Thoughts on Materialism; Observing Crop Conditions

Lohutok, Sudan

This morning, I was to take Martha to a couple of clinics to give vaccinations. It rained, so we dared not venture forth on the muddy roads. Instead I stayed around here and read. I finished The Mountain People which is about the Ik tribe of northeastern Uganda. I understand they are similar to the Taposa of southeastern Sudan and the Turkana of northern Kenya. It was sad to read that the Ik's society degenerated to an "every man for himself" one and continued along that path even when there was enough food for everyone. The author said this should teach western society to pursue social values, not just what Francis Schaeffer would call "personal peace and affluence". I think it is true enough that selfish materialism will be the undoing of western society. But I think it will take more than an appeal from an anthropologist to prevent that. Man will have to turn to God for individual healing before society can be healed.

I went on a long walk today, perhaps four miles. Quite a few of the sorghum and millet fields (called "gardens" by the local people) were heavily weed infested. But other fields looked as good as I would expect to see in a fairly typical Kansas field except for uniformity of size. Uniformity may not even be considered a benefit here. Uniformity is necessary for mechanized agricultural operations. But where crops are harvested by hand, a labor bottleneck might be created if all the plants in a field matured at the same time. Planting multiple varieties in a field may also reduce the risk that any one disease, insect or other disaster could wipe out the entire crop.

I saw Abele and Kelero Onuha who were planting across from the school. They are going to plant a strip of local millet next to a short season, short statured cultivar they got from Norwegian Church Aid's project in Torit. Josiah's plot won't be the only one planted to this cultivar. I hope this high yield variety (HYV) does not need fertilizer and special treatment to do well.

There are some maps available in Khartoum for this area showing topography and quite a bit of detail. Hopefully supplies last. I saw a fairly good magazine called Sudanow. I ought to check whether Cornell University gets it.