Dry Season Oasis

Kenneth, one of the county water officers and our friend, had been telling us about his first year of dry season gardening for a few months now. This week I had the opportunity to visit his garden with Larissa and Michael. Kenneth said he isn't a vegetable man but he is a water man. I would say he IS a vegetable man and a water man and even an entrepreneur.


To get to the garden we rode on motorbikes to the compound of Kenneth's uncle. We then walked for a few minutes on dry and dusty paths and past many lifeless rainy season gardens. After turning a corner, we walked straight into a dry season oasis! Everything around was vibrant green and the ground was damp. The land is next to the river and is surrounded by dead branches creating an obstacle to keep stray goats away from the tomatoes, okra, beans, collards and other greens.


We met two of his daughters who were at the garden that day to keep away any monkeys or goats looking for a snack. Kenneth, being a water man, has a pump, pictured above, that gets water from the river to the plants. He runs the pump every other day to keep the plants alive in the extreme heat even though the cost of fuel can be high. Other dry season gardens in Mundri may use a foot pump or people simply carry jerry cans from the river to the garden. Growing things in the dry season in Mundri is hard work! It requires a lot of time and attention.

Kenneth desires to learn more about agriculture even though his garden is already beautiful and is producing many crops in its first year. We are excited to learn from Kenneth and other friends about the Moru dry season gardening methods. Hopefully we can also share some ideas from Larissa's gardening experimentation or Heather and David's many years of experience with agriculture in Africa. I knew nothing about agriculture when I arrived in Sudan, but living with the Moru people and with Larissa, I have learned a lot.

Seeing people work hard as a family to grow food in the dry season has given me a new picture of the verses in Genesis 3 and the effects of the curse on work. Yet as I see people work hard and sweat to grow food, despite all the thorns and thistles and the resulting lush gardens, I am thankful for foretastes of the complete restoration to come. I look forward to the time when everything will be made new.

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Gen 3:17-19 "... cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Rom 8:20-21 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Rev 22:1-3 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.