Marching On

Here in Tete, Mozambique, March is a month of hope. The rains have arrived in full force and the fields are green! The corn, a staple of the Mozambican diet, is tall and tasseled. The wells are full of water. People are no longer hungry. Cattle have plenty to eat.

When you have a distinct cycle to life, as in this agriculturally dependent place, you can appreciate the blessings more than in places where technology makes abundance possible all the time. Here, hunger in November and December is real. Everything is dry. Water is scarce. It is extremely hot (averaging about 105F during the day for months on end). Energy levels sink as the heat saps our strength and robs us of patience. Cows and goats and mothers get skinny. Dust clouds rise with the hot breeze. It is a time of just hanging on!

BUT, December… or sometimes January… brings rain. Rain brings a break in the heat and kills the dust. Rain means we can plant… and once the seeds are in the ground, we won’t be tempted to eat them! It takes some time for the grasses to grow and the rivers to fill and the seeds to sprout. It takes continued rain (that sometimes delays and threatens to rob the sprouts of moisture). February is a time when it can go well or not. Then there is March. I don’t remember a March without rain. And there is hope! It might be late, but not too late. A first wave of fresh food is on the way!