SWAMP RICE & BUSH DEVILS - Mid July, 2006

It’s a lean time of the year. This fact is not readily apparent to the eye, as the rainy season has set in and the landscape is lush as can be. But ‘rice’ is scarce. Harvest doesn’t typically happen until after the rains have gone, so the real abundance of food manifests itself during the dry season… beginning in November. Groundnuts (peanuts) grow in the dry season, as do potatoes and cassava. Mangoes, pineapples and others come to fruit with the beginning of the rains in May, but a meal is not considered a meal without rice… and rice is scarce.

An older man, who was hitching a ride with us part of the way back from Foria today, tentatively threw out the question… “I don’t mean to ask something foolish…” (this, by the way, is Aaron’s translation from Kuranko) “but is it true that some people, maybe from other places, can go without eating rice for more than twelve days and not die?” We replied with an explanation of how different starches (corn, cassava, potato, etc.) have become the main food in different parts of the world. All these things are present here, but to a Sierra Leonian, rice is the pinnacle food, and they cannot imagine life without it. As I’ve said, food is not even called a meal without it. Aaron unconsciously has adopted this way of thinking about food. He’ll often say to me, “Kumba / Munkapri / Isatu has brought ‘rice’” Initially, I’d think ‘rice’ hmm… ok… and only come later to realize that ‘rice’ meant chicken and plantains seasoned in a delicious sauce to go over the top of rice… or groundnut stew, or potato leaf with rice.

Some of Aaron’s friends helped assist reporters from the BBC on a trip up the Loma mountains last year. On the way up, the reporters pulled out ingredients for a chi chi dish of oatmeal… raisins, nuts, coconut, other dried fruit included… which elicited the appraisal “Bon dom boleh” (or ‘Baboon’s Food!’) from the Kuronko / Sierra Leonians of the group. The variety of food that we so highly prize in our supermarkets is not a priority here… the pinnacle of food has been found, and it is rice. Pity is extended to those who have not yet discovered it… my spaghetti is assessed to be ‘worms’ by those who see it.

So yesterday I found myself calf deep in the muck of Marah & Isatu's swamp rice farm. The project of the day was transplanting seedling rice into much larger beds, where they would be spaced far enough apart to be able to grow to maturity. A ‘company’ (or work crew) had been hired to help for the day, as this is a big project. This company was a collective of 18 secondary school girls who banded together and took turns working on each other’s family’s farms. When the family farms are not in need, the girls would hire out their company to work for another farm… for which they would each get about 1000 Leones (about $0.35) compensation. Different companies command different wages and almost all of the farmers (men, women, and children) are part of one. Yesterday was quite heavy work (by my standards) but I’ve come to understand the planting is about the ‘kindest’ of the big projects. Cutting and clearing a farm is considered the most difficult, especially if early rains set in and it is impossible to burn the farm properly in preparation. This can transform the preparation of a farm from days of work to weeks… and a ‘company’ of adult men is definitely needed.

For girls who spend much time on the farm, it was amazing how fiercely they could argue on the proper methodology of planting. To keep things lively, teams (within the company) compete for speed while planting, and this too generated much heated discussion, as it was ensured that plots were divided evenly.

Just more than half of the rice farming is still done in upland areas, though ‘swamp rice’ was introduced in the 1960’s. Upland rice can only be farmed from the same area once every 15 years because of the toll it takes on the land, so people must clear new areas each year. Swamps, on the other hand, are farmable year after year, especially if other crops (like groundnuts) are rotated in during the dry season to keep the land healthy.

Though it seems evident that forest cutting is not sustainable, some desired varieties of rice only grow in the upland areas, and further, many of the best sites for swamp rice have a more or less permanent ‘claim’ on them. People do realize that the cutting of the forest is having an impact on the clarity, quality, and regular supply of water… but it seems that they can’t yet see an alternative.

Well, this has gotten to be a lengthy email, so… I’ll send it and get to ‘bush devils’ next time. The backs of my legs are aching something fierce from my miniscule foray into the life and work of a rice farmer… a whole new market for exercise videos out here… yoga for rice farmers…

Emily

GLUE STICKS & 'NO WAY' MOTORS - early July, 2006

The Spectacular Freetown Coast

Tonight is warm and humid & Aaron and I have been enjoying a relatively peaceful day in Kabala following the whirlwind tour of Ghana and Sierra Leone with my folks and the Carpenters. Disco music from town is pulsing its way up the hill to the little round house, competing with the crickets and frogs for dominance in the soundscape (not sure if that is a real word or not…) I didn’t feel the personal connection to Ghana that I do to SL, but our time there was rewarding. The Acrofi Christaller Institute in Agropong was encouraging to become acquainted with. Joel’s friend Dr. Bediako, one of the foremost theologians in Africa, exuded wisdom and positive vision. We became acquainted with a Ghanaian Bible institute and Ghana Fellowship of Evangelical Students. It’s our hope that some degree of connection and relationship can be established between some of these organizations (and a few others that we met up with in Sierra Leone) and the emerging churches in the north of SL – that will strengthen each.

