"Let us involve children in our daily farming activities, stop punishing children at school by giving them gardening work"- Joshua Machinga, Common Ground
One of the farmers Travis and I are visiting is Joshua Machinga, who Village Volunteers has worked with for many years. In preparation for my trip, I shared an idea we had with with Shana Greene, Village Volunteer's Director, to film interviews with kids and teenagers about their feelings and views on agriculture. She sent me this article - "The Future of Farmers" -from their website by Joshua, which gives a very interesting overview of agriculture's important, but deteriorating role in Kenya's economy, and discusses common views held by young people about farming. Farmers in Kenya are aging, just as they are in the US, and farming is not seen as a desirable or viable way to make a living by most young people, who then are drawn to the cities, which are already bursting at the seams. One of our challenges, here and around the world, is to make farming interesting and prestigious again to young people, and economically viable so that it is a realistic choice as well.
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