Harvest Thanksgiving Celebration 2014

drawn by ARI volunteer: Noriko
Designed by ARI Participants: Titus and Collins

Every October, Asian Rural Institute holds a celebration to give thanks for the harvests of the year like many rural communities around the world do. This past weekend the event finally took place.

Photo by: Meg
HTC banner, with Antonio from East Timor

Photo by: Shige or Kazu? All photos below, unless otherwise noted, is from them.

 The main attraction was the food, of course! We had so many different dishes from either Japan or countries the Participants hail from. Soooo nice. They ranged from sweet dishes to hot winter soups. There were stage performances, games to play, and cultural handicrafts to buy from the Participants. I was part of the committee that organized the games and ARI information exhibit. Leading one of the games for Japanese children really made me overuse the word Gambatte (English translation: go for it!) since my Japanese speaking ability is non-existent. The committee tried organizing group games, but learned quickly that a quick game of darts or toppling cans with rubber bands were the most successful. A game of treasure hunting or Fruit Basket just did not work out. I learned my lesson for next year. 

   I participated in 5 performances, one of which was a fashion show where I wore a tux... and the others were the Hokkaido Fisherman dance, Solomon Island Fisherman dance, small instrumental ensemble performance of two hymns, and the Macarena dance (the Americans did this one, which strangely enough included the Cuban ARI Participant).

   The ARI community spent 2 months planning for this, which was essentially part of the Participants' training for the Rural Leaders Training Program. Even though all ARI community members helped plan it, the Participants led the organizing. I tell ya, everything at ARI is essential to the Participants' training, including the necessary daily dish washing.

The stress came about 3 or 4 weeks before the event when our decisions were becoming finalized and things had to really get done. It was stressful because neither the volunteers nor the Participants had ever experienced HTC before. But, really, how can a community plan a big event that will draw hundreds of people in two days without experiencing stress? One of the Participants reflected nicely on her experience with HTC, relating it to rural leadership in the community. 

   Anyhow, I want to talk a little bit about the importance of thanksgiving festivals and celebrations. I'm not speaking of the American Thanksgiving holiday, with Turkey and mashed potatoes, or the Fall festivals, but the event that I just described above. One staffer at ARI has expressed that HTC is not a festival, but a celebration of thanks to God. I think its more than that. This kind of celebration has deeper intention and real meaning to it. the farmers that grew the food need to express the abundance of food they grew because it was not easy to do. They are not just saying thank you to their god for the food on their plate, they are implicitly (and even intentionally) acknowledging the hard work that they put into their valuable labor. It seems that food is a primary link which keeps a rural community together. Most of those living in rural communities are farmers, and they are there first to survive, and then to make a living. Food is life, and food is community. 

   In the US we have Fall festivals and Thanksgiving. Both appear to have roots in harvest celebrations, and I think we should acknowledge those roots. It provides space for our biophilia, so our connection with the Earth is not deprived. Harvest is intrinsically valuable because it means life, and you know this even though you may go shopping in the supermarket not seeing the soil that once stained your food. Human beings cannot survive without harvesting (whether in agriculture or hunting and gathering). When attending Fall festivals, my instant association is hot food for cold weather, crafts, harvested apples, corn, hay, music, and community. It makes me feel part of the community, too. When you go to one this Fall, ask yourself why we continue to participate in, and organize such events. Make it intentional to attend your community's Fall festival, too. 

Photo by: Meg
HTC Party, post-celebration

So, we had a short party after HTC and supper. It was to say thank you to everyone who made it happen. I liked it, but was socially exhausted to be fully in the moment there. We danced again to some of the performances that took place during the day, such as the Hokkaido Fisherman dance shown above. That dance is sooooo nice when 20+ people do it together.

Yeah, so this is the Harvest Thanksgiving Celebration. 

