Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Over the weekend, I was riding my bicycle through the countryside and wondering again at how fertile the land appears, and how under-utilized. Granted, we are in the dry season and everything is brown now. But still, there is a good growing season for six months, and that is a longer growing season than most of the US. The difference here is that the off-season has dust instead of snow. In the area where I was riding there were even the remnants of an extensive irrigation system apparently installed and maintained by a German organization until they left, years ago. And the agriculture here is all done by hand, no animals are used. The plowing is done with big hoes. Backbreaking!
So I was looking at this land and thinking of the Amish in Lancaster County – what they would accomplish with their mules and horses and care for the land. They would make this place BLOOM!!! And the thought of those black and grey buggies clattering over the dirt roads is precious. The buggies would not need those triangular reflectors or the battery-powered headlights here. The Tanzanians would not know what to make of it.
Mennonites are fairly well represented among all the proselytizers who came here from the north. You can find Mennonite churches scattered all through Tanzania. With the close relationship between at least some Mennonites and Amish, and the pressure of development and tourism in Lancaster County, I wonder how it is that the Amish have not found Africa a good place for migration and settlement.
So I was looking at this land and thinking of the Amish in Lancaster County – what they would accomplish with their mules and horses and care for the land. They would make this place BLOOM!!! And the thought of those black and grey buggies clattering over the dirt roads is precious. The buggies would not need those triangular reflectors or the battery-powered headlights here. The Tanzanians would not know what to make of it.
Mennonites are fairly well represented among all the proselytizers who came here from the north. You can find Mennonite churches scattered all through Tanzania. With the close relationship between at least some Mennonites and Amish, and the pressure of development and tourism in Lancaster County, I wonder how it is that the Amish have not found Africa a good place for migration and settlement.
