Rainbow Sunday

The school farm has been my daily duty and delight. For the past two months, every single day I go to the school farm to do all sorts of stuff, like irrigate with the kids, plant new seeds, cultivate the land, harvest the crops, and so on…It is such a pleasure to be working with the kids and for the kids…

(Pic taken by Lindsay Myron. http://lamyron-tanzania.blogspot.com/)

The school farm is not just the place where we physically do things, but it is also the place where all the dreams and hopes are being built. That’s where the kids work really hard to be able to have meals at school. Every single day they carry heavy buckets on the top of their heads to go irrigate the plants. That’s where they put their hearts and souls in a daily basis life to guarantee that they will have something to eat at school. That’s where the students ultimately plant the seeds of hope for better days.

*    *    *

In the first month I was in Magoma, the days were really hot and the sun shinning like hell. Irrigation was a big issue to keep the plants healthy and it was such a struggle to make sure the plants were watered properly. Right now we are in the rainy season and, of course, I’m really glad to have rains as they naturally irrigate the school farm. Every single day that we have rains, you can not picture my state of happiness.

But lately we’ve been having lots of rain. Too much rain.

This past Sunday, me and Lindsay (the lovely American girl working with me), we woke up and went to the school farm, just like we do every single day in Magoma. There are two ways to get to the school farm. First, we tried to take the short cut, but we couldn’t pass it because it was flooded. We went on the other possible way and, for my big surprise, it was also flooded. There was a river where it used to be waterless and dried pathway. In that instant I got scared. If the pathway was flooded like that, I could picture what might have happened to the school farm…Just the thought of it was frightening…

I wanted so badly to cross the river to go find out what hap happened to the school farm, but crossing the river would be too risky.

As Lindsay said “I don’t think you should cross, there might be crocodiles in there”

(There are crocodiles in Magoma and last year we lost people from crocodiles’ attacks.)

I hesitated, but, you know, f* it.

I just couldn’t control myself. I HAD to SEE with my own eyes.

I then crossed the new existing river and kept walking towards the school farm. Only half way there, I found myself in a completely flooded area. I literally saw water everywhere. That was one of the saddest moments of my life.

You know those few moments in your life that you get petrified and speechless?

That moment was just like that.

I felt inert, motionless and vulnerable as I’ve never felt before.

For you guys to picture the scene I saw: There is a water channel being currently built around the school farm, and it is all unfilled and dry, but on that moment it wasn’t just filled with water, but it was entirely flooded. I could hardly see it.

The entire area was unrecognizable. Where it used to be dried land, there were little waterfalls and several rivers instead.

From the point I was, I could see far away the current pepper crop we have (had) and the nursery plot with the new planted seeds of peppers and onions. They were far away and for me to reach them I would have to go through a lot of water and mud. Of course, it was very unlikely that the plants would’ve survived, but in an irrational-desperate-hope-attempt I just kept walking in the direction of the nursery. The water was reaching my waist and I had a hard time moving around. When I got closer to the nursery, I saw all our new planted growing seeds submerged in water.

I don’t know how mad I was to think that they could’ve survived that much water and inundation, but that’s where all the dreams and hopes were placed and that’s why I had hope. Just the hope to see it alive.

But everything was gone. Right there under my eyes. And I couldn’t do anything. Anything.

I couldn’t breath. I couldn’t think. I could cry.

I was completely unable to clearly understand how I was feeling and I just had to do something with myself. To cool off my mind I decided to go up in a mountain in Magoma. I then started hiking,…

crying,…

running,…

crying,…

climbing…

My body was just reacting to my mind process of regurgitating that awful scene.

That flooded vista killed me in a way that as a matter of fact everything at the school farm was vanished. Everything that the kids have been working and fighting for was gone.

I was now able to somehow understand the meaning of vulnerability.

*    *    *

For the subsistence farming people, like the people in Magoma, one of the challenges mentioned in the books and papers I read before coming to Tanzania is the vulnerability that they face within the climate and weather changes. And I knew it. But living and experiencing this together with them is absolutely a different story. I then realized what millions of smallholders and subsistence farmers around the world go through when something like that happens.

And so the issue goes beyond our project in Magoma. The rain didn’t affect just our school farm, but all the other farmers in this region. All of their farms were destroyed and who knows how many farmers are in the same situation around Tanzania?

80% of the population is dependent on subsistence farming.

Along with that, as subsistence farmers depend on the outcomes of their farms, they don’t have enough to feed their families…

What I felt is very little considering to what all those farmers actually feel… The difference between me and them is that I’ve never experienced how it feels not to have food to feed my family and they, on the contrary, have been facing hunger since long past generations.

The little scale and magnitude I felt already knocked me down. The idea that other millions of people go through worse situations during their entire lives - and most likely future generations- tortures me.

They don’t have enough to feed their families and children.

And the world keep wasting 1.3bn tones of food each year. (FAO)*

?!

*    *    *

While I was regurgitating all those thoughts in my head, my body as a natural response just couldn’t stop moving up in the mountain…

When I reached the top of the mountain, my mind was restless and thoughtful. I then looked at the view from the top.

The whole village looked so small and far away and all the mountains and its surroundings were amazingly beautiful.

It was so silent.

And then I saw one of the most astonishing things I’ve ever glimpsed in my entire life: the biggest and most colorful rainbow you can ever imagine. It was arising from the rice fields and it was all benched over the blue sky and gently covering up the entire village.

I felt like that rainbow was just there to deeply touch my heart.

Then I genuinely understood why I came to this place.

Under all those bad prospects and awful things, I’m here to fight for a different reality.

You know those few moments in your life that you get petrified and speechless?

That moment was just like that.

I felt inspired, motivated and encouraged as I’ve never felt before.

So, oh, well, let’s start all over again when the rains easy off a little.

Tuko Pamoja! (We are all together!)

Cintia.

*http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/may/12/food-waste-fao-report-security-poor

*http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/74192/icode/