Harvest Season

It is harvest time here on The Hill.  Yep, its a little turned around being that it is the dead of winter time here (ok, we live on the equator so it's not like we are busting out the winter coats and walking through snow), but none the less it is time to harvest here.  The kids planted their first crop of beans this year and the yield was surprisingly good.  We have four shambas (fields) that we planted a few months ago, and now, after a lot of hard work from the kids and staff, we have about 5 months worth of beans for the Children's Home.  For years, we have been buying all of the food for the home from local vendors, but never grew our own food.  The staff realized that they knew how to farm (most of the staff has their own crops they grow), so they could easily teach the kids how to as well, and they could grow their own food.  It would be a great learning experience plus teach the kids some ownership and responsibility.  Beans are the easiest thing to grow out here, other than maize, and the added benefit is it only takes about 3 months until you can harvest them.  So 3 months ago they all went out, plowed the shamba, and planted their first crop of beans.  Then, this week the kids got to see what all their hard work was for.

 

 It was truly amazing watching these kids work for a week straight to experience the fruits of their labor.  They laughed, sweated, and sang their way through the work.  I even joined them for a day, and I lasted a whole.... drum roll please.... one hour!  Wow, I am getting old and weak.  Seriously, I do not know how they do it.  It is not easy work, but they seemed to really like it.  Maybe it was because they liked doing something together as a family, or maybe it was learning a new skill, or maybe it was just that they worked hard for something and accomplished it.  They are so proud of the large mound of beans that currently sits in the dining hall at the home.  Those are their beans.  They planted them, they watched over them, they harvested them.  They beat them, sweated in the sun for them, lifted bushels of them, carried them home at the end of the day, and now it was done.   Tonight, I looked at a room of 93 joyful, exhausted little faces and could not be prouder of them.  In their worlds, when so much has been taken from them and they have seen so much loss, I wonder if owning this project and seeing it succeed has helped to, in a small way, give them hope.  Hope that they can work hard and achieve success, hope that they have something to offer the world, hope that this life will not disappoint them, hope that they belong and are valued and loved, and, ultimately, hope for their future.