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Reaching Out from Randolph Co.
SIFAT, Bridging the Canyons between Cultures
By Ginny Farmer
Their mission is simple, but their work reaches far corners of the world. From Randolph County, AL, to Bolivia, Guatamala and Uganda, Servants in Faith and Technology is “sharing God’s love in practical ways.” That goal is accomplished through retreats, camps, work projects, field trips, tours, international training and more.
SIFAT is a 28-year-old organization founded by Ken and Sarah Corson, missionaries who traveled the world spreading hope to the struggling people of third-world nations. They spent 15 years in Latin America and brought their mission |
SIFAT Executive Director Tom Corson visits a llama in the Global Village where visitors can get the experience of a trip around the world. |
| home to Wedowee in 1979, where they were able to organize resources for aiding third-world community leaders in basic survival training: growing food, cooking, food preservation, maintaining clean drinking water and sanitation. |
This photo was provided by SIFAT and was taken in Bolivia. |
Since then, the organization has developed a two-fold mission, targeting not only those of third-world countries, but also local people, or “midpew” America.
“We strive to forge a partnership — even a friendship — between these two peoples,” reads the mission statement. “Understanding that we each have needs as well as gifts, SIFAT seeks to bridge the canyons between cultures.”
The organization provides opportunities for everyday citizens to become involved in spreading the word of God to those less fortunate.
“The world is getting smaller,” said Tom Corson, SIFAT’s executive director and son of the organization’s founders. “We want people to view themselves as global citizens.”
Corson learned at an early age from his experiences with his parents that things like peanuts and sweet potatoes can actually save lives.
“When I was 10, I had the opportunity to go to Bolivia,” he said. “I saw people struggling to survive because of the lack of infrastructure.” Now, it is Corson’s calling to lead others in spreading sustainable agriculture, Christian health and evangelism as “global Christians.”
Corson said SIFAT’s approach is biblical — citing Matthew 25, in which Jesus |
| Christ states that what man has done to “the least of these,” he has done also to Christ. Corson said SIFAT follows Christ’s commission through service. “Our objective is to serve those less fortunate, and to expose church groups to a life of service.” |
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SIFAT has many projects both on its Lineville property, known as the Galilee Campus, and abroad. The Community Development Practicum is a 10-week course that teaches students from all over the world how to meet basic needs in developing countries, incorporating “appropriate technologies” for specific needs.
Learn and Serve is a one-week or three-day program for Christian youth that allows them to realize the needs of the world and interact with practicum students. Sixth- through 12th-graders participate in a week of service, team building and worship. They might milk goats, grind grain or dance with bamboo sticks.
“Hearing our (international) brothers and sisters speak and seeing them in worship is just amazing,” said Taylor Ivey of Mississippi in a testimonial. “It made me extremely humble.”
Younger students from third to fifth grade can participate in three-day camps.
The CARES program is a way for school children and other groups to visit SIFAT for a day, focusing on any number of topics such as different types of technology. Corson anticipates nearly 8,000 students to come through the program this year.
Corson said the CARES program mainly targets about 13 counties in Alabama, but groups have come from all across the state. Because of the demographics of those counties, Corson said SIFAT is especially interested in reaching out to at-risk youth. “We want to support at-risk kids; we want to make a difference,” Corson said. |
Tim Brown, front, an employee of Randolph Farmers Co-op, and Tom Corson pose for a photo on the Andean rope bridge in SIFAT’s Global Village. |
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Programs can be tailored to coincide with what the students are learning in school. “Our plans are to continue to develop training tools for science, math, anthropology and geography,” Corson said. “If you can touch it, feel it — that’s how kids learn.” |
This house is a model of a home in Bolivia.
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A major part of SIFAT’s Galilee Campus is the simulated Global Village, which can give visitors the experience of a trip around the world. Houses of clay, bamboo and slab wood populate a nine-station village, complete with an Andean rope bridge and cooking station.
“It’s hard to believe that there are people who live like that,” said one child who visited the Global Village, in a video clip created for SIFAT by United Methodist Communications.
“It’s just not right for them to live like that,” said another.
SIFAT also has short-term missions of evangelism, construction and medical teams, and many ongoing projects for international training. There are programs in South America, Africa and Asia. The organization has a high level of involvement in Bolivia and Ecuador.
At the Galilee Campus, there is even a market where products from microenterprises are sold. These “small businesses” in third-world countries make a variety of goods from tools to trinkets, which can be purchased by SIFAT visitors. |
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Corson said the SIFAT program began on his family’s dining-room table in
Wedowee, where it stayed for four years. When 176 acres of land became available about eight miles away in 1982, the Corsons were able to get a heavenly bargain.
Corson said the land was owned by an outspoken atheist named Walter Snell. When Snell found out what SIFAT was all about, he sold his land for a third of its market value. |
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Corson recalled Snell saying, “I want the land I put the best years of my life into to serve humanity.”
Indeed, the land has served its purpose well. Students from nearly 80 different countries have been involved in training through
SIFAT.
Funding for the programs comes mostly from individuals, Corson said, but also from churches of varying denominations. Some funding for specific projects has also come from the Alabama Department of Education.
With on-site training involving turkeys, goats, herbs, earthworms, fish and plants, including dozens of varieties of bamboo, some of those funds are spent at the local Randolph County Farmers Cooperative. It’s where SIFAT gardener John Carr comes for fertilizers and growing components, as well as rabbit and poultry feeds, fencing and pest control. The store is managed by Carl Melton.
“They buy a pretty good amount of stuff from us,” Melton said. “A lot of it is unusual stuff for us that we have to special order.” Melton said he frequently orders products for SIFAT that no one else in the county needs. Tim Brown also works at the local Co-op, and said he thinks the SIFAT program is “amazing. It’s a remarkable thing what they’re doing,” he said.
For more information on visiting SIFAT or to become involved, visit
www.sifat.org.
Ginny Farmer is a freelance writer from Auburn. |
This rocket stove is used for training of cooking methods. Tom Corson demonstrates how. |
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