip over and meet these wonderful people that have invested their lives in the displaced youth of Uganda. I’m praying that our visit will be fruitful, and that our fellowship is encouraging, and that we could possibly work together on some aquaponics concepts, as well as biogas production and waste management solutions.

This is so exciting!

To God be the glory.

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(More photos from the missions trip to India)

The mission of Applied Aquaponics is simple.

Our intention is to empower people through the education of food production, nutrition, and cultural integration. The demographic that we would like to impact first would be the communities residing in regions on our Earth that are suffering from famine, disease, and malnutrition. We are hoping that through the employment of different aspects of permaculture, crop diversification, conservation, and various forms of biodigestion, we could revolutionize the way that these societies fortify themselves against both economic and ecological adversity.

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I believe this type of relief work to be comprised of these three distinct areas of focus:

Observation:

The first phase of this agricultural project would be to observe the location of the  prospected facility, and see if there are any geographical advantages to capitalize on. All terrain exhibits inherently different topographical attributes – climate, proximity to water, positioning in relation to the path of the sun, etc. Understanding the makeup of the soil could lend itself to a good blend of traditional farming, aquaponics, as well as various composting strategies and biodigestion. Understanding the climate dynamic over the course of a year would tell us what types of crops we have to select from, and what type of augmentation we’ll need to create in order to extend seasons, manipulate microclimates, etc. Availability of water, and awareness of the water table would dictate to us the basis of our irrigation strategy. Also, knowing what pests are indigenous to the area might change our construction a bit as well. And lastly, knowing what the needs of the community you will be serving, and how often, and in how much volume will most definitely indicate the overall size of the operation. These are all things that should be considered at this discovery phase.

Assimilation:
In order to effectively apply our process to a specified location, we need to consider our previous assessments and find efficient and advantageous ways to address them in our agricultural stratagem. Utilizing slopes, grades, swales, trees, basins, structure, shade, rainfall, streams, crop-diversity – we should be able to customize our process so that it maximizes the geographical assets that are available.  Sunlight, water, and temperature are probably the most important variables to interact with, and solidifying a consistent supply of these assets is paramount.

Application:
It is crucial to examine the ultimate outcome of these concerted efforts, and the impact it will make on the community in which it will be deployed. With variables like initial build costs, maintenance, staffing, training, and education; there are investments that are to be considered – both the financial as well as the behavioral learning curve. If the long term dividend of this endeavor outweighs the initial costs of labor, construction, adaption, and education – and I feel strongly that it does – then it is worth the undertaking of teaching that community all of the parameters involved in bringing forth both nutritional and financial stability. With that in mind, I think it is important to establish a consistent form of income into the project – as basic as selling the fish and vegetables in the local village markets – or as developed as targeting specific types of crops and fulfilling niche orders for various restaurants, established market chains, etc. My vision is for this tool to not only to supply the nutritional needs of the orphanage, shelter, community that maintains it, but to also bring financial income and hopefully further access to medicine, healthcare, and other practical resources to the community.

Thank you for taking the time to read this overview of our project. I appreciate your thoughtful feedback, and I look forward to partnering with you in any way to further this ongoing work.

Please feel free to contact me at JH@appliedaquaponics.com

Jacob Harman

Applied Aquaponics

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Please click here to view the rest of the gallery

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