May
8
2014

Ebola outbreak presents new challenge on sucker supply line

To date, we have received all of our starter suckers from Africa Felix Juice (AFJ), a processing facility owned in part by World Hope International and located on the First Step special economic zone in Sierra Leone. AFJ is the company that will buy the fruit from the pineapple farms we are helping to develop,… continue reading
April
29
2014

A delicate balance: My first visit to Sierra Leone

On my first day in Sierra Leone, I woke up in Freetown with traveler’s diarrhea and no choice but to get in a car for our 60-mile trip to Bauya. Leaving early and getting ahead of traffic is one way to cope with the narrow, bumpy roads of rural Sierra Leone. Even for this Mississippi-born… continue reading
April
14
2014

First team of farmers named in Sierra Leone

The most rewarding part of a recent trip to Sierra Leone was identifying and offering an opportunity to three groups of locals. The team of Joseph Gbongay, Abu Bangura and Dauda Koroma are our first farming entrepreneurs! They have committed to farm an acre of pineapples with Just Hope. For the next two crop cycles,… continue reading
April
9
2014

Just Hope leadership team visits Bauya

A Just Hope team that included Ben Turner, President, and Phillip Crockett, Director of Projects, recently returned from a 10-day visit to Sierra Leone, where they met with our assessment team, witnessed the continued planting of pineapple suckers, engaged local people in an opportunity to grow pineapple, and fortified our “boots on the ground” project… continue reading
April
9
2014

Sierra Leone

In Sierra Leone, a brutal 12-year civil war destroyed infrastructure and reduced the nation’s people to among the poorest in the world. Near the village of Bauya, in the Kongbora chiefdom, Just Hope has identified pineapple farming as an income opportunity. We are leveraging local farming skills, assisting with start-up needs and connecting farmers to… continue reading
March
31
2014

Kongbora assessment includes soil testing

Domingo is a lab technician at Njala University, and he is helping us in our ongoing assessment of the people and land in the Kongbora chiefdom in Sierra Leone. He and his team dug test pits for taking soil samples. Here he is marking the depth of the pit with the blue and white tape… continue reading
March
28
2014

Keeping pineapples healthy during dry season

Sierra Leone is located north of the equator, and the climate there is tropical. Two seasons define its climate: the rainy season, which runs May to October, and the dry season, which runs November through April. Currently in the dry season, the Just Hope pineapple farm is watered manually by these local workers who tote… continue reading
March
27
2014

More pineapple suckers delivered in March

Our project in Bauya, Sierra Leone, recently received another delivery of pineapple suckers from Africa Felix Juice, the company that will subsequently purchase the pineapples from the Just Hope pineapple farm for processing into juice. This delivery consisted of 17,375 suckers, shown here being counted by our local workers and verified by representatives from the… continue reading