A Journey of Spirit and Dedication

For Scott Moreau, it’s all of the above, wrapped into one, each day, every day. Please join the 1988 Collegiate graduate as he shares his journey of spirit and dedication that has taken him from Richmond through Charlottesville and Philadelphia and finally, since August 2013, to Lijiang, a city located in the Yunnan Province of China, four hours from the Tibetan border and 7,100 miles and 12 time zones away from home.

 

When Scott was a student at the University of Virginia, he and his future wife Vickylee became involved with an organization called Medical Campus Outreach.

 

“Part of our ministry to medical students,” Scott explained, “was helping them integrate faith and medicine. Medical schools were great at teaching future doctors how to treat disease but not necessarily how to care for the whole patient. They recognized the need for empathy and compassion but didn’t know how to address the need in a helpful way.

 

“We (MCO) tried to help them (medical practitioners) address the questions for themselves. By answering them, they could also address issues of faith and dealing with suffering and pain – questions like that – with their patients.”

 

Their work with MCO took Scott and Vickylee to Philadelphia where they saw medical students and doctors head into a variety of environments from inner city to private practice to the military to overseas.

 

“Over our time there,” Scott continued, “we got this burning desire to do something more in an underserved area. Several of our friends who were finishing their residency or fellowships were looking overseas. We started to talk. Wouldn’t it be cool if we all went together? My wife and I weren’t medical in our background. We could help out in an administrative or support role.”

 

In 2007, they made the commitment to move with two other families to Southwest China. They settled first in Kunming, a city of seven million where they lived for three years, then to Dali, which he refers to as the Lake Tahoe of China.

 

There were challenges, one of which was logistical. By the time they moved, the Moreaus had four children aged 1 to 7.

 

“We were a real scene moving through the airport,” Moreau said. “I think our limit was 12 suitcases. We maxed that out.”

 

Much more weighed into the decision, of course.

 

“When you move overseas with kids,” he said, “you have to count the cost and think, ‘What’s this going to mean for their education, their language, their growing up?’ As Christians, we prayed and asked God for wisdom and direction. We felt like if He’s leading us to move there, he’s going to take care of us. Over the years, we’ve found that it’s been such a rich experience for them. It’s really shaped who they are as citizens of the world.”

 

Barnes, 17, and Caleb, 15, have been home schooled. Stephen, 12, and Lydia, 10, attended the local public schools through third grade and are now home schooled as well.

 

So far, so good. The Moreau children have learned much about Chinese culture and language and have received as thorough an American education as possible.

 

“They really get a blended education,” Scott said. “They grew up learning the language. They go out in our little neighborhood courtyard and play with the kids and quickly pick up how to say this or that. They quickly outpaced Mom and Dad.”

 

When the Moreaus went to China, they went more with a vision than a specific action plan. The first order of business, after overcoming the language barrier, was studying the culture, the market, and the environment. The plan has evolved.

 

“In Yunnan Province, I found that the three things that foreigners did best and could do long-term were teaching English, health care, and agriculture,” he said. “My major in college was foreign affairs, so the only thing that prepared me for was something like international business or import-export. That left health care and something uniquely agricultural.

 

“Jeff White, a friend from California, and I bought a company. We saw this foreigner who was moving to Singapore who had a well-established agricultural business in the capital city. We saw an advertisement. We met with him. We did our due diligence. We felt like this could be a great opportunity.”

 

So Sprout Agriculture was born.

 

“We bought it in 2012 with the idea of doing organic farming and growing cherries,” Scott continued. “Jeff grew up on a cherry farm where his dad farmed several acres. The Chinese love cherries. They love eating them themselves and gifting them. No one in the southwest of China was growing cherries that we knew of. We’re doing that with plans to do sustainable agriculture, organic farming, a permaculture orchard – in American it’s called complementary farming – where you’re growing things that work well together on an orchard or farm.

 

“Our vision is to train the local farmers in the processes. We’ve hired several people as day laborers. Our plan is to have managers and staff at each of our farm sites that are learning these skills and maybe local workshops for people in the villages.

 

Sprout Agriculture is located on a three-acre site. The principals hope to secure a second site in the near future.

 

“Our idea is to replicate this in different locations based on relational trust with people who would like to protect the brand and continue the brand,” said Scott, who handles marketing, administration, and finances for the venture. “From the preliminary marketing conversations I’ve had, people are very excited about what we’re doing. Now, they’re waiting to taste the product. Hopefully, we’re preparing to hit the ground running.”

 

The Moreaus were in Richmond from August until early January visiting friends and family, sightseeing, and touring colleges with their oldest son. One day recently, Scott stopped by his alma mater, which he hadn’t seen in five years.

 

As he enthusiastically described his latest venture, he circled back to the reasons that called him to travel to the other side of the globe in the first place.

 

“As a Christian, I would like to live my life in a way of integrity and love that allows people to know what I believe and in a way that’s backed up by my actions,” Moreau said. “In China, we don’t preach or stand on a corner and hand out literature. We’d be on the next flight home.

 

“What fits our style more is having people in our home, taking a meal to someone who’s sick, walking beside people, being involved in people’s lives, helping them and encouraging them in their down time, pointing them to truth, and loving them well. What we’ve found – and this is God’s cool design – is that in doing, we receive. People love us well. We’ve had our moments when people have reciprocated and prayed for us. It’s been a real give and take.

 

“I don’t see my life in China as any different than my life would look in Philadelphia or Richmond. Be kind and loving to our neighbors. Point them to truth. The only difference over there is that you just look different and the language is different. For us, it’s speaking the truth with love. We want to preach with our actions. We want to preach with our lives.”

         -- Weldon Bradshaw