Peace

The Powerful Sponge God

There's a god living in the garden. We call her the Sponge god (well, maybe just two volunteers).
So elegant and green she is.
multiplying with eagerness to exist on a vine for the earth to see.
The weeds in the garden are a million thoughts in our mind.
And they are hurdles that must become raging rivers unconfined.
They have a purpose you see. Mottainai they say, as you throw the weeds away.
Oh, how the Sponge god watches over us as we toil in the soil. Little do we know she is observing.
Waking up as the sun creeps on the horizon, the farmer can snip the eager life of buds from weeds we do not like,
only to make fermented plant juice from their existence,
for the health of our own intentional greens.
She puts me to work, harvesting each vegetable so that I am reminded what life is.
She reminds me that people in this world are fighting for a narrative change,
where capitalism will no longer exploit their lives in the rural world,
where patriarchy no longer is the center of their family unit,
where their community can embrace the truth that food security is not dependent on Monsanto,
where life can return to the soil...
She encourages me to have faith in Admissions, recruiting leaders of the marginalized.
The all mighty Sponge god hears the conversations we have about practical empowerment for communities.
She knows our mistakes, and seeks a way for us to see them.
She looks at the rural leaders as they sow, transplant, weed, harvest, and transform spiritually, practically, and socially minded for their communities and family.
But, when the day finishes, and as I take the hoe back to the shop, I realize what the Participants of this place had been saying this whole time,
"sponge gourd", but with an accent.

May we live intentionally with symbolic interaction, and a will to recognize the real tangible and systemic issues that keep lives severed from justice and with our own home- the biosphere.

Peace

Photo by Shige, ARI rice field

Small Updates

It has been difficult to write blogs with a computer that freezes at random times, even as I sit here typing it could freeze any moment. So, here is the latest on the Turner Front in the world of ARI/BVS at ARI.

Rice Planting

To the left is a lovely photo of me struggling to pull the rice seedling from its original soil foundation. The rice is almost always germinated and sprouted before being put into the rice patty.

All photos taken by ARI Photographers: Shige and Kazu

Most Japanese today plant their rice by machine and with chemical fertilizer, allowing for a community oriented farm task to become individualized and transplanted earlier in the year. And, rice patties are so common, I don't even have to leave the town in order to see one. It is important that rice planting remain a community farming practice because it keeps us rooted in understanding that we are creatures of this Earth, with a codependency, and cannot afford to tear it up with Roundup and economic greed. When rice farmers needed to flood their patties, they had to wait for everyone to do it together (everyone filling their own field). For ARI, transplanting rice by hand every year is deeply connected to the fact that farmers in Asia and Africa still do this by hand, and so it is important beyond measure that the Participants' training remain relevant to their reality at home.
ARI's sustainable methods of maintaining the rice patties is also important for these rural leaders to practice (and some already had before coming to ARI). From permiculture and using fish, to using ducks, and so on.

Anyway, thats enough about rice planting...

Living without money for the last 4 months
Back in March I discovered that my bank card had expired in February, and so I'm having to wait to get a new one sent. Talk about living frugally. The only necessary expense I've come across has been food, which makes sense. I've got boots that are falling apart, and the best thing I can do is tape it, but the tape wouldn't last two days.

Its Rain Season!!! So, now I get to more frequently run and frolic in the rain!

Camping
Much like the no-communication excursion I mentioned earlier, this camping trip was very... very similar. Except all 9 volunteers shared in this adventure. Hooray, we're going into Japan (ARI, as I stated before feels like a different world)! Nasu Mountain is a good choice to go camping. But, we didn't know what this place looked like, or who the owner was that was inviting us was. We didn't know he was going to hang out with us ALL night, and come back early in the morning. We didn't know walking through his house was going to be as interesting as it was. But, I delighted in the delicious ARI pork and rice we brought for supper, sleeping under the open sky in a hammock, waking up with the sun, and talking until midnight about life with others with a shared vision.

Living around rice paddies has been soooo nice. The only real time I get to be alone is during the walks at night by those very rice paddies. The sound of the frogs is so loud I can barely hear the Shinkansen, which is already pretty load. I feel at peace most nights. Despite being homesick, missing Jess, family, Manchester, and MCXC (Um, I mean MUXC). Walking down the roads at night is like taking a visit with the Gods and Godesses who shut out this crazy world I tend to get exhausted from.

