The Interviews
Esperanza
Interviewer: One more question…when you farm, do you think about anything, I don’t know, maybe sing?
Farmer: No! (Laughs)
Interviewer: Really, no singing?
Farmer: No! No singing, but I dedicate myself to my work.
Alioye
Interviewer: What do you think about when you farm?
Farmer (through a translator): That he’s doing a good job, that he must clean his farm. He thinks, what is the next stage? Are you harvesting tomorrow? Are you going for farmers’ market? He is checking in with himself…
Interviewer: What is the first thing you think about when you are done farming for the day?
Farmer: Just sit down, end of day, go back home, take a shower, and eat food. Sleep! (Alioye says “sleep” in English, which causes everyone to laugh.)
John Yanga
Interviewer: Do you dream of doing something else someday?
Farmer: I would like to have like a well-organized farm in the future, the near future. And my goal is to dedicate this farm toward helping our people in Sudan.
Interviewer: So you’re donating?
Farmer: No, not donating but with knowledge and research. And all the research that I am going to get from my farming here, I try to apply back home.
Christen Lokiware
I was a farmer a long time ago in my country. When I was young like you guys, a student, I helped my mom, weeding and planting in the garden and also harvest food from the garden. When I was grown I got married and after that I joined a women’s organization in Juba. I worked with them for five years and after that I traveled to Egypt. There was no work to do. I stayed home when my baby was young and after that I started working as a house maid. I worked for people and got paid.
Khadija
Her kids were all, “Why do you need this thing?! You were in Africa farming, now you are here…” so, she doesn’t think they would be interested in it. She can’t live without farming, it’s what she does, she’s proud of herself. That’s why she goes with it. Any human in America, anywhere, eats, we all use the source from the earth; it doesn’t matter if we’re in America or Africa, wherever you are.
Santa
Interviewer: A lot of people get groundhogs around here. What animals eat your food here, in Maine? Woodchuck?
Farmer: Woodchuck, squirrel.
Interviewer: Mice.
Farmer: Yeah, animals don’t eat a lot, here.
Interviewer: Did you have animals in Sudan eating your food?
Farmer: Yeah, a lot.
Interviewer: Like what?
Farmer: Elephant, lion, tiger.
Theresa Okia
Interviewer: Do you farm for your family’s health?
Farmer: Yeah, three quarters of my vegetables go to the market for selling and a quarter of it I take for home use, and it really helps me during summers like this. I don’t buy vegetables from markets. I have to buy some things like meat, beef, bread; but the vegetables I take from my farm, which is a part of my earning, and we eat the fresh food form the field and we eat it natural, it’s not chemical.
