20 farmers from the villages of Arkiso and Gore Ketema visit the agricultural project at Jebene, Ethiopia.
On 30th May – the feast day of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth – a group of farmers from the villages of Arkiso and Jebene from the Ethiopian plateau visited Jebene, where the MCSPA is present since 2014.
With great expectations, the farmers trekked to St. Joseph’s Mother and Child Centre in Muketuri where two vehicles were waiting to ferry them to Jebene, 20 km from Muketuri on a gravel and dirt road. In Jebene, the MCSPA started in 2014 excavating hand-dug wells and organizing agricultural courses to start family vegetable gardens. This was following the request of the women and men after seeing the vegetable garden of the Mother and Child Centre at Muketuri. They demonstrated their interest by producing in the dry season. From then, 70 men and women have undertaken the course, and in 2016 a well was drilled and a drip-irrigation system was set up in a 1,000 sq. m. plot. The Emalaikat Foundation, Arcadi Motion Picutres, the Autonomous University of Madrid and the Foundation Harena participated in this project.
The secret to this community’s proper functioning is due to the presence of an extraordinary man: Tibabew (a word which means “wisdom”) who is the owner of the land where the project is being carried out. Tibabew is a man recognized by all as a “good man”. In 2018, he offered more land to enable more farmers to use the drip-irrigation system to produce onions, zucchini, cabbage, spinach, carrots, beetroot etc. during the whole year. This is a big change in a society where only some cereals are produced in the rainy season. Now they have 3 harvests in a year which the families share for the own consumption and they have also started to sell vegetables in the local markets nearby.
Furthermore, in 2018 a feeding programme for children under 7 years and pregnant women was started; this was to ensure growth through an appropriate nutrition.
Tibebew was proud to explain how they shared the vegetables produced and how he goes to the vegetable garden every morning to collect vegetables for the feeding programme.
It was an encounter full of optimism and hope, but it was also a challenge for the visitors. All were happy to see the fruits of their effort and they shared their fight to improve their situation and that of their children, very much like Mary and Elizabeth in the Gospel!
The women of Jebene prepared food for all: they slaughtered a sheep and shared the bread that the visitors brought from their villages. At the coffee ceremony, the leaders form each place gave thanks for the encounter.
The met each other, they shared experiences … they visited each other.
Many expressed their wish to repeat this experience and in the future the farmers would visit the different communities.
If it has been possible at Jebene, it will also be possible in Arkiso and in Gore Ketema! And, we hope in many more villages!!
Lourdes Larruy. MCSPA