Not many updates, but its time for supper now.

May you find the sustaining life that exists in food you consume.

Turner

Bob Marley in the Egg Room

Foodlife in the evening is a pleasant way to end the working day. I get to talk to the animals, and focus on nothing but the practice of sustaining life. If you walk by the Farm Shop around 5:30pm, you'll hear Bob Marley singing One Love as the song penetrates the Egg Room window.
Its an interesting place, the Egg Room. The walls are covered with maps of many regions of the world, such as Japan, South East Asia, India, North America, Africa, and one world map. Its nice to study the maps while scrubbing each egg clean. The thought of biking across one of those regions thrills me. But, I usually zone out if I don't study the maps. Every night, those in charge of the chickens have to clean over 400 eggs in about an hour's time. Every egg that is not shattered from scrubbing is used. The ones that are broken at one end we take to the Koinonia kitchen instead of selling it.
My Foodlife work this month has been in meals service preparing breakfast and supper everyday. April is especially hectic for meal service since the new Participants are in the period of orientation. Even though I cant cook, they have been looking to me and the other few who know the kitchen for help for almost everything in the kitchen. For those of you who know I cannot cook, well, I can cook now.

So back in the Egg Room... Bob Marley certainly adds to the Japanese phrase "お疲れ様です" (Otsukarasama desu). The phrase is a unique phrase that is often said to another after finishing work, or a long day, or something. Its like "you worked hard and are tired. That is ok." Its also used as a greeting, I think. Complex phrase. Anyway, hearing Bob Marley at the end of the working day is good because, well, imagine Bob Marley in his soothing voice saying to you "good work today. Relax now."

...

On another note, today was a day for the volunteers to go out on an adventure. After eating delicious 天もりそば (tenmori soba), we went hiking part of Takahara mountain, raced up the final slope, was greeted by a statue manifestation of Kauwasaki, and finished back in the valley. There was a small family restaurant down in the valley that was run by the 4th generation. Their dumplings were sooo good.
The great thing about being down in the valley is that we had to drive back up on a really steep rocky path to get to the main road. The one-wheel drive van barely made it, and thats putting it generously.

The trip also reminded me of the beautiful Appalachian mountains today, which I miss much.

Peace, and may the wind be to your back.

Strangers, Schools, and Participants

Its been a long time since my last blog. I've gotten so comfortable with the life here at the Asian Rural Institute that its been difficult to find what to say next. However, A LOT has happened worth speaking about.

Several weeks ago, two American volunteers and I went on a Sunday afternoon adventure with an older gentleman who we thought was interested in showing us around Nasushiobara to immerse us more into Japanese culture (ARI is like its own world. Welcome to the Democratic Republic of ARI- as one Ghanian staffer says). Anyhow, we had no idea that the guy was taking us to see his friends who were wanting to practice their English. There was an apparent lack of communication in this. A huge lack of communication actually. We talked about everything under the sun except for the purpose of our being there. This trip was one that was hard to not play the gaijin* card. One volunteer's imagination was running wild during the entire afternoon since the plans were unclear. We drank tea and ate lunch. Had a grand ol' time there. then, we went into town and they showed us around. We then climbed into two cars and drove around to a clothing shop (the clothes were super expense, but they were nice to look at...), found an antique furniture shop (the smallest wall hook was close to $30), a library, and an outdoors shop. The antique furniture shop had a copy of a Bertrand Russell's essay, that was a nice find. Then we went to a pottery shop and the old guy's house where we had more tea. Anyhow, it was an adventure I rarely come across. Not sure there are words that can fully encompass each moment. Full of assumptions and curiosity.

*Gaijin is a term meaning outside person or foreigner. However, it has a slight negative connotation given by the complexities of what it means to be a foreigner in Japan.

