The Poultry Leadership Podcast

Eggs for Ethiopia: A Child's Step of Faith That's Still Changing Lives 10 Years Later

• Brandon Mulnix • Season 2 • Episode 25

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A simple yet profound question sparked a movement that continues to transform lives across continents: "What if I raised chickens to help my friends back home?" When 8-year-old Biruk Van De Stroet posed this question to his adoptive parents in Iowa, no one could have predicted the remarkable journey that would unfold over the next eleven years.

Having been adopted from Ethiopia where he once survived by rushing into restaurants to eat strangers' leftovers before being chased away, Biruk carried with him an unshakable concern for those he'd left behind. His childlike solution? Start with eight chickens (he was eight years old, after all). His farmer father gently amended the plan: "Raising eight, raising a hundred, pretty close." From this humble beginning, Biruk's Egg Project has grown to nearly 2,000 chickens, generating funds that have revolutionized life in his Ethiopian village.

The project now provides monthly allowances for 75 children, ensuring they can attend school and meet basic needs without resorting to the survival tactics Biruk once employed. Beyond individual support, the initiative has funded crucial infrastructure—a birthing clinic eliminates the need for pregnant women to walk an hour for care, and a vocational school teaching practical trades like woodworking and computer skills that create sustainable livelihoods.

Throughout our conversation, Biruk's wisdom belies his youth. Having recently spent a summer reconnecting with his Ethiopian heritage and witnessing firsthand the impact of his work, he speaks with profound gratitude and humility: "I get way too much credit. Really, we should be praising God." As he prepares to study finance at Iowa State University, his vision extends far beyond the chicken coops of Iowa. "My purpose is to help people," he explains, "and I feel like we all have that calling wherever we are in our stages of life. Either you're 80 years old or you're eight years old, there is always something for you to do."

What calling might you be hearing? What impact could your first step of obedience create? Biruk's remarkable journey reminds us that age is no barrier to world-changing leadership. Connect with Biruk's Egg Project on Facebook or at https://www.birukseggproject.org/ to learn more or support their mission.


Hosted by Brandon Mulnix - Director of Commercial Accounts - Prism Controls
The Poultry Leadership Podcast is only possible because of its sponsor, Prism Controls
Find out more about them at www.prismcontrols.com

Brandon Mulnix:

Welcome to the Poultry Leadership Podcast. I'm your host, Brandon Mulnix, and today's episode is a unique one. I'm in Northwest Iowa I can throw a rock over to South Dakota where I'm at, but I am in the kitchen of a 19-year-old chicken farmer and I'm excited to share his story, because there's a lot of connection already between his story and my story. How this all came about and I'm going to share this to begin with is my word for this year is obedience. And when I feel a calling from that feeling to say, hey, do something about it, I do something about it.

Brandon Mulnix:

And I was reading the North Central Poultry Association's website one of their spotlights and here I found out about Baruch's poultry and I went what is that? And so I jumped in and just said, hey, what is this? And next thing, I know I'm reaching out, mom's connecting me with and we're now talking. We're talking about chickens with a 19-year-old young man, not kid, but we're going to start talking about his story and what came about when he was eight years old. So, baruch, welcome to the show, thank you for having me. So, baruch, it's got to be crazy, some random person calling you up and saying, hey, let's cover your story. Can you tell the podcast listeners what your story is and who you are?

