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A Little Knowledge?

March 28, 2012

By Suzanne Rumsey

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Seven Days to Tend the Earth
Lenten Reflections
by Suzanne Rumsey

Day Six ““ A Little Knowledge? 

“God, who plants the garden, grant us wisdom and understanding.” 

When did you last visit a farm and spend time learning from a farmer?

The world is losing its farms and its farmers and the wisdom they have to offer all of us.  In “Seven Days to Tend the Earth” it is noted that, “Between 1991 and 2006 the number of farmers in Canada under 35 years old decreased by over 60 per cent and the number of farms declined by more than 70,000.”

During the recent PWRDF delegation to India and Sri Lanka, delegation members had the opportunity to visit the small farm that was purchased in 1993 by long-time PWRDF partner, OfERR (Organization for Eelam Refugee Rehabilitation), just outside of Chennai, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.  For many of the almost 70,000 Tamil refugees living in camps scattered throughout the state, Nallayan farm is a place of quiet refuge, and a place where they can reconnect with their farming roots; for many of the refugees were farmers before they fled Sri Lanka.

The farm, which is self-sustaining, offers training programs in animal husbandry, organic agriculture and spirulina (a high-protein algae) production.  Those refugees (as well as local Indians) who receive training are able to return to their camps and communities to share their learned wisdom.  Of the 113 refugee camps, 55 are now producing spirulina as a nutrition supplement for children and adolescent girls, as well as for commercial sale.

When OfERR purchased the farm it was still in a rural area.  But the delegation observed the encroaching development of India’s IT sector and heard about how the farm’s water table is being depleted by neighbours who are emptying their neighbouring wells for sale.

Farm wisdom, it seems, is under threat everywhere. 

To support PWRDF’s work with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, please donate here. Please make sure you enter “Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (Anglican Church of Canada)” under the “Member Designation” space. CFGB’s reflection on All Our Eggs in One Basket can be found in the 7 Days to Tend the Earth booklet. The Biblical passage (Proverbs 8:12, 22-31)) can be found here.

“I wisdom, live with prudence, and I attain knowledge and discretion”¦ when God marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside God”¦ rejoicing before God always, rejoicing in God’s inhabited world and delighting in the human race.”

Proverbs 8:12, 22-31

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