Service Trips – The Enchanting Challenge

a crowded train in Mumbai

Each year, the human race becomes more and more urban.  In Hot, Flat, and Crowded, Thomas Friedman recaps how,

“In 2007, the United Nations Population Fund’s executive director, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, issued a report stating that in 2008, more than half of humanity will be living in cities,” (page 28). 

This is the first time in the history of humanity that we as a species have become primarily city-folk.  And, as Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said, “we [the cities] are not ready for them [the millions of migrants],” (Friedman 28).

an over-crowded Indian street

 The reason for this mass-migration is the allure of opportunity.  Industrial agricultural giants make independent farming quite difficult.  Thus, millions of farmers are forced to leave behind their farms to try and stay afloat in the city, where there is hope of a different kind of occupation, perhaps factory work or domestic labor.  As Thomas Friedman sums up, “People in India and China leave their villages and cram themselves and their families into megacities not because they actually like living that way, but, in many cases, simply because that is where the jobs and opportunities are” (168). 

A very sad part of this reality is that millions of these migrants don’t find opportunity, and wind up living a slum life, a life filled with the violence and degradation that accompanies acute urban poverty.  As Newsweek writer Sudip Mazumdar, a former slum dweller himself, recalls:

“Slum life is a cage.  It robs you of confidence in the face of the rich and the advantaged.  It steals your pride, deadens your ambition, limits your imagination, and psychologically cripples you whenever you step outside the comfort zone of your own neighborhood.” (Man Bites ‘Slumdog’ 1)

Another very sad part of this reality is that as millions of people are being driven off of the farm, many of those millions are losing their knowledge of our earth and the origins of our food.  Many people who have a vast knowledge of agriculture simply cannot afford to keep farming.  Thus, the ensuing result of this mass migration is that we as a human race are becoming more and more removed from the very thing that keeps us alive: food.  It is incredible that we all eat (if we are fortunate!) 3 times a day, and yet know very little about where each morsel of nutrients we ingest comes from…It’s actually a bit scary if you think about it! 

It surely can not be sustainable to have a society that ostracizes our very food producers. And people are catching on to that.  And so, thank goodness, there are many efforts going on now to empower the village, to empower the farmer.  A week and a half ago, I blogged about Fairtrade, and how consuming Fairtrade goods empowers the small farmer more than we can imagine.  So don’t stop buying those Fairtrade goods!

But you might also want to consider spending time on a farm yourself, getting to know the work involved with growing our food.  Especially in times such as these, with a global economic crisis eliminating urban jobs left and right, the farm might be a good place to learn a few new tricks of the trade.  A recent article in The Economist magazine called “Back to the Farm” (from the print edition dated March 5, 2009) detailed how in France alone, there are 80,000 farming positions open across the country.  With unemployment at 8.3% and increasing, many French people are considering finding a job on the farm. 

This is not to say that a farming life is better than a city life.  I only mean to say that when we can allow small farmers to farm, there will be better balance in our urban areas and in our rural areas.  Working on a farm might not be for everyone, but perhaps you can give it a shot through a little volunteer time spent on the range.  It can only promote awareness of the importance of farming and heighten your own awareness of the balance within our world. 

Remember: the enchanting, organic Ulaa farm is waiting for you…

come open the gates of Ulaa!