Field Notes
Notes from the Farm
Some unusual events occurred at the Tiny Tim and Friends Farm since the beginning of June, in fact, so many it is difficult to know where to start.
Biswasi is 8 years old and has been on ARV’s from TTF for over 3 years. He was doing very well. Then he became sick again and was taken to the University Teaching Hospital, where he was started on treatment for TB.
Biswasi early on ARV therapy
Around the same time he developed a drop in his immune system which then caused a fungal infection in his mouth and esophagus, which prevented him from eating all together. By the time our team caught up with Biswasi, he had dropped so much weight that one could barely recognize him. To be 8 years old and weigh less than 10kg is a very dangerous sign and it was clear to all that he needed special help.
Because all the hospitals in Lusaka are closed or crippled by a heath care worker’s strike in its third week, we decided to bring him to the farm (with his father’s permission) for intensive feeding and 100% adherence to his complicated medicine schedule. We asked Henry to be his caretaker, and they have been together every moment since arriving. Henry is experienced at caring for these children, including his own family. His mother was in denial about the children’s HIV status and refused ARV’s for herself and her 3 children. As soon as she died, Henry brought his two younger siblings to clinic for treatment. Unfortunately is was too late for Shadrock, his 9 year old brother, who died in hospital. But Henry’s courageous efforts helped to save his little sister, Grace, who is now 5 years old and enrolled with TTF and doing really well.
Henry divided up all of the medicine so that Biswasi didn’t have to take too many pills at once, and then started feeding a mixture of egg, sugar and milk in very small amounts using a syringe.
Progress has been slow for Biswasi over the past week, but we feel that there is some improvement. Yesterday afternoon while sitting on the couch watching cartoons with the other children he actually smiled, then laughed while pointing at the TV.
Henry is attending school to get a degree in Social Work and a private donor from Canada is supporting him through this process. It is clear to all who see him in action that there is something very special about our Henry.
Last Friday at 03:00 we awoke to loud screams for help and Tim’s bedroom door had jammed and could not be opened from either side. Biswasi was sick and Tim was crying and Moses Jr (9 years old) had to go to the bathroom really bad and they were all three trapped in Tim’s room. It is the first and only time I have ever had to say the words, “stand back, kids, we have to break the door down,” but that is exactly what we had to do. Eric and I kicked the door in and we were all back to sleep within 15 minutes, only to wake in the morning not remembering it even happened until seeing Tim’s door in fragments everywhere.
The farm itself is in a period of transformation. Our disappointing wet season crops have been cleared away and we have nursery beds of rape, green peppers and Chinese cabbage. With the first dry season farming, we have the confidence of having a new pump which can irrigate all four acres at once, thanks to the tenacious work of Garret, our volunteer farm consultant who spent 6 months with us trying to get things up and running.
The nursery beds also give us time to prepare the field in which the nursery plants will be transplanted into.
About half the field has been prepared already and this week will see the second half ready as well.
We also have a few experimental beds planted so we can see what will grow the best on our fields. These include a few onion varieties as well as some local plants such as Chimolo. The pigeon pea is a lovely agro forestry plant with edible leaves and peas and produces all year around. Garret designed it so that every 15th line we have a stand of pigeon pea.
The next acre is where the ground nuts grew last season and this week we are putting in the next crop if maize. Now that we have adequate pumping capability we are hoping for a bumper crop, and because green maize is scarce outside the rainy season, the price should be great.
Our last maize crop was hampered by poor watering and the cobbs were small and difficult to sell. The old stalks here will be left for the termites and the land prepared for the third season in August.
We have various other experimental beds going at the farm, including some rape grown from seedlings by the pump house and tomatoes and water melons surrounding the guard house.
We are hoping for a great crop this second season so we can start to pay back some of our loans and make some farm revenue a reality.