Nurture Your Earth: Feed Your World!

The momentous scene in the story of creation is etched deep in our minds. Adam, a newly created being arises from a bed of earth and surveys his surroundings utter awe. What must have met his eye? What would have been racing through his mind? As he stretched his hands to touch the various plants and herbs, would he have been filled up with the same wonder? Even more amazing, God had given him charge – literally – over it all. The beautiful trees, the shrubs, the flowers, the fruits, yes even the thorns. All of them were beautiful in their own unique way. The brilliant color and variety painted the garden, appropriately dressing up the first touch of heaven on earth. Because that is exactly what Eden was, a touch of heaven on earth. A glimpse into the beauties that heaven represented. A look into the majestic scenery God chose to surround himself with. For the first man, this must have been awe inspiring, but imagine if any of us today could have looked on such a sight, even as outsiders. Our world has been so corrupted and destroyed that such a sight is unimaginable. But it does not always have to be so. We can create our own bit of the heavens. We can have our own Eden wherever we are, and it comes with many blessings as well.

Many scholars, both biblical and secular historians agree that civilization begun in Africa, with the first civilized nation being Egypt. There is a good reason for this. The Nile River flows from south to north through eastern Africa. It begins in the rivers that flow into Lake Victoria (located in modern-day Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya), and empties into the Mediterranean Sea more than 6,600 kilometers (4,100 miles) to the north, making it one of the longest rivers in the world. The Nile River was critical to the development of ancient Egypt. In addition to Egypt, the Nile runs through or along the border of 10 other African countries, namely, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. Its three main tributaries are the White Nile, the Blue Nile, and the Atbara. As I research more on this river, I am more convinced that God wanted Africa blessed with rich vegetation. In fact, in addition to the Nile, Africa has a vast collection of Great Lakes – which by the way are large bodies of water which are literally going nowhere – Rivers, Tributaries and countless streams. We were meant to be the breadbasket of this planet. Is it not amazing that Africa continues to form a major part of the statistics when it comes to hunger and poverty?

In Africa, according to World Vision International, one in five people ­— 21% of the population — were facing hunger in Africa in 2020. 282 million people are undernourished in Africa. That’s 46 million more people compared with 2019. Conflict, hunger, poverty, displacement, and the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic create a climate in which children are at risk of violence and exploitation. Families in Africa need help to keep the hunger and food crises from worsening. Children, especially those younger than 5, are the most vulnerable because they need critical nutrients to build strength and immunity against disease. Incredulous as it may seem for a continent as blessed as Africa, these are facts. Yes, many Pan-Africanists believe that the Western Media is constantly on the look for how it may make the continent look bad, but we cannot comfortably overlook these facts. We must not, like the proverbial Ostrich, bury our heads in the sand at the sound of approaching danger. It is time to do something about it. We must take up the work of feeding our own people by ourselves. We must be like the mother hen who feeds her chicks and protects them from the hawk. We must attack hunger the easiest way we can. By putting our hands to work.

The first step is to focus on ourselves. Just like when God gave Adam a garden to tend, we are al Adams in our own rights. We have gardens to tend. And I mean literally. It is the natural way of life. That is how it should be. Gardening has the potential to change our economy in a way that will revolutionize how we view our nation. There are so many benefits for gardening.

First, we get to make good use of our surplus land within our immediate reach. We do not need to go to any far-off portion of land to farm. Beyond that, we can take advantage of any space at all to practice our gardening. We can hang pots from our walls, place wooden containers on cement blacks and fill with earth, or fill plastic bags with earth for planting.

Secondly, we will be adding to the recycling effort of or country by re-using waste articles from our homes. Plastic bags and containers are heavily used due to how portable they are and how they can retain moisture.

Thirdly, gardening can greatly reduce the issue of food shortage and hunger. The trouble with food in most parts of Africa is that the number of people engaged in farming activities has reduced significantly. Most able-bodied men have moved from the arable land and moved into the urban centers to seek greener pastures. Most of these people do not engage in any farming activities, hence piling pressure on the few farmers we have. The latter group are regularly unable to sustainably meet demands of these growing urban centers, creating perennial food shortages. Low government investment in the entirety of the agricultural value chain leads to farmers depending on rains instead of water irrigation, primitive farming implements instead of modern equipment, outdated farming practices instead of practices that can increase their yield. Add bad road network and increasing fuel prices to the mix and what you have is regular food shortage and high cost of food, which in turn leads to hunger and poverty.

Fourthly, our garden produce can be a healthy alternative to normal food consumption. Most of the food we consume spend days in the hot sun. Some begin to rot; some are exposed to dangerous fumes and whatnots. Some traders do not necessarily store the goods properly. The result may be that the food we consume to stay alive may be killing us, poisoning us slowly. Gardening is a way of avoiding that. Imagine getting fresh produce from your backyard garden. Fresh herbs and spices, fresh fruits for your juices. Note that trees and in general, vegetation are our major source of oxygen. The more your grow around your own home, the better the ventilation is. Flowers and trees are said to be a source of therapy for stress and mental health. Finally, gardening can give you the required experience to enter commercial farming.

Gardening is a self-help approach to improving our lot. In our own ways, we will be contributing our quota to the principal mandate(s) of the state:

1. Health: Fresh Food and good ventilation
2. Prevention of hunger
3. Employment
4. Self-sufficiency
5. Security

The continent is akin to a beautiful peacock who spent many years standing on the highest mountain and displaying his feathers to the world. It would strut this way and that way without any fear. It finally attracted the attention of the world. They came from all around the neighboring villagers and took from him a feather each. Each piece was beautiful and shiny and colorful. Soon enough, its feathers were all gone, and the new owners went home to beautify their own homes. The peacock was all alone and very cold. It had learned its lessons but had gone too deep into its shell to understand that all hope was not lost. Like this peacock, we have peddled our glory and now must import food to feed ourselves. That is a very low point, but we must not wallow in self-pity for too long. We are alive, our feathers will grow again. We can feed our people again. Each one must take up our courage and do our best. We will stand out again.

Selah!