At the first glance, this may not look like much….just another landscape. But this picture has a lot to say.
It tells a story of loss, resilience, rallying in the face of discouragement, a community coming together, and the power of support, love, and unity.
As you look to the left of the picture, you can still see the changed landscape caused by the roaring water that came through the ravine with “Madame Matthew.” You can see land now indistinguishable, but that used to be gardens.
But, flowing up through the center of the picture, you can see one of the canals restored by a community work group after hurricane Matthew went through. It is now carrying water to gardens where people are excitedly planting corn and beans–crops they only plant when there is a more-than-normal amount of water.
What you cannot see is the water that is STILL flowing in quantity through the ravine.
In the bottom right foreground, you can see part of a garden that was restored as a result of a konbit encouraged and supported by Lemuel. A konbit is when a bunch of community residents get together for a large personal job, such as hoeing a large field…kind of like a barn raising or the way settlers used to harvest years ago in America by taking turns working in each others’ fields.
Rather imperceptible–but present nonetheless–to the far left of the picture is one of the community groups working perseveringly on another canal that will carry water to a whole other set of gardens.
And behind it all, falls the rain–the blessing for which we are always searching the sky.