I want you all to meet Jean Pierre. He is a pygmy man from the town of Yandoumbe, a village 3 kilometres up the road from the Centre De Formation, our home in Bayanga each summer. He is originally from a forest village in Cameroon but came here six years ago where he met and married his wife and is now the father of 4 children. They say there is a sickness in Yandoumbe that causes people not to farm and its primary cause is unknown. Some say its laziness, others say it's an aversion to becoming 'permanent', but whatever the cause, Jean Pierre is immune. Having learned from his father long ago that life without fields is no life at all, he has been farming here since he arrived. Every morning in Bayanga between five and six in the morning you will see streams of women coming down from Yandoumbe heading to the manioc fields of the Bilo (otherwise known as thr typical village African). These pygmy women will work from six in the morning until two or three in the afternoon and in return will receive a small bowl of manioc flour insufficient for the needs of a single family in a day. Why would one want to farm for someone else for a little bit everyday when you could easily farm for yourself and gain as much as you wanted? This we are unsure of and it is this that we are working towards changing the ideas of these pygmies but it is a slow process. This Saturday night we will be showing a film in Yandoumbe about the work of the Centre De Formation in order to gather together a large crowd of people. Before showing the film Jean Pierre, Capita and I will do our best at evangelizing the people of Yandoumbe about gardens. Why farm for others when you can farm for yourself and reap all the benefits. Jean Pierre will be our chief witness to what self reliance means. He and his wife are not in the garden everyday, and their fields aren't the prettiest looking, but they also find the time to hunt and fish and to carry on with more traditional activities that also go a long way in providing for his family.
We sat down for a planning meeting with Jean Pierre, Capita and Bernadine this morning and as with most meetings here, it included a lot of story telling. Jean Pierre told us about when he first got here he met Louis, an American that has been living among the pygmies for twenty years now. He saw how Louis would give away money or food or soap to people without getting anything in return and immediately he told his wife that no way were they going to take things from that white guy. He saw how dependent they could become and instead they put all their efforts into making their fields which is a pretty difficult task in the rainforest. After having cut down all of the rather awesomely large trees in your field you then have the task of turning over the soil containing all of those trees' roots. However, they are healthier and better off than most of their neighbours and for Darren and I, his family is a rare treat to work with. Should you ever visit Jean Pierre's garden, you will find fruit trees planted here and there and if you walk to the end of his field, there underneath the trees at the edge of the rainforest is a fruit tree nursery containing the best of the best; Jackfruit, Mango, Avocado etc.
This is the short story of Jean Pierre and we are priviledge to work with him and will be travelling with him all next week as we evangelize the masses about the importance of gardening. Pray for us and our message. After all, God was the first farmer on this earth!
