Remembering Women !

 

I watched this woman gather firewood and carry the head load from the site to her home.

The news of News Delhi currently in severe air pollution has been in the news for a while. It is related to farmer's burning the recently harvested field of wheat and rice, in order to burn the hay to convert it to ash, before they prepare the ground for sowing the seeds for the next crop. This practice is a farmer's way of the ritual of preparing the soil. 

The atmosphere is polluted by the smoke and toxic air pollutants during this process. The two pictures above of how after the grain and hay are collected, stub of whet or rice plants remains in the ground. When they plough the ground for the next cultivation, the stub remains in the ground and would need long time for them to disintegrate to make the soli rich as seen in the picture below. The stub  therefore does not become an instantaneous manure, unless burned.

It is this, which makes burning the stub a compulsive activity of the farmers to replenish the soil with ash by burning the stub.

When Delhi has a high level of air pollution because of which the school are closed for ten days now, one contributory factor is burning the stub in thousands of acres of agricultural land all around Delhi in Haryana and Punjab. Until the government comes with an alternate proposal to burning the stub, this high air pollution levels in the winter months in Delhi would continue to be an annual feature.

As I walk in the streets of the rural parts of Madhepura town, I find that burning the waste in the open and using cow dung cakes or firewood for cooking is the normal way. The roads are dusty, which normally make the air dense and pollutes the air. Fortunately in the rural areas, the vegetations of plants and trees protect the air unlike in a city where the densely built in areas do not give enough lung space for the air to have a  natural filtering system. 

The firewood gathering reduces the forest space, although the main cause of deforestation id to reclaim land for 'development projects'.  This is an alarming concern. During the winter months, wood fire is lit in rural areas to keep the homes warm.  

The cooking gas is priced above the purchasing capacity of a low income families. So a shift from firewood use for cooking is unlikely to be the common practice in the rural areas in the immediate future. 

The woman above is one among the millions, who use firewood for cooking in rural parts of India. 

Coming back to this woman, who gathered firewood for her kitchen and carrying a head load back home, reminded me of the woman of Zarephath, whom Elijah met when guided to go to meet her after the brook dried up and the ravens stopped bringing food to him. She was gathering sticks to cook a meal for her son and herself, who had only handful of flour and oil left for her. The drought had made her situation hopeless. When Elijah requested for a jar of water and a piece of bread, she brought it for him. It was then, Elijah brought the good news to her: 'The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall their of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth (1Kings 17:1-16).

This woman is one among the many who struggle to keep her family fed and warm during the winter months by going out to gather firewood whenever possible. 

A woman is an anchor in most families. She holds the family together by her endearing support and thoughtful acts of kindness. 

The story of Ruth in the Old Testament of the Bible, is an illustration of such an anchor that she became, although a widow, who in desperation went out to glean from the field after the Barley harvest, at the suggestion of her widowed mother-in-law. Ruth found her husband and together they rebuilt the family tree to become part of the ancestral lineage of Jesus of Nazareth. 

I know from what Anna does each day at home, how she is the glue in the net working of our own family and is the keeper of the home to bring wellness to me and others who pass tough our home. Most women turn their travails into acts of service and thoughtfulness because of which homes become a place of hospitality and renewal for adults and children!

A woman lives with a calling to give and care!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)