AgrAcademy participants sat intently as they listened to the sage from Friemersheim, Andries Speelman.
His account of days gone by is a crucial part of Learning Academy Worldwide’s strategic vetting process of young people who are serious about meaningful participation in the entire value chain of Agriculture.
History, and more so the understanding of history is crucial to serve meaningfully in rural communities – any community for that matter. Those who tell the stories are key to, so-called, development work. Moreover, young people’s curiosity and interest in these stories must be nurtured and ignited if they are to become responsible leaders and guides in an increasingly fragmented and unstable world.
Accounts of interactions between generations, family feuds and powerful peacemakers, awkward embarrassment and proud achievements, strange habits and insightful solutions together with the things “my mom told me” help paint a necessary picture for young people. It enables them to carefully arrive at an abandonment of unsubstantiated notions and carefully strategize, with deep empathy, for the benefit of the communities they seek to serve.
Mr Speelman’s first episode on the 12th March enabled the start of such a mind shift.
Calisha Fortuin, Gurshwin Damons, Suwaida Jafta, Tania Phillips and Nancy Tuerlinckx shared in those special moments on that sunny afternoon in Friemersheim and the record will show that they heard. Now, can they act? And if so, how would they act?
