Sowing a Future of Faith

“The earth is full and there is plenty of it” this is one of the scriptures that makes us appreciate all that God has left us to progress in this time and I think it is propitious to tell the story of faith of brother Alexis Bastidas. A Venezuelan who has a fervent love for field work and planting. 

Brother Batidas was blessed with his own land that has been the means of producing his food. His family has long worked in agriculture and this has been the means of income to cover his needs. 

However, developing this activity in Venezuela has become a real challenge, due to the fact that the water shortage has worsened and many towns do not have an adequate supply to carry out their activities. 

In most cases, people must buy the vital liquid each week, through tanker trucks that carry water to homes. This represents a very heavy expense for low-income families. 

The Bastidas family did not escape this reality. They live in a small city called Anaco in the Anzoátegui state of Venezuela, where the piped water supply is deficient and does not reach all sectors. 

Brother Bastidas suffers the consequences of not having permanent water on his land, because he has lost his crops and has not been able to produce food to support his family. In the dry season it is impossible to sow and the land is completely inactive due to the lack of water. 

His plants were already lost and he could only look at how his field work had become nothing. This situation was daunting for them, but without a doubt, they continued to search for the solution. 

A project made reality

Brother Bastidas found out about Operation Family Freedom through Facebook and got in touch with us, in the hopes of obtaining a well because of his lack of water. 

They were eager to start new projects on their land with the planting of pumpkin, sweet yucca, grains and other fruit plants. They have the knowledge, experience, and skills to do it. After so many years working in that area, it was difficult to see how everything they had done now could not flourish. 

They needed resources to carry out this project that would allow them to irrigate the crops. Together with his family they decided to apply for a grant to build a water well. That was the only solution, but the cost was unaffordable, so now they had a chance to get help for their project. 

Brother Bastidas told us that he needed some materials such as a water pump, pipes, cement blocks and other things to be able to build the well. 

When they received the news that they would receive the help, they were very happy because they would be able to maintain their crops, but at the same time obtain part of their food and help others. 

They were willing to help other people nearby who have extreme poverty situations and with their vegetables and legumes, they could give something to eat. One of their objectives from the beginning was to provide a common well. 

Drilling the well was a great job that required the efforts of the entire family. It was a dream come true for them because it is not something simple to make a well and know that it will always give water. But faith was their banner and they managed to get the water they needed. 

The Bastidas family is grateful for the help of Operation Family Freedom. They tell us that their crops have flourished thanks to the water well, they have even been able to harvest some food and share with the neediest people. 

The work has been hard but the blessings they have received are immense as well. Now they have more possibilities to grow other types of food that are so necessary and also to be able to sell it to generate income and meet other necessities of life. 

As you can see in the photos there are different food items such as cassava, which is part of the diet of Venezuelans, corn, tomatoes, squash, cucumber, yams. In addition, the well almost finished is his greatest satisfaction in this project.