Harvest
Question: How is Malawi most like Iowa ?
Answer: Corn is king!
Maize is the miracle plant introduced to save Sub-Saharan Africa
ns from starvation. In good harvest seasons it has done just that. However, like most transplants, corn has brought along with in several unforeseen consequences.
For starts, in most of Malawi corn has become so dominant that crop diversity is rare and nutrition is severely compromised. Many Malawians eat maize porridge for breakfast, a few greens with maize cakes (n’sima) for lunch, and n’sima with a little meat (when available) for dinner. (On the cob it looks and tastes like what we kno
w as field corn.)
So, what did we at the Crisis Nursery decide to do with our vacant lot while planning for our proposed building? Plant Corn! Of course, everyone here knows that the soil has become so depleted that “no fertilizer—no maize”!
Last fall fertilizer cost about $75.00 per 50 kg bag. (up from about $50 the year before) and we needed 2 different bags. Thankfully, special vouchers are available for the poor and we received two vouchers on behalf of the babies.
Come harvest time last month, a work crew from the Nursery descended on our mode
st plot to pick it clean. We then returned to the Nursery where the nannies painstakingly removed the corn from the cob—kernel by tough little kernel. The kernels were then spread out to dry before being taken to the local maize mill for grinding into flour. (Many villagers still rely on mortar and pestle for this process.)
Back in the Nursery again the Maize flour is boiled up to make n’sima which our hard working staff enjoys with a relish of greens, beans, and occasionally beef cubes. Won’t you join us for lunch some day?
Answer: Corn is king!
Maize is the miracle plant introduced to save Sub-Saharan Africa
ns from starvation. In good harvest seasons it has done just that. However, like most transplants, corn has brought along with in several unforeseen consequences. For starts, in most of Malawi corn has become so dominant that crop diversity is rare and nutrition is severely compromised. Many Malawians eat maize porridge for breakfast, a few greens with maize cakes (n’sima) for lunch, and n’sima with a little meat (when available) for dinner. (On the cob it looks and tastes like what we kno
w as field corn.)So, what did we at the Crisis Nursery decide to do with our vacant lot while planning for our proposed building? Plant Corn! Of course, everyone here knows that the soil has become so depleted that “no fertilizer—no maize”!
Last fall fertilizer cost about $75.00 per 50 kg bag. (up from about $50 the year before) and we needed 2 different bags. Thankfully, special vouchers are available for the poor and we received two vouchers on behalf of the babies.
Come harvest time last month, a work crew from the Nursery descended on our mode
st plot to pick it clean. We then returned to the Nursery where the nannies painstakingly removed the corn from the cob—kernel by tough little kernel. The kernels were then spread out to dry before being taken to the local maize mill for grinding into flour. (Many villagers still rely on mortar and pestle for this process.)Back in the Nursery again the Maize flour is boiled up to make n’sima which our hard working staff enjoys with a relish of greens, beans, and occasionally beef cubes. Won’t you join us for lunch some day?
posted by Paul and Darlene Heller at 11:41 AM
1 Comments:
Reading this entry confirms my desire to get both Malawians and Nicaraguans together. In addition to the work with do with Malawi, Preston Hollow Presbyterian works with a group in Nicaragua called CEPAD and one of the best parts of their community development program is the way they teach sustainable agriculture and crop diversification. It has slowly begun to pull folks up from merely surviving to being able to thrive.
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