The next fantastic thing is that ARI has a relationship with the local elementary school located on the edge of town. ARI provides the students a chance to meet foreigners, something that doesn't happen often for them. From African to South/South East Asian, and Americans. I was able to go two different afternoons, and was greeted by around 50 children the first time. I was impressed by their organized welcoming. A kid who stood by the door/front of the room read a really formal letter introducing me to the class and thanking me for coming to speak. They asked me questions like "what is your favorite animal?" or "What is fun to do in America?" or "What is a popular food in America?" Look out, I'm representing America here. After the questions, I joined the children in two variations of the game Fruit Basket. My favorite version was passing a box with different fruit on each side of it. Sitting in a circle with a student in the center, we passed the box around saying "I like Whatever fruit is on the box". Whoever was holding the box when the center person looked up from the floor was the next one to be in the center. These kids are so much fun. The ARI volunteers were invited another time to eat lunch with the students. We thought we were going to relive our childhood memories of elementary school lunch in the cafeteria, but each class had their lunch in their class room. So much for reliving our childhood memories. I loved talking to those kids. I couldn't even finish my lunch because of answering all the questions. Left the school with the carton of milk still in my hand (the kids wouldn't let me leave without finishing it all haha... good for them). Might I say, their school lunch was far better than mine as a kid. They enjoyed the questions I asked all of them, too. I tried to be as reciprocating to them as they were to me. But, at the end of the day, I wished that I could simply speak Japanese because being a foreigner is just so exhausting and difficult (難しい).

So, after 2.5 months without participants here, I finally get to experience them. They are arriving this week! One of the two Japanese Interns told me real ARI is when participants are here. Participants are specifically the trainees who come for further education in rural leadership and agriculture. Coming from Bangladesh, Burma, India, Indonesia, East Timor, Solomon Islands, Korea, Uganda, Liberia, and so many more countries, these participants come with experience in rural leadership and stories to tell of the empowerment of their communities. I am looking forward to the next 9 months that they are here. I will learn so much more.

Peace

Miso, Bokashi, and Mochi

So, I was told that "Radiation Forest" isn't a common name for the woods surrounding the campus. I just heard the name from the right person. Bummer.

Anywaaay, there are days when we may all come together to prepare a particular unique food or some other thing of the like (so far just food). This would a day of learning something new for everyone (or most at least). I find this an intriguing part of intentional community.

We had a ARI community event last week that was miso making. Not miso soup, but the paste. After watching a short Japanese video on the process of making it we divided into groups and... began. There was a huge pot of black soy beans that had been prepared for the miso. we mashed the beans until you couldn't tell what they were anymore, and often got distracted by conversation. Then, mixing it with rice that was mixed with cups and cups of salt, balls were made. My beautiful balls lived a very short life because we really just made them to easily take the air out and pack into buckets. Now we wait as the miso ferments for several months! So much salt is used. And now I understand what miso is. groovy!

Bokashi even more interesting. Although, this was just for volunteers one morning led by the TA and TA-to be/volunteer. I had done an internship 2 summers ago that involved learning about compost and finding the best way to do it. I should have considered bokashi that summer! Anyhow, I like the idea of how to speed the process of preparing organic fertilizer since it takes months to get a pile of vegetable compost to breakdown and be ready. It focuses on the idea of giving micro organisms the space to reproduce. We give them a home (the soil and rice husk charcoal), we give them food (aged manure), water, and air to breath. Turning the pile everyday, we get to see those IMOs grow!!

Today we made mochi for lunch. There was a large wood stump carved into a bowl that we used to pound the cooked rice. Everyone took a turn pounding with LARGE wooden mallets/hammers. One played bongo drums while we cheered on those doing the pounding. It was difficult for me to do with an injured finger. I enjoyed this because food should be made with many people; even though now I am socially exhausted and would love to pitch a tent alone in the woods (it'll be reeeallly exhausting when the many international participants come in March).

I find it difficult to cook food on my own, or with one other person for the consumption of many, but to do it with many people is far more interesting. I've discovered it would be difficult to describe ARI without mentioning the food as an important philosophy to life- not just for income and general consumption.

