Friday, March 10, 2006

Farmers share their frustrations with pest management in their cassava fields.

After another debriefing in Makeni, we were overwhelmed by the vast quantity of projects that CARE is working on in the region. Because we knew that describing these projects in words can never truly represent the work and energy that go into them, we were eager to visit the projects in the field. As we climbed into our SUVs, we wondered whether these sites would show us the true meaning of a "Rights Based Approach" and what the Food for Work project has actually accomplished.

Before leaving New Haven, we had promised that we would leave the sites when instructed and that we would do our best to stay as close to the schedule as possible. But the schedule involved stops where people had been waiting for us longer than we were able to stay with them and places so filled with information and successful initiatives that we couldn't begin to answer all of our questions. Combined with the smiles and faces of the people who were so willing to share their lives and work with us, it was hard to do as we had promised. At so many sites, there was so much to see and so much that these villages were proud of and wanted to share.

After having seen the cassava be processed by community groups at many of the other CARE sites, it was particularly exciting to see a cassava farm. The scale of the plantation we saw was truly incredible; 14 communities had created a group farm in which they grew dozens of varieties of cassava and thousands of individual plants. We were told of the challenges of cassava farming, the largest of which is the grasshoppers whose populations skyrocket, decimating the cassava plants. We learned how to flick them off the plants and squash them, and each of us got a small feeling of joy as if we were helping the plants survive.

Local villagers constructed this market through CARE's food for work program.

In Makeni, the community took us to their marketplace which is constructed out of bush materials: strong vines holding the sides of each stall together and thatch creating dry roofs even in the torrential rainy season. There were dozens of stalls, and though filled only with our guides and children who wanted to giggle at our white faces, I began to imagine the bustle when each stall was filled with chickens and fruit, soaps and dried cassava. People come from throughout the surrounding area to this central market location where they pay a few thousand leones (a dollar or two) to rent stalls and sell their produce. The funds raised from those fees go into one large community fund for community projects managed by the VDC (Village Development Council), a group of male and female village leaders.

We realized that while a lucky few have access to transportation of their goods to market, most come and go on foot. Trying to keep produce in tact along those roads in a truck is a challenge hard to imagine, yet walking miles from the nearest village seems far more daunting.

The proceeds from this fishpond contribute to local development projects.

The community leaders came with us to their other major project, a community fishpond. Initially populated with 200 fish, the pond will eventually harvest around 2000 fish. The ponds are drained to catch all of the fish at once, save for the smallest fish. After this, water is added again along with 200 fish from the second pond used for repopulation. Fish are split among the paramount chief, the owner of the land, the VDC members’ families, and sale in the marketplace. The proceeds from the sale of the fish go back into development projects such as establishing schools, constructing roads, and maintaining health clinics. Although there is never enough funding for these projects, to see such creativity within a community towards raising funds while also providing community food security was truly incredible.

Such differences between communities made me wonder whether this action was the work of individual community members or the influence of CARE. Did the paramount chiefs of these communities present the bulk of these ideas? Is the CARE staff more engaged here than in other places were VDCs may struggle to gain funds for any projects creatively? Did some communities start all of this with greater monetary and natural resources at their disposal than others? We were clearly seeing some of the best communities that CARE has worked with which made we wonder what life was like in villages where projects were less successful. Though these ideas were ones I struggled with, they could not detract from the incredible work that we were able to see throughout the day.

As we settled in that night at Makeni office director Finbarr's house, it was incredible to realize how two days with new people can change the way you think. I have also come to realize how it is possible to actually genuinely miss someone for far longer than you had known them. Finbarr's wisdom in our car rides throughout these sites, for example, made it apparent that it was not only in the seeing but in the talking about seeing that learning could be done. My reaction to the burning fields alongside the road would have remained the visceral horror that I arrived with had I not been able to talk and think more deeply about why such agricultural patterns exist as the best possible solutions. Such thoughts have allowed me to look at my emotions towards environmental degradation in the United States in new ways as well, to examine the “whys” and the “how-to-fix-its” rather than making assumptions based on initial shock. I learned how traveling very far from home can help you understand not only where you have been, but where you come from as well.