Gardening in the Cross-cultural Route

Sulad Jhun Cardeinte

By experience, we can learned that in reaching the extreme hilltribes, sometimes direct giving of something post some problems. But there is something right you could give directly to them. Enough vegetables and fruits may be the best things you could offer, if given in proper way. Missionaries who love gardening during free time are usually loved by people.

They are also setting good example to the villagers. It is better for the missionary to bring light vegetable seeds than a heavy load of attractive strange goods in the village. Vegetables are basic, healthful, affordable and accumulative. It is basic in the sense that they eat everyday with the main food that is common. It is affordable in the sense that they can easily grasp and plant it for themselves. Most of them own consider size of land. It is also propagating in a sense that they are living and subject to grow and produce and reproduce. Plants have increasing and extending nature!

In reaching the ethnic groups, one of the many ways I observed that help make friends is to grow and maintain a vegetable garden. Living plant is a reflection of a living God. Plan for plants in your village! And you are planting friendship and life. I remember our work in one of the pioneering mission schools somewhere in Bukidnon, Philippines. My teammate was an experienced farmer. So we agreed to grow a good size of vegetable garden, sensing that we should help meet their basic felt needs first before reaching their spiritual needs.

I'm not saying that you should make yourselves a vegetable supplier for all people to help them feel better. In our adult class every Friday, I could still remember our fellowship lunch. Of course we encouraged them to bring with them something of what they have from their house. But we always cooked food which was enough for everyone, because we have something that we can gather from our garden. That memorable event we did almost every week had made us close and won the villagers’ heart.
We even felt happy hearing from the mothers that they learned how to cook from us. Needless to say that some of them didn’t have the idea what a balance diet is, so that while we cooked they learn from us. Not only that, they actually saw that our diet was always almost same of what they had in their house. We invited them so that they will actually see that we have lived their kind of simple lifestyle.
But addressing their felt needs is a starting point toward revealing and knowing their real deep needs.
The gardens we built supplies us! And we survived for months of no food allowance from the SULADS! The pen of inspiration has a say, “Working the soil is one of the best kinds of employment, calling the muscles into action and resting the mind... This is the very first work that should be entered upon.” 6T 179
As health reformers, we must acquire knowledge on how to grow and utilize the land that will better help the people. When you plant, you are making the way and doing wonderful things to help the villagers.