Zambia |
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Natural Agriculture in Zambia - Zambia story 1 Alan A. Imai |
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Children in Zambia @@@@@I enjoy visiting with children when I travel. Most of those I met in Zambia are poor and cannot go to school. Yet, they are bright children who deserve a bright future. Unfortunately, for most of them their childhood and their opportunities to learn and grow are lost in the struggle to survive. One thing that struck me about these youngsters was that they all had such beautiful teeth. This caught my attention because many American and Japanese children, including my young son, Tomo, have to have braces. But in Zambia they do not. All of them have full, handsome sets of straight teeth, and beautiful smiles. I think this is because of what they eat. Their staple food is maize. Actually, corn is one of the only foodstuffs they can eat because of the poverty in which they live. As humans, our staple foods are corn, wheat, and rice. I happen to think that we eat much too much meat in the developed world, and we should eat more of our staple grains.
The Republic of Zambia @@@@@The Republic of Zambia is in the southern part of Africa. It is a landlocked country of high plateaus with some hills and mountains, and is about the size of Texas. Most of us in the developed world only know the country for its safaris and nature preserves, but there is much more to the country than taking photographs of exotic animals. The climate is tropical, despite the high altitude, and the area is subject to drought and damaging storms, particularly in early winter. Although officially an English–speaking country, in the rural area in which Shumei is involved, most of the people speak only their native language, Tonga. So, I need a translator when visiting. The nation's capital city is Lusaka. From Lusaka it is close to a four–and–a–half hour drive to where we are working with local farmers in Zambia's Southern Province. The nearest town is Choma. It was there, two years ago, that seven farmwomen's cooperatives were established. The lady farmers who run these cooperatives hold their meetings in one central location, usually a long distance from some of their homes. It is at this central location that they hold their elections and tend to the cooperatives' business. Automobiles are very rare here. If a farmer is fortunate, she owns a bicycle. If not, she walks sometimes two or three hours to the cooperative's meeting place. |
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Alan Imai currently serves as International Programs Director, Shumei Natural Agriculture Network, and as Executive Director of the Shumei International Institute, Crestone, Colorado. |
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Shumei international Institute P.O. Box 998 Crestone, CO 81131 |
