Sowing hope: This pastor-turned-farmer grows mushrooms and vanilla to empower the marginalised

When Alfred Phua was 17, his father did not come home from work one evening. Two days later, the police arrived with devastating news: His father had been in a hit-and-run accident and was in critical condition. Shortly after the family saw him in the hospital, his father passed away. “My father was a Teochew […] The post Sowing hope: This pastor-turned-farmer grows mushrooms and vanilla to empower the marginalised appeared first on Salt&Light.

Religion Oct 20, 2025 0 1 Add to Reading List

Sowing hope: This pastor-turned-farmer grows mushrooms and vanilla to empower the marginalised

When Alfred Phua was 17, his father did not come home from work one evening.

Two days later, the police arrived with devastating news: His father had been in a hit-and-run accident and was in critical condition. Shortly after the family saw him in the hospital, his father passed away.

“My father was a Teochew chef who ran a hawker stall and catered for banquets. He was quite an educated man, drawn to the arts and with a love for music, but he was also a drinker,” Alfred, 63, shared.

Whenever he drank, his temper flared, and he often took it out on Alfred’s mother. His drinking also affected his work. With eight children to support, he borrowed heavily and fell deep into debt.

As a young boy in a volatile home, Alfred felt helpless and hopeless.

“I did not have a happy childhood and youth. My relationship with my father was quite strained, and so his passing did not affect me greatly,” the Sarawakian recalled.

A terrifying dream

One night after his father’s death, Alfred had a nightmare that shook him to his core. He dreamt his father’s ghost returned, not in peace, but to strangle him.

He woke in terror, and from that night on, sleep evaded him.

“For the first time in my life, I admitted that I needed the help of Someone greater, that I could not do it on my own.”

“I felt as if I was losing my mind. I had to seek medical help, and was told I had insomnia, depression and mild symptoms of bipolar disorder. Finally, our GP (general practitioner) sent me to the mental hospital. After three visits to the psychiatrist, I was advised to try electroconvulsive therapy,” he said.

It was a sobering moment – he needed a way out.

Drawn to the supernatural since childhood, Alfred sought healing through spiritual means. He consulted mediums, joined cleansing rituals and even drank water mixed with the ashes of burned talismans. Nothing worked.

Trapped in his own mind, he resigned himself to a life without hope.

A miracle encounter

After Form 5, his mother enrolled him in a prestigious mission school in Kuching.

An average student, Alfred found himself surrounded by bright classmates, most of them Christians who seemed strangely joyful.

“They invited me to the Interschool Christian Fellowship during the school year, and later to church. It was during one service that I experienced God,” Alfred said.

“The real needs are out there, and to impact lives, we must walk among them. Faith must translate into works.”

The memory is still vivid decades later.

The preacher had closed with 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power manifests in weakness.” When the altar call came, Alfred thought: “I need the power of God” and came forward.

At the altar, there was no lightning bolt of emotion, but a quiet conviction: If he truly wanted freedom, he could not achieve it alone.

“For the first time in my life, I admitted that I needed the help of Someone greater, that I could not do it on my own. That sure, simple confession of weakness in His presence, made through the power of God and love of my classmates, was my step to freedom,” he said.

After that day, his depression, confusion and insomnia vanished. With his mind renewed, Alfred excelled in his Form 6 exams, much to his family’s surprise.

Following God’s call

University was out of reach financially, so at 19, Alfred joined the sales team at Canon Malaysia. Within five years, he rose to become a manager. “God really blessed my efforts,” he said modestly.

Life was comfortable, but his heart was unsettled. He felt called to serve the Lord full-time. Despite family opposition, Alfred knew he would not find peace until he obeyed.

“Who’d heard of a couple with three young children trying to complete degrees, pioneer a church and do social work?”

So, he started off as an administrator for a young, vibrant church. Soon, a door opened for him to take over a Hokkien cell group that eventually led him to pioneer a Chinese service and start a drug rehabilitation centre under the church’s covering.

In 1987, he married Madeleine. Together, they filled their days with ministry and parenthood.

In May 1995, he enrolled in the Malaysian Baptist Theological Seminary in Penang and completed his Bachelor’s in Theology, then embarked on his Master’s in Missiology.

“Madeleine wanted to do her Bachelor’s in Theology too,” he said with a chuckle. “No one thought we would succeed. Who’d heard of a couple with three young children trying to complete degrees, pioneer a church and do social work at the same time?”

In Penang, the couple planted two churches. While their former church in Kuching ran a drug rehabilitation ministry, the Penang churches launched a soup kitchen for the homeless and a creative hub for marginalised youth.

