2017-7 Kogi Couple Planting.
Manuel and Maria, a Kogi couple, and their year-old baby arrived after dark on a rainy evening. He came first, to see if he'd come to the right place, then left, to return later with his family. They sat together eating on a low bench with their damp backs toward the fire. At night, we all slept around the fire, under the thatched roof of the kitchen, some of us in hammocks, some lying on the floor, listening to stories, drifting in and out of sleep ... very tribal.
The next day Manuel borrowed a shirt so he wouldn't get his dirty, and went to clear an area and plant it with sugar cane. An upcoming project is to build a trapiche, a wooden sugar mill, to be able to squeeze the juice from the sugar canes and make our own panela (blocks of raw sugar). Manuel's wife and child were right there beside him in the field, she also wielding a machete, at times, with the sleeping baby strapped on her back. They laughed and kidded around a lot as they worked.
Manuel and Maria, a Kogi couple, and their year-old baby arrived after dark on a rainy evening. He came first, to see if he'd come to the right place, then left, to return later with his family. They sat together eating on a low bench with their damp backs toward the fire. At night, we all slept around the fire, under the thatched roof of the kitchen, some of us in hammocks, some lying on the floor, listening to stories, drifting in and out of sleep ... very tribal.
The next day Manuel borrowed a shirt so he wouldn't get his dirty, and went to clear an area and plant it with sugar cane. An upcoming project is to build a trapiche, a wooden sugar mill, to be able to squeeze the juice from the sugar canes and make our own panela (blocks of raw sugar). Manuel's wife and child were right there beside him in the field, she also wielding a machete, at times, with the sleeping baby strapped on her back. They laughed and kidded around a lot as they worked.