Ch’abiha

27 Jan 2012 2 Comments

by Jessica Goldman in Uncategorized

So yesterday I went on a wild horse cart ride into the rural farm area of Ch’abi ha. There are some innovative hard working farmers in that area who are full of ideas but lack resources. I held a meeting to see what types of trainings they would be interested in and what environmental issues are the most challenging. I went on a tour of three farms to see their crops and projects. One guy, Mindeh has rigged up the most amazing irrigation system using old cooking oil jugs. By moving things around and changing adapters, it is also used as a shower, a hand washing station and a laundry washing area. They have to haul jugs of water to the house from the river. The day was challenging in that each farmer prepared drinks and food for me. I ate bananas, oranges, fresh bread, 2 lunches, plates of fresh honey from the bee hives, and drank 3 rounds of traditional coffee,  a Pepsi and an orange Mirinda. They laughed at me because the whole way home I apologized to the horse for us being so much heavier on the return trip. The farmers were so kind and gracious; they also sent me home with bags of eggs and honey. I was also given a funky hat to wear when the sun got hot. I’ll try to post a bunch of pictures now!