“It was the Lord who gave me these strategies, and I developed a deep love for grassroots ministry,” he said.

In the midst of this busy season, God blessed them with a fourth child. Looking back, Alfred recognises it was only by God’s strength and grace that both he and his wife graduated from Bible school in 1999.

Cultivating a new direction

In 2012, Alfred and Madeleine returned to Kuching to spend more time with their ageing parents. They were invited to plant a new church, but Alfred once again felt a holy restlessness.

“At the time, the buzzwords were ‘marketplace ministry’, ‘churches without walls’. I took a hard look at the Malaysian Church and my faith. I studied The Life of Christ, a resource book for missionaries who could not afford to go to seminary. It changed me,” he recalled.

By then, Alfred had over 30 years in full-time pastoral ministry. At 53, he was gripped by a fresh passion to bring God’s love beyond the church building.

He joined an inter-church non-governmental organisation, where an American missionary in the Philippines would come regularly to train local farmers.

Fascinated and inspired by farming, Alfred began forming a new vision: doing sustainable ministry through agri-business.

“I stepped down (from my pastoral roles) after several years, but by then, my name was synonymous with assistance, so the marginalised and vulnerable would look for me, asking for jobs or money. For a time, we even had two single mothers and their four children staying in our house,” he said.

Alfred soon realised food and shelter were only temporary fixes. For true stability, people needed a sustainable income.

From mushrooms to worms and vanilla

At the time, Alfred noticed his neighbour was cultivating mushrooms. Inspired, he paid her to teach him the craft in his own backyard.

“We began growing and selling mushrooms to support the two mothers, their children and 20 disabled individuals sent weekly from two government-run rehabilitation centres (PPDK),” he said.

For six years, Alfred led the initiative and quickly became known as a mushroom expert in East Malaysia, training local growers and partnering with indigenous communities.

Along the way, he also started experimenting with vanilla.

“It all began because we had to get rid of the mushroom logs, mainly made up of mushroom roots (mycelium). They have fire- and water-resistant properties, making them hard to dispose of and decompose. I found out it’s a great material for worm composting, so we started doing that,” he said.

Compost, he discovered, works wonders for orchids – and vanilla happens to be part of the orchid family.

In 2020, he reconnected with some marginalised youth he had worked with before. Together, they started a vanilla farm in Penang.

“I spent three years in Penang helping them to set up the farm and get it running. Now, they manage it themselves. Today, Kairos Agriculture produces and sells high-quality, locally-grown vanilla,” he said proudly.

Alfred (in cap) and his wife, Madeleine, with Kairos Agriculture CEO Ezra Tan (next to Alfred) and COO Joseph Chan.

Today, Kairos Agriculture offers high-grade vanilla cuttings, pods and pure extract.

In 2022, Alfred returned to Kuching and became a recognised solution provider for vanilla farming, working closely with APPGM, an initiative under Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance. He is the co-founder of Vanilla Impact Story Sdn Bhd, a social enterprise.

He has trained farmers, expanded vanilla cultivation, and in 2023 won a Yayasan Hasanah Grant to roll out two greenhouses for vanilla cultivation.

Economic empowerment is his goal. One farm he manages in Sibu spans 20 acres and will eventually house 20 greenhouses, employing recovering drug addicts who will work alongside Alfred and his partner.

Among those workers, one has just had his death sentence overturned for a drug trafficking offence, said Alfred, adding that the man is now being equipped in farm management and ecotourism knowledge and skills.

“To reach them, you must walk among them,” says Alfred. These three indigenous contract farmers from Serian, Sarawak have been trained in vanilla cultivation.

The social enterprise has witnessed unexpected blessings: “The vanilla species we’re growing usually flowers in three years, but we saw our first flower in just 18 months and vanilla pods appearing at 20 months.”

Re-tyring for a new adventure

Looking back on his journey, Alfred said: “God led me from being a pastor and social worker to a farmer and businessman. The real needs are out there, and to impact lives, we must walk among them. Faith must translate into works.”

At 63, Alfred shows no sign of slowing down. He’s launching a vanilla café, exploring eco-tourism, adopting new farming technologies and managing grant paperwork.

Alfred and Madeleine have been married for 38 years.

People often suggest he retire. Madeleine acts as his “brake”, reminding him to pace himself, but she knows he still has much to give.

Said Alfred: “I’m not retiring, I’m re-tyring. New tyres, new paths. I want to live out the call of Christianity, follow Jesus and be led by the Holy Spirit to impact lives. In that, I find joy and fulfilment.”