The Secret Hunter

How can you tell a planter from a hunter? This is a mystery you may be able to help us solve. Baba and I are always trying to identify, encourage, and retain our planters and harvesters: those who see the value of planting “seeds” for future harvest rather than those who are only hunting for what they can “eat” right now. This metaphor we love to use applies to much more than just farming. It is entwined in a person’s world view. We certainly don’t always succeed in our efforts to identify our planters/harvesters. Naturally, everyone has to do a little hunting in life when things are tough. To us, hunting in extreme situations is totally different from living your life constantly on the hunt.

We love three associates who work with us at Shabuta very much – like our sons. We’ve been working hard to encourage them toward planting and harvesting, but it seems we failed with one. His hunting instincts overcame him just recently. Maybe you can read the three profiles below and detect the signs that we missed. If you share your conclusion with us, it may help us to see the signs of a true planter/harvester as opposed to a hunter/gatherer. Maybe you can solve the mystery of the secret hunter.

First Profile

The first person’s age is between the late thirties and late forties. He’s married with a child. His wife is a trader and he helps her. She travels more often than he does and he handles the household affairs when she is gone. He is a hard worker, always willing if his schedule permits. His trade is building/construction and he has always maintained a small farm, sometimes with chickens. Having knowledge of both building and farming, two of the primary development imperatives of Shabuta, has placed him in a leadership position in terms of project decision-making. He has been instrumental in staffing decisions as well and when he has led us wrong, has gone out of his way to personally correct the errors of the employees he recommended. He also drives, a rare skill in these parts and willingly drives for us when his schedule permits. Driving in this small African country town involves navigating treacherous roads. He also has to help us make purchases because the haphazard post-war condition of walkways and shop entrances make it difficult for old people to maneuver the streets. He does all this without complaint. However, it is difficult to schedule activities that involve him because of his family commitments. Many valuable opportunities are lost because of this scheduling problem.

Builder's Project

Second Profile

The second person’s age is between the late twenties and late thirties. He is also married and has children. His wife is a farm wife, spending much time in her family’s farm. He is an energetic, hard worker who sees beyond the immediate task. He can add value to his work project and the entire site. His trade is farming and he is an artifacts craftsman. He is also a jeli (singer-storyteller) and doesn’t hesitate to end our meetings with an appropriate tale. He understands the mission of Shabuta and contributes his ideas to the implementation of our mission. His farm projects proliferate on the site from building nursery beds and coaxing my arugula and tatsoi seeds to grow, to planting a one acre-plus area on the south-western border of our land which we’re now harvesting. He has also made community connections with neighboring farmers. He rents lodging near the site for him and his family. Although he has a daily work schedule with us, he has many on-going outside projects including spending time on his wife’s family farm and he is almost always late to work and leaves early. This causes a problem with work and projects that are time sensitive.

Farmer's Harvest

Third Profile

This person’s age is between 50 and 60. He has a wife, children, and grandchildren. He is a leader with experience in many fields. His position is Chief of Security which he handles very well. He shows initiative and excels in follow-through. So he has brought many needed projects to our attention and has either found the person to do the work or completed the project himself. He is innovative and can devise traps to protect the crops from predators. Whenever there is a security person absent, he will arrange a replacement or personally replace the absent person. He always has sensible suggestions for problems that arise and so we rely on his opinion in most site matters. His kindly, but firm manner keeps the security staff in line while maintaining a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere on site. The staff trusts him to act on their behalf. He has built his own home and some other small property which he rents. Because of his age, there is a feeling among some younger staff that he doesn’t present a “strong” enough image for a security chief or that if there is a real emergency and there is need for strength or force, he will not be able to handle it. Because of his age, we hesitate to request him to do any task that requires youthful strength or fortitude.

Chief Trapped a Predator

Please help us out by sending your choice of “secret hunter”. You can either click “comment” on the blog’s page or send your response to shabutaso@gmail.com and we’ll respond with a thank you.

 

 

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