Earth Community is defined in a number of ways, and I think that ARI contributes to that definition. Its about welcoming an egalitarian narrative to the biosphere, and breaking down hierarchies. ARI gives integrity to the Earth by giving integrity to the leaders, who give integrity to the farmers who cultivate the land. They seek to feed the grass roots organizations that also commit to similar ideas. The power of the big industries that sell chemical fertilizers, or the confused government systems that regulate and unknowingly hurt communities, are challenged. Communities can be empowered, and the Earth happier. It is enriching to be here, even if I have to be in the office for most of the day for now.

By the power of miso, bokashi, and mochi, may peace and community be with you.

Asian Rural Institute

I'm here, and its been adventurous and interesting. The first words I woke up to the first morning at the Asian Rural Institute were the first words of the song "We Shall overcome". A volunteer walked down the hallway singing this lovely tune. I knew I was at the right place.

The first step into Japan was interesting. I had no idea how to speak Japanese, so it made searching for the bus stop, phone, and train really difficult, but thrilling. After a 3 hour bus ride, I scurried through the train station with a minute to spare reaching my train. There was a group of youngsters who I had to ask for help, one took my guitar, and we sprinted to the train (he took it in helping me run to the train, don't worry). I sat in the train reeaally hoping I was headed the right direction to Nishinasuno. Greeted by my supervisor at the destination, all became well. I was told Japanese are very helpful especially in cases of arriving foreigners like myself. Indeed, that is so true.

The first morning the staff and volunteers at breakfast in the Koinonia Dining Hall were quite welcoming, and I heard much about the previous BVSer before me. Good people. Before I get into what its like here at ARI, the volunteers here are from around the world. One from India, Myanmar (Burma), South Korea, 6 from the U.S., and 3 from Japan. Though, there are quite a lot more from around the world. The one from Myanmar has an uncanny resemblance in appearance, personality, and humor to a friend of mine from studying in China. Alas, he will be leaving in a few months, just like 3 of the other volunteers. The Staff are mostly Japanese with one Canadian and one German. I have to put in the extra effort to learn Japanese because so many are focused on English here at ARI. Its more like ARI invented Japanese, or ARI invented Enlish, or ARI Japinglish that is spoken here.

Jet lagged and overwhelmed I learned that I have Food-life work at 7 in the morning (in the spring, it will be 6:30am), and the assignment changes every month. Then, the weekend assignments are up for grabs, and I have duties on the farm all the time. It will come to be my turn to cook every so often, too. The intentionality of this community is boiling with energy and productivity. The Foodlife consists of several aspects of the farm from taking care of livestock to food preparation, to vegetable sorting, and others. I get to sort soy beans right now! I discovered that ARI is not far into the countryside, but on the edge of town. I was so confused the first night... and several days after.

So, the gardens are in a spot that is open to the view of the mountains of the Tochigi prefecture. BEAUTIFUL. Cultivating crops from the garden is so far my favorite activity. The volunteer from Myanmar took me to my first harvesting chore, and had begun teaching me Japanese words. Mostly words he overuses in good humor. Within those gardens ARI grows wheat, which we have to stomp on every so often in its young stage (the stage in which it is just sprouting from the ground).

The intentionality of this ARI community is incredible, and one that I am still getting used too. The dorm life (my living situation here) reminds me of how community can be formed. Nothin' like having a roommate again haha. Living in close quarters with others can create an atmosphere of close community. In other news, my roommate is Japanese, and is really quite groovy. Hes helping me with my Japanese, we've found good common ground... and we both crawl out of our beds in the morning like slugs afraid of the cold.

The best place at ARI? The Radiation Forest. I like to call it the Gamma Forest. There is still much radiation in the ground from the Fukushima Nuclear accident, and there is much in the woods surrounding part of the farm. ARI used to harvest mushrooms in the woods, but no longer do. Even today, I and some other volunteers were digging up tarp with high radiation levels in an unused greenhouse. However, the gardens have low enough levels to still grow and harvest vegetables.

There is still much to say, but that would lead to a very long blog post. Pictures will come later when the sun is up.

Peace, and may the force be with you.