Rebecca Duffett heard Angus Buchan's story

Angus Buchan

Faith Like Potatoes is based on the inspiring true story of Angus Buchan, a Zambian farmer of Scottish heritage who leaves his farm in the midst of political unrest and travels south with his family to start a better life in South Africa. Having already sold over a million copies in America, the film has just won best film award at the Transforming Stories Film Festival in South Africa and Rebecca Duffett caught up with Angus to find out more about his incredible life.

Rebecca: What led you to share your story through a film? Did you ever think it would have such a positive response?

Angus: Not at all. When they first approached us to say they wanted to make a film of the book that we wrote, Faith like Potatoes, my wife Jill said to me, 'but Angus, you know, we're just ordinary people and what impact could a film make?'. I think that is actually the key to what's taken place, the fact that ordinary people can identify with the story, they see themselves in the story.

The name Faith like Potatoes originated from that great Scottish preacher Peter Marshall. He was the Chaplain to the US Senate. He said that you must have faith that's tangible and simple; faith that's real, faith that you can touch; faith like potatoes. We took that little cliché and used it as our title.

Rebecca: Your story starts with you and your family moving to South Africa from Zambia, but you are originally of Scottish descent. How did you get to Africa?

Angus: What happened was my father and mother came from Aberdeenshire in the North East of Scotland. They came out to South Africa and after the Second World War I was born in what is now Zimbabwe. We moved up to Zambia and I grew up there and started farming there and then eventually I got married and we had three children.

We had to leave our farm in Zambia, which was quite traumatic. We started from nothing and that's where the film actually starts. We had to come across the mighty Zambezi on a pontoon with our truck and trailer and all the possessions that we had. We had to start all over again with nothing but a piece of bush, as that's all I could afford to buy; a piece of overgrown bush in Kwa Zulu Natal and that's how the story started.

Rebecca: It must have been a real struggle for you. The turning point in your life, I believe, was when you attended a church service at the Greytown Methodist Church. Did you think much about faith before then and how did you end up going to that service?

Angus: I grew up in a good home like most folk and I would go to church at Christmas and Easter and the odd wedding and funeral, but that was about it. I was very much a self made man. My father was a country blacksmith. I didn't get much of an education; I left school very early and I started from nothing. I thought that I would do it again in South Africa; but you know, unless God helps you, eventually you can't handle it, the responsibility and pressure becomes too great.

I was a young married man with children; we had no telephones in those days, there was no cell phones, no lights, no water; we were starting from basics. It just got too much for me and one Sunday I was invited to go to a Lay Witness mission; the minister wasn't even preaching, they were lay people. When I saw these men and women get up into the pulpit one after the other and share their testimonies about what God had done in their lives; there were building contractors, farmers, housewives and schoolteachers; for the first time in my life I saw people actually weeping and it touched my heart so dramatically that I realised that the only hope that I was going to have was if I handed over everything, my responsibilities, my burdens, to Jesus. I did it on the 18th of February 1979 and so did Jill my wife and my children. We all came up together and my life was totally transformed from that moment onwards.

Rebecca: You say your life was transformed, was that something that happened straight away or was that something that took some time?

Angus: I was very much like Paul; I had a Damascus Road experience. You remember Paul was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians and he was knocked off his horse and the Lord challenged him; that's exactly what happened to me. That morning in church I never saw any shafts of lightening or any thunder or bells or anything like that, but I made a conscious decision that I can't do this anymore; I'm giving it over to God.

On the Saturday night I was in the pub with the boys and I was always first in and last out and then on Sunday morning I made a decision to follow Jesus and my journey began. Obviously I have grown since then and I've made mistakes and I've had to go back to the Lord and ask forgiveness. Good people don't go to heaven, believers go to heaven. I'm a sinner saved by grace, but my life changed dramatically and my friends also changed. The one thing I was concerned about was that I didn't want to lose any of my friends. Christians would smile at me and they wouldn't say anything apart from don't worry. The main thing is the friends I've got now are true friends and they love me because of who I am, not because of the money I've got or because of what I can do for them. I've got five children and they are all married. I've got eight grandchildren. We've got a Children's Home on the farm where I've got 27 children and we've got a church on the farm so yeah it's awesome.

Rebecca: One of your closest friends, I believe, is an African called Simeon. Can you tell us a bit more about him and the part he played in your life?