by Judith Kusel
http://www.judithkusel.com
I remember a conversation I had with one of my cousins who was a farmer.
At that stage, we were going through one of the severest droughts ever experienced in Northern Natal. All the rivers, dams, etc were bone dry. Farmers had to watch their animals die and the ground was backed so hard by the relentless sun that it became like cement.
My uncle, who was in his Elder role then, told me, that when your whole life and livelihood depended on Mother Earth and the elements, farming became a matter of faith and hope.
“Every evening I watch the sun going down and scan the horizon of even a wisp of a cloud. And then I simply close my eyes and pray for rain, not only for me, but for all life and life forms, for we never are an island. We are always part of a greater creation and the greater whole. We cannot sustain life without all working together as one. Yes, in times like these, we cannot divorce ourselves from the rest. We help each other.”
I remember when the rain did come, cyclone and torrents, so much that the dams filled up within hours, some even broke. The rivers flooded, bridges were washed away.
I went and stood in the rain and did the rain dance, smelling the exquiste fragrance of rain on parched soil and my dogs and others joined it. People stretched out their hands trying to catch the water…. Smiling faces, some rain mixed with tears of gratitude… Laughter…Joy!
In Africa rain is a great blessing, because we know the severity of droughts. We also know our livelihood depends on water.
And when I met my uncle a few weeks later again, he too was smiling as his dams were full and the grass was growing again, the trees full of green leaves….
“You know, this is what having faith means, and hold that vision in your heart and soul, even when there is no whisper of a cloud in the sky. Yesterday one of the old Zulus came to me and said he was smelling the rain coming, and he also said, mother earth would blossom again. He gave me a flicker of hope. And now look, more rain than we could have ever hoped for. And life begins a new. As farmers our whole life, is that of hope and faith. We plant and never know if we will have a crop to harvest. Yet, I would not trade this life for anything else.”
Let us honor the land, the elements, Mother Earth and the Divine within.
Let us support our local farmers and those who tend the earth. They are the Salt of the Earth.
And let us support those who are prepared to go into organic farming against many odds.
For as my one cousin told me, who was looking into organic farming, that he first had to leave the land poison free for three years and then grow the vegetables.
But his next door neighbours farm with mealies (maize) and they use planes to spray poisonous substances to kill insects etc. This kills not only insects, but birds and raptors and owls and the animals as well, our food, etc.
The only way go avoid this happening, he said, was to go into tunnel farming, or go get all the neighbours to stop using poisons, these contaminate the waters and soil.
Let us not only support our local farmers, but assist those who truly seek to make a difference and those who already are and have for many generations.
We are all in this together, and the more conscious we become, the more we will not only help to find solutions, but we will also support those who truly seek to serve in higher ways.
Let us remember that we are just passengers on space ship earth and we need to honor her life giving force, even as we embrace the New holistic ways of life now opening for us all.
For in truth we are all one.