An Earthrise Village Leaders Institute

View of a sunset in Amherst, MA at the sundial created by students somewhat replicating Stonehenge

In 1982, the Kenya/Uganda border was a dangerous place to be.  Hundreds of people were killed in the rebellion against the Ugandan government, and an estimated 400-thousand people were left homeless. Because of this,, despair hung around heavily like hungry buzzards circling fresh road kill. Smuggling and prostitution were businesses in and of themselves.

Three of us traveled to a village right on the border to facilitate a week long village leaders institute (VLI). The village was at the foot of Mt. Elgon. I had seen pictures of the top of this inactive volcano. The flora was lush and the fauna immense compared to wildlife I had encountered along side Kenya's roads.

Fifty or so village leaders, mostly women, began to gather for the training week. The people in this village were about the poorest I had visited to date. Everyone brought food as payment for their coming - lots of greens  and plenty of ground maize, tea and fresh milk. No meat and no sugar.  For the final celebration, one of our team went searching for a chicken or two, or some goat meat, and some sugar. None was to be found.

A VLI always began with introductions and a sharing of what folks were doing. A group of women reported that they had started a co-op garden and a sewing business and that it had failed when the men took it over and split the profits as their salaries instead of reinvesting in more seeds and supplies.  "Oops," I thought. "The group who came to teach them how to do this forgot the most important part - including the men in the business traming basics."

The other question we asked at the opening was, "What has been the most important world event in your life's time?  A young man, clad only in black sports shorts, who had walked from the other side of  Mt. Elgon, carrying a cabbage as his payment, answered, "Man on the moon - seeing the picture of the earth."

I was aghast with wonder.  Why didn't he say the recent war next door? How did he know about the men on the moon?  Where did he see a picture?  He said he listened on the radio and saw the picture in a magazine.  There is no city on the other side of Mt. Elgon.

In consideration of time, I never did get to ask him where he was able to access these communication vehicles.

This VLI continued with a verbal image of the earthrise, a picture  held in each participant's imagination.  It was our new context while learning how to work with the rest of the village on implementing plans.

How long has it been now - thirty years - and I still remember it as if it happened yesterday. I often wonder if they also remember and what is that once young man is doing today.

How has the image of the earthrise affected you?