CBM Africa Team: Ruth Munyao

Ruth Munyao in Nairobi, Kenya

Food insecurity is one of the most critical issues facing Sub-Saharan Africa. Among our main areas of intervention, Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM) works to enhance sustainable conservation agriculture in order to strengthen local churches and communities. We are so thankful that this crucial area for sustainable well being is being led within our Africa team by our colleague Ruth Munyao.

Ruth coordinates all of our CBM and Canadian Food Grains Bank (CFGB) projects with our African partner churches, primarily in Kenya, Rwanda and Eastern Congo. As our CBM food security specialist, Ruth brings a high level of education from her Masters degree in environmental development, as well as decades of experience working with both government ministries and faith based organizations in several countries.

Over the past few years, Ruth has also coordinated annual agronomist trainings between Canadian volunteer specialists and our project officers and field workers. In addition, Ruth’s passion for professionalism and excellence has strengthened food security hubs within East Africa where the efforts of several international NGO’s and local organizations come together for collaboration.

For anyone who has visited CBM’s work with agro-forrestry and conservation farming, they have no doubt been impacted by Ruth’s contagious joy and her love for people.

We are very happy to share with you some of a brief interview we recently had with Ruth.

"I was brought up in a small rural home in Kenya where agriculture played an important contribution to the livelihood of the people. My family kept Christian values, had respect for human life and believed in hard work. 

My passion is to have a family become food secure and stop living at the mercy of someone else’s “pocket”.  

The verse in John 15:8a,“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear MUCH fruit……” tells us not just to do things casually (which everyone is doing) but to bear “much” fruit. This verse encourages me to think objectively, live independently and work with the spirit of “above average” without giving room to mediocrity.

My joy is to see a smile on a mother’s face as her children get enough food to eat and sustain their small bodies. My joy is in mentoring the young people who work as field supervisors and see them take charge of their lives as they lead communities to great transformation.

Some of the main challenges that people I work with face are the extreme climate changes which have discouraged the farmers despite the trainings that are given on improved crop husbandry practices. We face major setback as farmers work on climate change adaptation practices, sometimes in vain. 

We need integrated interventions to make farmers more resilient to the shocks of climate change. Women contribute over 70% of the food produced in Africa without much recognition from their families, their church and their governments. Together with other NGO networks, we still struggle to bring into light the plight of the African woman."

How have you seen God at work in your ministry?

"God has been our protector and shield amongst some of our field staff who have been through years of war and uncertainties. 

There are times such farmers left their homes to sleep in the forest area so that they escape the wrath of rebels as they trekked across the land in eastern Congo. Being a tropical forest area with lots of rain, families with small babies suffered sleepless nights which resulted to malaria and many diseases. God is faithful because Christians across Canada and Africa prayed, we saw victory at the beginning of the year as rebels withdrew, calm returned to the land and families went back to their homes.

North Eastern province of Kenya is a desert area with little and most times, no water is available for domestic use as well as for their livestock. Since time immemorial, Kenya has been known as a water scarce area. However in October last year, in Turkana county, northern Kenya, two powerful water aquifers were discovered with so much water (they say enough water to sustain Kenya for the next 70 years) out of nowhere. How else are we going to see God at work if not with such miracles?”

How can our friends and churches be praying for you and your ministry?  

·      "Pray for peace in Africa. Pray for families who have members with terminal diseases and may not access medical care. Pray for appropriate interventions to hasten the climate change adaptation in the region. Especially, pray for rains which help us produce enough food. Kenya’s inflation has risen from 7.67% (July 2014) to 8.36% (August 2014) due to the poor rains of the last season. Kenya needs rain.”