Adventure began in a whole new way as we were forced to abandon our plans to take the hovercraft (not working) into Freetown from the airport. Instead, we were corralled onto an ancient and decrepit helicopter that swayed with the weight of twice the amount of people as it was licensed to hold… the operators told us not to worry – everyone would get on - as they loaded up the aisle with luggage and piled a few more people on top of suitcases. Joel Carpenter’s seat on top of a box practically spilling into the cockpit was particularly unconventional, but I was feeling enough thrill noting that my seatbelt didn’t clasp and the whole machine shook as it flew just 300 feet from the ground… night air coming in the open windows. I’m not going to bother giving a whole summary or narrative of the time here – but I’ll share a few stories:

Freetown is in a bit of a furor due to lack of water. As this is ‘rainy’ season, this is particularly troublesome. All of the water (for a city of 1.2 million) comes down in a pipe from the Guma Valley Reservoir, about 45 minutes drive south of the city. The problem isn’t lack of rain (this I can verify!) it’s incessant cutting of the supposedly protected Guma Forest Reserve that surrounds the reservoir. One of the latest big culprits is the new construction of a US Embassy for which all of a mountainside has been clear cut, and which has triggered the cutting, clearing, etc. of another major chunk of the reserve. Without the forest to hold and regulate the retention of water, the reservoir just can’t serve the large and growing population in Freetown… and there aren’t any other particularly viable alternatives. The other issue is, of course, the growing population of the city. It tripled over the course of the war (’92-’02) with little infrastructure development to support it – in truth, major infrastructure regression.
At many points along the road, we’ve all been enjoying both God’s creation and man’s creativity. The naming of businesses has become much too bland in the US. We’re wondering how some of these gems might go over:

In God All Things Are Possible Beauty Salon
Hot Sweet & Jumpy Relaxation Spot
No Way Motors
In God’s Time Auto Repair
Peculiar Child Day Care

Kabala’s Adult Women’s Literacy Class - this class is comprised of 10 women who are community leaders, but who never have received a formal education. Jo Kuivenhoven, from Canada, has been leading it, and she is tremendous. She is working on some really exciting education and literacy projects (more later).

Class began with a meditation from John: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’ So… the obvious question was asked – what in the heck is it supposed to mean that ‘Word’ = ‘God’. Without missing a beat, the women came up with the notions of the ‘power’ of words, the ‘bridge’ that they build the ‘understanding’ that they create.

A discussion began regarding why these women wanted to learn to read – and the list emerged quickly… some reasons profound, some practical. A women pulled out a glue stick that had for some reason been put in her school packet and described the length she had gone to try to figure out what it was. Was it deodorant? Chapstick? Perfume or something with a scent? Being able to read would have short circuited much experimentation.

Aaron & I are currently joined in Kabala by Jo K. and Dennis & Jenny DeGroot. Dennis is the principle of Frasier Valley Christian School in Canada. I don’t know where to begin with describing how impressed I am with the innovative thinking of this group. Start ‘Googling’ “Frasier Valley” and “Christian Extension Services” and you will probably come up with some further details… Frasier Valley began a building project for the school over two years ago, and Dennis helped guide the institution towards a decision that has built in a ‘tithe’ of 10% of the capitol campaign to go towards the building of a school in Kabala, and the training and sustaining of it’s teachers and teaching resources. Jo is working with one of SL’s teaching colleges to pilot new techniques of teaching literacy in areas where there are limited resources and much of the research will be done at this school. She is working on a further grant to sustain the activity of college level research internships with this project. Two students are likely to come this fall, but Jo is tearing her hair out waiting to hear the final word on whether the grant has been received.
In any case, Dennis claims that the fundraising for their school addition has been tremendously energized by the tithe to the school in Kabala, and that people are perhaps more excited by the ongoing news of the developments of what is happening here than the addition in Canada (though it was much needed). I’d love to think that this could in some way become a model for capitol campaigns of churches and schools elsewhere in Canada and the US… though I know the challenges.

Thus far, schools in Kabala are OK, far better than the villages, but not adequate to prepare a student for any further education. It is tremendously exciting and a relief to think of the impact that this project may have on opportunities for many of the children that I have become acquainted with here. So far, about $80,000 has been raised, and only about $25,000 is needed for the physical infrastructure of the school, so a good portion of it will go towards the ‘human resource’ development of the teachers and the ongoing sustenance of the program. This has been a big problem with other ‘development’ projects. All over one sees clinics – with no trained doctors, and no good medicine. Dennis is trying to figure out a way to allocate a small percentage of the annual school operating budget towards the continuing support and relationship with this school. We hope that it will be open for next school year.

Having my parents come to visit was really neat. I’m sure that they are returning with many thoughts and stories to tell, so I won’t try to pre-empt that. My mom survived remarkably well despite lost luggage and we’ve all grown fond of the green dress that she bought in Ghana… though she probably won’t be wearing it again for a couple of weeks at least.

Aaron and I are now making plans for the next research expedition into the ‘bush’. I’m kicking myself because with all of my meticulous packing, I managed to pack TWO LEFT BOOTS (of my two different pairs) when packing up the suitcase to come, and we couldn’t find a pair that fit in the used shoe market in Freetown, so are having to get one shipped. Though very interested in Aaron’s research, and well, probably more accurately, being with Aaron… I’m a bit intimidated by the prospect of hiking 30 miles into the ‘bush’ with no camp set up in the middle of rainy season – especially as his SL friends (all men) talk about past expeditions in a way that makes them sound positively grueling. I’m assured that the pacing could be done a little differently – though I wouldn’t want to really slow things down. So pray for us, as this is a bit of a challenge to figure out. We only have about a month more to be together before what is likely to be another couple months of separation.

Grace, peace and love to all,
Emily (and Aaron too)