BASIC FOOD BASKET- THE MAKING OF SUGAR

Oxen drive the mill

Just realized I never posted this... I wrote it on 6-24-2015.  It is still very pertinent, so here it is:
Large transnational corporations offer jobs and even housing and improved schools and roads to poor communities.   People in these communities sign up for work but do not that the chemicals used in the majority, if not all of the pineapple, sugar cane, bananas and African palm monoculture farming threaten their health, their ground water and their land.  According to those who have been studying this issue for many years, pineapple companies no longer buy the land but just lease if for about 10-15 years.  After this period of time, the land is rendered useless, the groundwater is contaminated and the people are really sick, some with kidney failure.  The price of cheap pineapple is high.  Costa Rica is left to pay for trucking in drinking water and for the healthcare of these people, including the sterility of many of the men who have worked at the banana plantations.  Can you imagine what these chemicals do to those who actually eat them? 

There are solutions though… they  lie on many different levels…the consumer has a tremendous amount of power… if the demand for organic pineapple in other countries increases and the consumption of pineapple that devastates the natural resources and economies of other countries decreases, then the companies MUST change if they are to survive. 

It is a lot of fun and an opportunity for people to gather around and make the social fabric strong.

Another solution lies in going back to traditions.  Costa Ricans used to produce their own basic crops.  Now with the subsidized prices of imported crops such corn nobody can compete.  But on a local level, neighbors can work together.  Our new Trapiche (a traditional sugar cane mill) is one of the core components of the BASIC FOOD BASKET project at the Center.  Virtually everyone consumes sugar and this is one of those problematic crops when grown in vast monocultures. A trapiche is very expensive, so not everyone can have one, but the Center’s new mill (well it really is not new, it is about 100 years old) is available for anyone in the surrounding communities to come bring their sugar cane and take home sugar cane products… they share some of the sugar with the Center- everyone wins including the environment as this sugar cane is not grown in a large monoculture so it needs no chemicals and no artificial irrigation as it is grown with the rainy season.

We gave away this crystalized sugar cane at our farmer’s market, but now there is one farmer selling his sugar cane at this market… a testimony that given the opportunity, people want to do the right thing for themselves and for the world

 Our local artist, David Villalobos, created this work of art to pay tribute to the farmer and traditional agriculture. See the sugar cane at the very top it is holding, wrapped up in its own leaves, so there NO packaging to pollute our environment

The world is slowly taking a turn in the right direction...

Our river has gifted us many times over for the effort we made to save it.  One of the greatest gift is that it got us started down a path of Service where we have met amazing people.

 This past weekend, I attended a gathering where lots of these people were present.  It was wonderful.  People giving much of their “spare” time, their weekends, their resources in an effort to change the status quo of things. 

When I think about it, injustice and all the really “bad” things are playing a huge role in our waking up.  I mean, we would not have gotten involved in saving the river if they were going to take just a bit of the water over the next ten years.  They wanted to take all or most of the water and the machines were ready to go.  But when things happen gradually, they are more dangerous because one gets used to them little by little.

The Ministry of Culture lodged me at Ridgeway House in San Jose, a Quaker hostel that promotes peace and justice, which now houses the statue of whom I consider a dear friend, Peace Pilgrim.  If you do not know much about her life, I recommend you read the compilation of her writings that the Friends of Peace Pilgrim put together in a book after she shed her physical body.

I digress… so the point was that in the afternoons, there was no water at this place. At first I thought a pipe broke and they were repairing it, a common occurrence in our little village.  But then the same thing happened at this beautiful old building where the training was being held.  At Ridgeway House there were large bottles, pots and buckets filled with water.  But at the building where the training wes held, the bathrooms just remained dirty and there was nothing to wash hands with.

Those of us who have water supplied to our houses every day were concerned.  But the city folks just shrugged and said: “oh, yeah, they are rationing the water… there just is not enough for everyone”. 