Biruk Van De Stroet:

Yeah, so my name is , I'm 19. As you've already said, I came here when I was eight years old. My childhood has not been the same as most kids in my grade or most kids in my village town right now. So I'm from Ethiopia, which I'll need to be more specific. I grew up in poverty. Most people think of poverty as like poverty here, but no, it's way different. Like, for example, one of the stories I remember of my childhood is my friends and I from my village we would like stake out a restaurant like a decent, nice restaurant, and then we'll wait for someone to eat it and once they're done eating, the consumer would get up, be ready to leave. And then we have a little window, a little time window, where we would rush, eat the leftover before we get kicked out and then leave, and so those are like little memories I retain from my childhood is trying to survive without being adopted here brings a lot of guilt. You know, when I came here I had everything, literally we'd go out to eat, I had a nice house, I could go to school, I didn't have to worry about surviving. My parents provided everything for me and then with it I did not know any English and I told my parents I was with Fork in English that I want to help my friends out. There are people in my village that are still waiting to eat. I'm trying to make a living at eight years old or seven years old that no kid should ever have to do. And so my parents God bless them they just said, yeah, we'll do it.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

And then my method of doing it is raising chickens. My village is small. They relied on ox, goats, chickens, and so chicken, which means doro in my native language, and so I knew the process of chickens, where you raise them, they lay eggs once in a while, you sell the eggs and then they produce more eggs. My dad's a farmer. I said I want eight chickens. And my dad's a farmer. I said I want eight chickens, and then that's a specific number. I was eight years old so that made sense to me. And then my dad said raising eight, raising a hundred, pretty close. So when I get a hundred? And so we did it, we got a hundred, uh, we raised them and then they start producing chickens.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

My mom put on Facebook hey, brooke's trying to do a fundraiser, if you need some eggs, please take some. And so we did that for a little bit. And then our community really blessed, god really spoke through them. They reached out, they wanted eggs, they wanted to help the cause and throughout God just took it. We could never imagine going from 100 chickens to about to have 2,000 chickens. And we connected to Ethiopia, to my village how to get the money there, and so the first year or so maybe raised $10,000, which is a huge accomplishment it really is. And so we thought we're going to be done. Now it's been about 11 years, 12 years, and we're still going at it.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

So we first gave the money to Ethiopia, to the organization which is a Christian church that provides for small villages in Ethiopia. We give allowances to about 75 kids. It wasn't 75 to begin with but it kind of progressed to now being 75 kids. We get monthly allowances for them to go to school, have clothes, just to eat, just regular essential things, so they don't have to stake out restaurants as I did as a little kid anymore. And then we also have done big projects. Our recent project is building a vocational school. So in Ethiopia a lot of people don't go to colleges. They just can't afford, even though it's free, they just can't afford to be in school for four years without not getting anything to eat or need to help their family, and so vacation school would just give them trade skills like woodwork, computer, learn how to use a computer, hair design, stuff like that, so that way they can get jobs. They can be verified to the government for doing it.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

And then we also built a clinic in about 2019, birth clinic. My village is small but has a lot of people in it. They estimated to be around 15,000 people live there, but there's no clinic. So if you're pregnant, don't have any money. You have to go about an hour away by foot. It's not away from a car, so by foot it will take you a while. Especially being pregnant is not the best situation, and so God blessed us. We are able to do that. So that's where we're at right now. We've just started building a new shed to be able to have 2000 chickens and try and put new equipments in. So that's a little short story of the progress that's not a short story.

Brandon Mulnix:

You covered your whole life story. But yet here's an eight-year-old boy. Mom and dad come to Ethiopia, adopt you and your brother, yeah, wow. And then you find yourself in Northwest Iowa, where you don't speak English, you don't know the culture, you just know that this is a complete life change and you felt called to give back to your people. As you started, did mom and dad make you do the chores? They'll take care of the chickens.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

Yeah, so when we started I was very eager to have chickens. I'd stalk the chickens to see if they laid eggs. Yet my mom has a picture of me holding the first chickens and I was just like so proud of just. They laid eggs when we had about 100 chickens. My brothers and I we had Laja Teresa and I we helped feed them, we pick the eggs and as we progressed I kind of slowed down with it.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

One thing about me is I hate rats and mice and the chicken shed. There's plenty of them and so because of that I kind of refused to go in the chickens in the chicken house. So I'll still pick up, you know, eggs once in a while. But now it's really my parents and my grandpa, my grandpa Gail. He picks up the eggs every single. He picks up like three times a day the eggs, and then my mom washes the eggs almost every day for about an hour. So yeah, my grandpa does a lot of it too. So I've kind of been like the spokesperson. Now I kind of backed away from doing the chores, as you can say.

