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| Watering cabbage plants in the field and transplanting seedlings. The similarities among everyone I have met has far out weighted our differences. |
Today was the start of the work week and all the students on the trip began their proposed research projects that included: poultry evaluations, water quality, horticulture, and surveys that addressed various aspects of living in Mozambique. Having been here for several days it is becoming easier to process the events that are happening all around. Chris, the agriculture coach at Ebenezer picked me up early that morning once we all arrived at New Horizons farm. Ebenezer is a technical institution were selected individuals from the surrounding communities are provided a work-trade agreement where they attend courses in agriculture, business, family relations, are provided food, housing, in exchange for work in agriculture plots. Leaders are chosen annually and are accepted into the program so that they will hopefully bring the information back to their villages and share the farming practices. I made the short ride to Ebenezer where a majority of my work will take place holding onto the side of a tractor as it swung back and forth down the rock filled roads.
When we arrived Chris gave me a tour of the field and introduced me to some of the apprentices. It was learned that each apprentice has his or her own field plot with various crops that they are responsible for. At the moment the main crops that are being grown are tomatoes and cabbage both in plots. The program is two years and the level of difficulty in the classroom increases as the courses progress. The corn was just harvested and sold prior to my arrival and the individual corn plots were 50 meter (m) by 50 m. This size was manageable considering no other crops were being grown at that time and they were rain watered.
There are also experimental plots that apprentices are trying to grow onions, carrots, cucumbers, and Chinese cabbage on a much smaller scale. It is incredible that everything is done by hand. The seeds are sown, weeds are pulled, and the plants are watered using bare hands and hard work as opposed to having machines that perform these tasks. At Chris’ home the gardener is able to grow peppers, papaya, garlic, eggplant, lettuce, cabbage, and bananas. The soil was noticed to be incredibly sandy; therefor it does not hold water well and drains very quickly. This means that the crops require watering multiple times a day.
There are many challenges on the farm that come from pest pressures, weather, and limited access to tools, but the most prominent challenge seems to be an issue of theft. While these are all hurdles to be overcome, if you are able to get the supplies needed to grow the crops, work past environmental factors to have a viable crop, and then have the crops stolen it is the greatest defeat.
Water is pumped from the river to the field with a simple generator. There is an indigenous population across the river that farms the fertile land along the banks. The locals have an agreement between Chris and that if the generator is to go missing, they are no longer allowed to farm the land owned by New Horizons. This in itself is the only way that even under lock and key that Chris was able to protect the generator from being stolen a third time. An immense amount has already been learned just in the first morning working on the farm. Before I knew it time for lunch was here, so a 30-minute walk was made back to where the group had all been dropped off earlier that morning.
Having driven down the road once I felt somewhat confidence to make the walk back, but when I came to a fork in the road I questioned if I truly knew the way. Remembering the advice Chris had given me to go straight and not make any turns left or right I went with the best choice at that time. While walking down the road that looked like all the others some fear overcame my thought. As I passed a local woman I did my best to ask for advice in Portuguese, which worked and confirmed that this was indeed the correct way back to the New Horizon office.
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| Making the walk back to New Horizons along the roads surrounded by Mozambican wilderness |
The decision was made that this was the best opportunity to meet the other apprentices one-on-one without the comfortable buffer of Chris as my translator. I brought with me a bottle of water, sunhat, and phone for photos. Honestly, I was intimidated and didn’t think too much about introducing myself because it would most likely make me to nervous to go. While walking into the fields most of the apprentices were spread out, but there was one young woman working nearest to me. I watched her for some time and eventually she asked me “no Chris?” and I responded “vamonos” meaning “go” in Spanish the only way I knew how to communicate. She looked incredibly confused and went on watering her crops. I looked at her and asked in English, “can I help?” along with motioning to the plants in the ground. She immediately rolled her eyes slightly and walked in the other direction. At this moment the I felt like a helpless child that was a burden.
She came back from the bush with two 5-gallon buckets filled with water, set them on the ground, and motioned for me to come and carry them to her cabbage plot. The water was spread amongst her plot and we walked into the bush to refill the buckets. These buckets were so heavy, when I picked them up it was all I could do to remain balanced and not spill it all over the ground. Expecting a hose, I was surprised when we arrived at a well and Ezelda threw a bucket down the well to pull water up. Eventually, she decided it was time to rest once we carried water and applied it to the cabbage plot once more. While she sat, I walked to another apprentice and helped him transplant cabbage for some time. They were curious where I was from and with the little English they knew, asked and I responded “America” which received interested looks.
It was an incredible to now somewhat be accepted into the group, feeling much more comfortable and welcomed than just a few hours before. The afternoon had flown by while I enjoyed my experience in the field. In order to make the walk back to the bus, I gathered my belongings, said “Ciao” to the apprentices and gave the mountains behind me once last glance for the day. I am thankful for each and every opportunity to step a little further outside my comfort zone and learn about farming practices in Mozambique. Food is something that we all have in common and it crosses all borders and boundaries.
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| Watering cabbage in the field plots surrounded by the mountains of Mozambique |
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Read more from Olivia at https://mozambiquefarming.wordpress.com/
To find out more about the faculty-led Community Development
in Mozambique summer program, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/mozambique
