As I sit and organize reports in my newly claimed home office, I cant help but reflect on this past year. The sound of a persistent drip coming from the bathroom tap--a precautionary step to ensure our pipes from freezing in inclement weather, highlights the importance of a water system that runs efficiently to every day life. But I am especially reminded of the challenges our family farmers faced this past year with irrigating their crops. The drip from the tap symbolizes the separation of those who have and those who have not.
Now, this is not an exclusively rural farm family characteristic, in fact, my home in the Urban outskirts of Atlanta is one of the largest culprits of perpetuating inequality. Yet as the SURREF Team headed to Wilcox County in the Alabama Black Belt (persistent poor county) about 60 miles southwest of Selma, I couldn’t help but notice families on their land with limited equipment, sometimes operating alone with no labor or help, wells that did not work, access to limited or no capital for repairs, only compounded by hours-long tasks of preparing meals and home improvements. Most try for outside employment. If lucky, they are on their way to a job as a short order cook in Selma, a job cleaning, or if lucky - a truck driver. With unemployment hovering around 21%, that is even highly unlikely.
What does this have to do with SURREF and our mission? Perhaps nothing, but I wonder if this simple observation underlines the value (or lack thereof) placed on families who want to farm and their communities as players in education, business, and politics? And their coinciding needs…..like affordable pumping technologies and services...or a well!
