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As you know, I have been telling stories about the villagers who inspired the Mother Letter Project on Mondays. Today I share a story about an experimental garden that is bringing life to the people of Mozambique.
MALO GA KUJILANA - A PLACE OF RECONCILLIATION
The three of them work the field. They have planted soy-beans, corn, tomatoes, garlic, and some local fare. This morning they are working the rows, cultivating life and checking each tender shoot. It is eight in the morning and already Rusty has finished his second round of breakfast - a second cup of copy and second chaw. He is in the field, sharing good news and good work with two villagers.
There is a tree they call miraculous; it’s leaves contain more vitamin A than a carrot, more vitamin C than an orange,more potassium than a bannana, and more protein and calcium than a serving of milk. A small grove grows at the southern end of the farm. The village-mothers learn to cook the leaves in the cornmeal mush they feed the children. Where once was only starch, now there are nutrients. Where once there was only mush, now there are the building blocks of life.
There is another shrub, perhaps even more miraculous. It’s leaves are mini-fans, waiving delicately in the wind like dill or fennel. It’s smell is bitter as is it’s bite. It is a burning bush, ashy to taste and perhaps deadly to the thief that is malaria. The men tend the bush with care, wondering what mother, father, son, or daughter might next benefit from the bitter root.
The men work in the laboratory. They experiment with compost and chicken litter. They experiment with marigolds and guinea fowl. They taste the moringa and see that it is good. It is a physical and tangible garden of life, a metaphor for a place once lost.
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