Published: January 18, 2008 03:10 pm            

Land Minds: Mr. Hagen goes to Pretoria

Originally published in the January 11, 2008, print edition.

To be honest, I don’t know whether The Land staff writer Dick Hagen will get to visit Pretoria, the contradictory country’s capital, but South Africa is his destination.

As you read this he, with more than two dozen members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (Southwest Minnesota Synod), is half-way around the world, according to Dick, “to see if we can provide some assistance to the rural families attempting to become self-sustaining on their small farm plots, which are slowly being made available to them through a national land reform program.”

There is not enough room in this space to describe the complexities of rural life in South Africa, which, nearly 20 years after apartheid’s dismantling, continues to battle the effects of legalized racial segregation.

As the black majority, in power since 1990, attempts to right decades of iniquity — by dissecting large white-run farms and putting the pieces into the hands of black farmers — both sides cry foul: blacks criticize the speed at which the government is enacting reform, and whites allege racist treatment in, among other areas, the government’s response to so-called “farm attacks” at the hands of black assailants.

Meanwhile, the African continent’s most powerful economy — the world’s 24th largest — is starkly contrasted by extreme poverty in rural areas, compounded by unsustainable land management practices.

Dick will be visiting an agricultural area north of the eastern port of Durban. While there, he plans to share his experiences with all of us in “real time” via The Land website.

Realities such as irregular availability of electricity may ultimately hinder his “blogging,” but we encourage our readers to visit www.thelandonline.com frequently between now and Jan. 30 for updates from South Africa. Simply click on the special button on the right side of the website to learn more.

“In our brief, two-week stint, I doubt we can leave even a small footprint,” Dick wrote in an e-mail. “But the good Lord willing, we’re on a mission of both agricultural and spiritual assistance.”

A poem for Greta

sun dogs form a cross
over frosted farm, mourning;
true loves dance again

        

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