Friday 2 March 2012


Today was one of my favorite days yet.  We visited several landless farmers - these are generally very poor families who have no land holdings and who typically lease small plots of land to raise their cows.  Most of them have taken out loans to do this, but because they don't have land as collateral, they're usually stuck borrowing from private lenders who charge interest rates twice those of the banks.  But despite all their hardships and their truly tough lives, these farmers were by far the happiest, most content of any that we've met.  And literally, within minutes of arriving we have an audience of 20-30 people...  we were joking that someone in the village must have tweeted about our arrival...


We also visited a Collection Center, where farmers bring their milk twice a day (after the morning and evening milkings) to be measured and tested.  We were there as all the farmers were bringing in their milk for the evening, which was great to see.  The arrived on foot or on two wheelers (moped/motorcycle) and were all completely fascinated by us - most of them have seen few if any Westerners in their lives.  Once we're finished asking them questions, we always ask if they have any questions for us...   we've had some humorous questions... and received many dinner invitations ;)




No comments:

Post a Comment