China to Chipinge
I got home last night to a pile of post. Kind of unusual here in Zimbabwe where the postal system is in disarray and disruption. I got a post card from someone at Chinese Tea Factory Farms in Guangxi. The note on the post card was short and sweet: Nice web site, Happy 2009 Years! I was blown away. Imagine getting post card fan mail all the way from China.
And then there was a two page handwritten letter from Mutsa who lives in Chipinge in Zimbabwe. He felt moved to write to Kubatana about the Government of National Unity which he feels needs our collective support. He ended his letter saying “the seeker of truth and justice never tires! Enjoy every bit of your work.”
I also got a magazine called Yes!, the cover story being Food for Everyone. Besides some very good articles on ways to challenge world hunger, this issue of Yes! has a spread on: a world of grace – that pause before the meal inspires us across cultures. Three pre-meal sayings stood out:
From Latin America
To those who have hunger
Give bread.
And to those who have bread
Give the hunger for justice.
From Ashanti, Ghana
Earth, when I am about to die
I lean upon you.
Earth, while I am alive
I depend upon you.
Sioux, Native American
I’m an Indian.
I think about the common things like this pot.
The bubbling water comes from the rain cloud.
It represents the sky.
The fire comes from the sun.
Which warms us all, women, animals, trees.
The meat stands for the four-legged creatures,
Our animal brothers.
Who gave themselves so that we should live.
The steam is living breath.
It was water, now it goes up to the sky,
Becomes a cloud again.
These things are sacred.
Looking at that pot full of good soup,
I am thinking how, in this simple manner,
The Great Spirit takes care of me.
On the subject of food and hunger, reports say that 75% of Zimbabweans will need food assistance this year.