Brandon Mulnix:

So this has been going on for 11 years? Yeah, and over that 11 years you have invested back in your community in Ethiopia. You've given allowances to almost 100 kids, you've helped start a clinic for pregnancy and now it sounds like you've been back. You've been back to Ethiopia. Tell me about that experience.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

Yeah, so I've been fortunate enough for my parents to be able to take me back at least five times or so. Recently I just went with my mom. My mom came with me for a week and I stayed the whole summer and, man, I don't know what to say about it. It was incredible. I've always wanted my culture. You know, at eight years old you grew up with your language and your people. But being in a village in a new town in America with white people which is not a bad thing, but you feel kind of empty, like you don't know where you stand in and of who you are too, and so I remember at a young age I would go on YouTube and then just search like Ethiopian music and then do like dances, like skista and like just a culture. I just always loved it, but I've never been able to have this Ethiopian culture because it just wasn't around me, especially in school or my household.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

So when I went to Ethiopia, I got to be part of the Ethiopian Egg Project and then Brooks Egg Project and help work with it, see how it's run daily, hang out with the kids. I played a lot of soccer with them. I got to share the gospel with them. The one thing I really wanted to tell them is Jeremiah 29, 11, which if you would have told me at their age or in their circumstances, I don't think I would have believed you that God has a plan for me, and so I really wanted to make sure they understood that God is with them, even through their circumstances of not having anything, going through poverty. Your faith is shaken when you experience that kind of thing, and so I got to do that.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

I got to learn my native language. I had about two, three hours each day. I had lessons, which has brought me closer to my culture, brought me closer to my identity as oh yeah, this is my people, this is how they speak, this is how I'm going to speak. I got to learn a lot about the history of Ethiopia. I don't know if you knew that Ethiopia has never been colonized, so they have a rich history. It's amazing to know that I come from a people of one of the first countries to accept Christianity. They're very proud of it. In all honesty, just it's very humbling. I'm so happy that my parents were able to let me go to Ethiopia by myself for the whole summer. I don't know really how to explain it, but that was probably one of the highlights of my teenage years, so this project Burke's Eggs couldn't be possible without your neighbors, your community, purchasing those eggs.

Brandon Mulnix:

Really, yeah, your grandpa, yeah, I mean. What an experience to have grandpa just do the work and believe in it so much and see how it's made you grow. I sit here in awe because I've actually been through the village of where you come from. Most of the listeners probably don't know, but my son, who's turning 17 this week when I record this, I told Burke I wasn't going to be able to get through this week when I record this, I told Burke I wasn't gonna be able to get through this. He's from Ethiopia and he's from just north of where Baruch is, and so I've seen what eight-year-olds have to do in Ethiopia to survive.

Brandon Mulnix:

I've seen tending ox, , running right in the middle of the road, roads that are just absolutely something that would take us two hours in the US to drive. It takes 12 hours in Ethiopia to drive. That village is on one of the main routes too, which is crazy. Going towards the north Just to see your message and to know that you're positively influencing folks back there. When farmers that I talk to every day talk about feeding the world, you're doing it.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

What does that mean to you? I would never, at eight years old. When I said this of this project a lot of people give me credit for it, which I guess I did say it, but I really do think that God is the one that spoke through me that day, because I don't think I would have ever been able to say I want chickens, I want to raise I knew the process and stuff, but really God is the one that did it. And to know that God got all my community I don't know if most parents would be willing to say yes, let's raise chickens, let's do this, and not knowing the outcome or not knowing how long you're going to do it and so got my parents on board. It's incredible to see the whole community behind us and having this whole project that they say Brooks egg project Cause it's my name on it, but I get way too much credit. Really, we should be praising God. We should be praising that he actually let this happen. And then to go back and to see people in my circumstance positively benefiting from my idea that God gave me I don't know how to explain it.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