I pass by the pineapple farms often.  Even from the highway, I can see the huge plumes of water shooting out from the pistons in full display and force… and I remember the times we were on that very same highway protesting because a large irrigation project threatened to take our last pristine river away.  This thrusted us into the world of water rights.

I wonder why the Ministry of Environment in Costa Rica allows these pineapple farms to take up so much water, and to pollute the remainder.  I wonder if people's and environmental health truly were the Ministry of Environment’s first priority instead of commodity crops such as pineapple or African palm, or cattle and massive tourism or the highly polluting hydroelectric plants… if there really would not be enough water for the basic needs of the people.

When I returned home and open the faucet and water came out, I was so grateful… and I am grateful to those who made that possible… and I say to those who may be told that there is not enough water for the needs of the people, to question it.  I believe there is a huge imbalance, a huge injustice happening in regards to water distribution and water utilization in Costa Rica… and probably in the entire world, I just can’t speak for the rest.  This can be remedied.  But the first thing to do is get informed.  And the second: Take action.  Let’s not just sit and accept there is no water.

Before we get used to and accept a possibly false premise, let’s question if there really isn’t enough water and where the water is going… If there is less water, question why … get together… there are people who are already working on these questions and you can be of support to them.  Working together we can straighten many injustices. The world needs each and everyone of us.

Lama Wangchen and his message

Almost two weeks ago, I was at an event at a Center in the Orosi Valley, which like our Center is trying to make its own contribution in its own special way towards the total peace picture in the world.

Tibetan Lama Wangchen spoke at this event.   He held two items in his hands which symbolized wisdom and compassion.  It was an idyllic scene. He sat on a boulder next to the river in the Tapanti Reserve while a group of us listened to him and to the water. It could not have been more complete. The sun shone and the lush green mountains stood in the background as witnesses, while the cool crystal-clear water flowed past us bringing the messages it has carried since the beginning of time on this planet. 

It all began as an idea in someone’s head. An 80+ year-old woman who has a great deal of compassion for the human condition and wanted to do something to advance humanity in its evolution. 

The Lama spoke of those who inspire us, like Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama himself. And I thought to myself that in my case, though these people have certainly inspired me too, it is the people like this woman who still believes humanity can correct course who inspire me to keep going. 

Our work to save our river here has gifted us with so many blessings.  One of the most precious ones are the people we have met whose resources are limited in one way or the other, the “small” people nobody knows about, the ones who quietly work every day to free us from the blindfold we have acquired living in our modern societies, those who work for our right to be truly free and awake.  It is these people I think about when I want to call it quits.

A day like the one spent at Tapanti by the river can not leave one without a dent in consciousness.  There were messages from the Lama, from the mountain, from the water… all the elements were present and music harmonized it all, and at some point the music from the instruments blended into the music of the water splashing on the rocks.

It could have been a gathering in the city, a walk by the sea shore… the intention and energy behind it is what matters… The messages were to wake up to what is happening… Do something, anything you are motivated to do to make things better for all sentient beings. Work on developing a sense of compassion for the human condition, for our very own lack of maturity and understanding.  There have been many wrongs, two wrongs don’t make a right. Only the truth can set us free. We can speak up about injustice and this is important. But just as important is to begin to take the reigns over our own destinies and create our own vision of the new world.

We can inspire one another to keep going, to keep trying, to keep doing something, even if it seems too small to make a difference. A little pebble was dropped into the ocean of human consciousness at Tapanti that Sunday, and its ripples could go on forever… or not… it is totally up to each one of us who were there how far these ripples travel.  And it is up to each of us who have some information, some idea, some inspiration to use it to help one another wake up.  To realize that no government, no institution is going to do this work for us… this work belongs to us… every day, every small choice we make… what to eat, what to purchase, where to travel, how to spend our time and money… and most importantly what we choose to think about regarding our state of affairs as a human race… it all adds up and we the small people are making a difference too.