Poems by Edward Kabali

Endurance for humanity

‘’A day without food is a wasted day’’
Said the boy in a war torn refugee camp
But have you ruminated

On life without a farmer, food transporters, donors
Agriculture educators, food banks, processors and distributors

Again, have you imagined life without

Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Programme
And the Capital Area Food Bank with their partners

‘’Yes, I have’’

Then what do you have to tell about that life
‘’You will never know that a madman on the street has brothers

Until you kill him!

I see one billion people left with no jobs
Isn’t that about 28% of the world population
I see rampant deaths due to hunger and starvation’’

What else do you see

‘’Malnutrition, diseases and stunted growth in children
Delayed delivery of the scanty available food
I see many economies collapsing

I see extreme poverty and food poisoning due to aflatoxins’’

All the holy books, whether the Christian bible, the Hindu Gita,
The Moslem Quran and the Buddhism scriptures

Are unanimous in one thing, that growing and sharing food is a good thing
With their humility like that of the carpenter of Nazareth,

Even in the covid 19 pandemic!

Fruits, legumes, vegetables, tubers, grains, meat and eggs have been constantly supplied

Aren’t these very crucial in the fight against covid 19
Oh…..even in the pandemic, they have been present!
But who are these food architectures, your guess is as good as mine!

Therefore, step up and be counted

On emulating what these great people do, on passing favourable policies

On supporting their hard work
On making them feel respected and appreciated
When the roots are deeper, there is no reason to fear the wind.

Click on the file below to listen to the poem:

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Our actions are our future

​Why cutting down trees
Dumping polythenes in soil
Settling in wetlands

Why abuse and excessively use agrochemicals
Pouring waste industrial residues into farm land
Is it because they are the solutions for survival today

Don’t you know

That some of today’s solutions are tomorrow’s problems
Such as the 811 million people go hungry
What about the 690 million people undernourished
Desertification and drought at an alarming rate
Low yields in agricultural production
Contaminated and unsafe food for consumption
Don’t we commemorate the world food day every 16 th October

What have we learnt from it
Have we put it into practice
Are you aware?

That you are potential victim
Besides, a potential solution to this fate
And that if we come together, we can change our destiny

Through sustainable agriculture
Afforestation and re-afforestation
Rightly using agrochemicals
Protecting the wetlands
Proper disposal of polythene materials
Can’t we invest more in agricultural research
That we may have plenty of food

To mitigate hunger and undernourishment across the globe

Isn’t this the right time

To exploit the available and explore more postharvest handling technologies
That we invest in in refrigeration and silos to store more grains

I believe that all this can be done
And that it will be done
Because if it’s not done we are done
May God bless you.

Click on the link to listen to the poem: 
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g4vQ5A8vSk&t=4s

Edward Kabali is an Agricultural Teacher at Grace High School in Uganda

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