This summer when I went there, I got to sit one-on-one with families that are part of the egg project and then they just break down and cry to me. Because one story I have is this woman who had been through a lot. She's during the wartime. There's a lot of things that happened to her that was really horrific from both sides of the military. She saw one of her kids die because of famine and that she couldn't support him. She qualified to be part of the egg project because she just didn't have anything and when she was telling me she just couldn't go through the story, she just started crying that I was these people.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

And then when we go to Dessie, which is close to my hometown, which I stayed in there's one night, I almost started crying. Wherever you go, there's moms and son little kid. I was on the side of the road because they're trying to beg for money. That just hit me, because that was me. I was the kid with my mom that would go in front of churches and beg for money and I see little kids you know they may be two years old barely standing up. They're crawling half the time going to people tugging and trying to get coins. To see that God really delivered me from that type of poverty, from that type of situation. Man, that was a rough night, seeing a little kid that was luring me, and now I'm here trying to give back to the community that I was part of. In the circumstances I was part of, there's really nothing I can say about it. If that makes sense, no makes perfect sense.

Brandon Mulnix:

Burik, You're so full of wisdom You're living out leadership. You're a leader to your community here in Iowa. You're a leader to your community here in Iowa. You're a leader to your community back home. What can the egg industry do to support your mission?

Biruk Van De Stroet:

To be honest, as my mom said earlier, I would not classify me as a farmer, but if they have old equipment that they want to donate to our cause, they can.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

But just serving the community, like I guess it's an industry, it's to profit, you know, get money, but also it doesn't take much to, you know, help out. I bet you there's a lot of chicken farmers and stuff in Ethiopia or maybe in the third world country that if they want to help out with that, there's a way. You know, god always has a way for you to do his mission. All you got to do is take one footstep. That's what we did. Just took one footstep with the chickens and God took it, and we could have never imagined what he would have done, what this would be the result. And so what I say to everyone is if God gives you a calling of a little hint, maybe you should help this, maybe you should go this route. What do you have to lose? Just do it. If you're trying to donate, we'll be happy to have your old equipment, stuff like that, but if you have a different calling, just take a step.

Brandon Mulnix:

You couldn't have spoke obedience better. I mean your obedience to the call. I think of that call when I go to you know the drive-through line at Starbucks, and I'm like, hey, pay for the people behind you. And you don't have no clue of what that order could be. But you, in faith, say you know what, how can I follow that? Do that, and that's. I mean, that's everyday, practical stuff that you can do. When you hear that on your heart but you argue about it, you say no, no, I don't need to do that. I don't need to do that. But what kind of blessing are you not passing forward when you do that?

Brandon Mulnix:

Because my path to Ethiopia to adopt my son was because I felt a calling to say, hey, go with your pastor, go do it. And I went. Okay, what do I have to lose? Next thing, I know my wife's having to have that same calling and go hey, your crazy husband's going to Ethiopia to take pictures, don't let him be a third wheel, go. And she went. And next thing, I know we have a little boy that's coming home to America three trips later to be part of our family.

Brandon Mulnix:

You never know where those callings are going to take you. But so many times on a daily basis we go nope, nope, not going to bother with that, but we just don't know what that seed is going to plant. And in your case, mom and dad had to have a lot of faith to support you. At eight years old, I mean, I see their faith because they went to Ethiopia in the first place. They felt the calling to go and adopt, which in itself is an amazing blessing, because we never know. I tell my son every day God's got an amazing plan for you. And you just never know. I would have never known, starting this podcast, I'd be sitting in your dining room talking to you about Ethiopia, how to share that story. So what's next for you?

