In the five weeks I have been here the rice has turned from a fresh green to a golden brown with the touch of the sun. The last few days patient counts in each clinic have been a bit lower because once it’s time for rice harvest, all hands are on deck. It’s a time of community as neighbors help one another harvesting their crops.

I was able to get a bit closer to see the process happen today. There are many tiny pathways leading to and from different crops and even though I thought I was on one that lead me directly to the one being harvested, I ended up to the far left of it. Perhaps in the next few days I’ll be able to get a front row seat to the action and finally see how one of the staple foods for me since childhood is actually collected!

The machine that separates the rice from the stalks is run manually by pumping it with the foot. The rice is collected in bags, some is taken home and some sold at the market or to bigger cities. The stalks are bundled and left in the sun to dry and are later fed to livestock.