Dorabis – Dorabis

DORDABIS GARDEN PROJECT

The Dordabis Garden Project is part of a longer story of what the Lord has been doing among us in Dordabis over several years. What began through outreach slowly grew into relationship, then into church life, and eventually into practical expressions of shared responsibility within the community.

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The Dordabis Garden Project is a natural outworking of Crowded House’s long-standing relationship with the Dordabis community. Since 2019, our engagement there through Crowded House Family Church, Dordabis has included a testimony of early mistakes, as we came to see that some of our initial relief efforts created dependency rather than lasting change. This led us to a deeper conviction before the Lord. It was marked not only by repentance in prayer but also by intentional follow up with people through relationship. We recognise this as the Lord’s leading, which first resulted in the planting of Crowded House Dordabis, founded on the gospel of Jesus Christ as our primary focus. At the same time, we continued to pray for practical change in the circumstances of the community.

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The Forming Years

In the early forming phase, around 2020, the first step of the church plant took shape as an Outreach Community, with Sunday services and midweek Bible study gatherings. During this time, the Lord sent an early leader who, shortly after joining Crowded House Windhoek, left his life in Windhoek to live in Dordabis and serve the Lord by serving His people there. Around this same period, through relationships the Lord was already forming, we were gently drawn toward Dordabis, which led to some of the first outreaches into the community. The Lord also provided favour through the landowners of a private property adjacent to the town, who made their land available for the work. This became the place where this early leader lived, where the church gathered, and where the garden would later be established. As relationships grew over time, this provision continued to shape the life and rhythm of the work. He was faithful with the work the Lord placed before him. When his season in Dordabis came to a close, we recognised that he had helped lay a foundation for what would follow. Through his obedience, the Lord prepared the ground. In time, the Lord raised up an eldership couple to carry the work forward. We recognise that God Himself remains the true builder and gardener, adding each person according to His will.

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Establishing the Work

In late 2022, this eldership couple was sent to Dordabis, and in March 2023 they were prayed for at the Regional Equip. Since then, they have carried responsibility for the work and continue serving the community. Their season has seen the work become more established, with church life in Dordabis deepening and the later garden vision beginning to take shape. Throughout, we recognise that God Himself is the One who builds and sustains His church and makes things grow in His time.

Where We Are Now

The garden now functions as a place of formation where work, responsibility, and shared rhythms shape both people and produce. Through participation, individuals grow in confidence and skill while contributing to the wider community. The work itself has developed in stages over time. The first phase established 24 soil-based garden plots, stewarded by participating CH families and members of the local school, kindergarten, and hostel, within a shared social contract that encourages accountability and responsibility. The second phase introduced mushroom cultivation in partnership with UNAM Cares, which expanded both skills and production capacity. The third phase is developing in collaboration with the Crowning Garden project and focuses on aquaponics and hydroponics systems to support year-round cultivation and future sustainability. What has emerged is not simply an agricultural initiative but an expression of the gospel in everyday life. The garden reflects the heart of Crowded House through relational discipleship, shared responsibility, and faithfulness in the ordinary. As it continues to grow, we see it as one small example of cultivating both land and people over time.

The Garden Emerges

As relationships deepened and Crowded House Dordabis was established, we continued to ask the Lord for practical expressions of dignity, work, and sustainability within the community. The vision for the garden emerged within this context and took shape through the provision of a donor who wanted to support food security in Dordabis. From the beginning, the garden was never approached as something to deliver but as something to steward together. A faithful member of Crowded House Windhoek, who had agricultural knowledge and practical experience, played a key role in laying the foundations of the work. Through his work with AGRA, much of the purchasing for the project was done through them. Their practical support, including free delivery and flexibility that allowed him to travel to Dordabis, made a significant difference in the early stages. These visits often became opportunities for hands on training alongside deliveries. He ensured that skills were transferred and that ownership was shared. When he passed away, we grieved the loss of a dear brother and friend. We also felt the weight of losing the person whose agricultural knowledge had become central to the vision of the garden. In many ways, we were at a loss as to how the work would continue.

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