Biruk Van De Stroet:

Me personally, senior in high school, I'm just finishing my last semester. Next year I'm gonna go to Iowa State University, study somewhere in finance, business, somewhere in there, with relating to egg projects. We really don't know what God has for the egg project. We don't know how long it's going to last. That's why we're kind of trying to do more big-oriented stuff in Ethiopia, like building a clinic, building a vacation school that can remain there even past our time. It's unpredictable, we don't know how long. Maybe we have another 10 years, maybe we have 20 years, maybe we have five years, and so we're just trying to do the most we can with the egg project.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

But my story I do.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

I want to go back to Ethiopia for longer time periods, maybe after college, or even I want to live there just to be able to serve as a missionary after I'm done with my degree, go into my career, maybe for 30 years or so, and then just go back to the origin place I was placed and then help out.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

You know, maybe my village or some surrounding villages that past summer being there, it just gave me fulfillment of the swamps called to do. My purpose in life is to help people and I feel like we all have that calling wherever we are in our stages of life. Either you're 80 years old or you're eight years old. That is always something for you to do, and in this story of mine, I was eight years old, but my parents have as much impact, or even greater, in starting the egg project when they're in their mid-40s or early 50s, and my grandpa who's 70 or so. God uses everyone. I don't know how God's going to use me through my adult life, but I know he will and I'm ready to listen and respond to whatever calling he has for me.

Brandon Mulnix:

I want to let you know Iowa State's a a great ag school, and finance isn't just about business finance. Agriculture it's business. Finance is important. Being able to be good stewards of the money is so important. So I commend you for understanding your. As we talk about youth in our industry, we talk about those. There's so many opportunities available to kids and everybody thinks it's in the barn.

Brandon Mulnix:

We need people like you with the same heart, the same vision, because you could be CEO of an egg company someday. Keep following God's plan for you. I know as you're obedient. You're going to change the world. You're going to feed the world. I mean you're already doing it. From eight years old. You've had more impact on nutritional value of that community than you could ever imagine. I mean a lot of folks wait until they're retired before they start really getting involved in these organizations and volunteering. You're doing some of this stuff at the beginning. The value of eggs is so important. I'm hoping that through this podcast, we can connect you with some of the folks that can really 10X your mission, your vision, because I think it's you that's going to help change the world and help change the egg industry over time. And so thank you for your willingness to be here. How can people connect with you and your mission?

Biruk Van De Stroet:

Yeah, that's a good question. My mom is very active, like most moms, on Facebook. So we do have Biruk Egg Project on Facebook. So if you just look up Brooke's Egg Project, my mom's very active in it. So if you give us a message, we'll message you back. If you just want to learn more about our story and the egg project, we do have a web link, birukseggproject. org, where we give monthly news and you can read everything about it. Give us a call if you're surrounding areas of Sioux Falls, Canton. If you want eggs, we'll probably be delivering and then we're hoping to be licensed to sell to businesses. So if you have a small business bakery and stuff like that in the near future and you want boxes of eggs, we'll be able to provide for that. So, yeah, just facebookorg or give us a call too.

Brandon Mulnix:

Yeah, any last minute advice for the leaders out there Back to Jeremiah 2911.

Biruk Van De Stroet:

God has a plan for you. Gotta go for the calling. Just make the first step.

Brandon Mulnix:

Well, poacher Leadership, listeners, you've had an opportunity to listen to the heart. I'm a young adult that's changing the world. If that doesn't challenge you, I don't know what does. He's feeding the world. What are you doing about it? That's the challenge I have out for you guys today. Just make a difference, be obedient to the callings. You never know what that's going to do, because it just takes one blessing that can spark a fire in somebody else, and so please share Brooke's story with your groups to see what you guys can do to help, and also please share this episode so others can learn about this mission, this vision and also the wisdom that is far beyond his years. Thank you for Prism Controls and your sponsorship in allowing me to be able to come and interview this amazing young man. Thank you.

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