A crash course in changing the world.
A balmy evening between the Sahel and the sea, somewhere on the western coast of Africa. My husband is back from another work tour, writing his reports, and our children, homework finished, are playing kickball nearby with the other children of the community.
Outside, we raise the light cloths that protected our vertical gardens from insects and too much evaporation in the sun, and wheel our cart-gardens closer to the walls of our homes, securing their protective cloth barriers around the bottoms of the carts, to protect them from the winds, crawling insects, and from larger, four-legged nibblers.
Set on one side of our low-tech sun-energy center, on the flat ceramic surface that can be connected to draw heat from the electricity-conversion apparatus, a couscous pot is beginning to emit delicious smells. Couscous, combined with softened spelt grains, hybridized buck-maize, tomatoes, greens, squash pieces, and some poultry, blend with spices to steam a welcoming call for our children, and neighborhood guests, to come and wash for dinner.
Fresh, raw vegetables, and wonderful, sweet fruit accompany the meal, with water to drink. Water, precious and carefully conserved, supports us, the plants, poultry and animals of the community. Other beverages are available, but water is always taken, with thanks, as a remembrance of our common need for safe sources of clean water, secure sources of food, sufficient education and economic opportunity, and shared, sustainable living spaces.
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