GAMAID
- July 16, 2025
I’m Clinton Chinedu Arinze, a native of Anambra State, and on September 18, 2024 I had the life-changing opportunity to join the Bethel Retreat and Vocational Farm Camp at U Dormita Farms in Uyo. At that time I was eager to learn practical, farm-related skills, and from the moment I arrived I was immersed in the rhythms of real agricultural work. The farm was organized into distinct sections—poultry, goats, fish, and crops—and every area operated under clear rules that taught me discipline alongside technique.
In the poultry section, my Team A duties began with caring for tiny broilers through the most critical early hours, monitoring their temperature between 1 AM and 6 AM to protect them from heat or cold, keeping their water fresh, and ensuring constant access to food until they reached dispatch size. With the layers, I learned that hydration is essential for egg production and that increasing calcium in their feed directly boosted laying. Moving to the goat pens, I discovered the importance of quarantine: confining new arrivals for a week so they acclimatize and don’t bolt when released. I’ll never forget the joy of helping a pregnant doe deliver twins under our watch, learning compassion and precision in animal care.
Our fish-care rotation taught me pond management from fingerling to table size: feeding catfish at set spots to train them where to come for food, isolating those that stopped eating to nurse them back to health, and sorting by size to prevent cannibalism. In crop production, we started pepper, potatoes, yams, corn, cassava, and pumpkin leaves in seedling compartments before transplanting them into grow bags—waiting four to eight months for the harvest. Through it all I saw how careful scheduling of tasks—feeding, cleaning, weeding—maintains animal health and crop yields by establishing reliable biological rhythms.
Beyond technical training, the retreat was a crucible for spiritual and emotional growth. Each morning we gathered for devotions, and I experienced personal breakthroughs—overcoming my longtime fear of dense bushes and small creatures as I walked confidently through fields. Working side by side with other Christian youths, I learned patience, forbearance, love, and the power of teamwork; I went from preferring solo efforts to flourishing in community. The combination of skilled farming instruction, daily worship, and mutual encouragement deepened my faith and reshaped my worldview.
This entirely funded camp required almost no personal expense from me, yet gave me far more than I could ever repay. I left U Dormita Farms not only with hands-on expertise in poultry, goats, fish, and crops, but with a renewed spiritual connection, strengthened emotional intelligence, and a profound sense of belonging. I am immensely grateful to everyone who made the Bethel Retreat and Vocational Farm Camp possible—it was more than vocational training; it was a journey of holistic transformation that continues to guide and inspire me.