Rice Harvesting: A Reflection
I’ve never harvested rice. I’ve never stepped onto a rice field. I’ve never sunk that deep in mud. I’ve never used a sickle. I’ve never even seen what rice stalks look like.
What a learning experience it was, although it was only momentarily. Vietnam and its people have depended on rice for thousands of years. And what I have learned is that such agriculture is pure genius–none like it around the world! It works, it’s productive, and it feeds millions of people. And heck, it can be quite fun working the rice fields however in reality it is very difficult, time consuming, and tedious work. I was excited to get down and dirty! And that I did (although others outdid me on this one). I learned that it isn’t easy walking through the muddy rice fields, especially without crushing the rice stalks which are everywhere anyways! I learned how to use a sickle to chop off the rice stalks at a specified length. However I found it difficult at first because the stalks in the area we were working with were pretty much blown over due to wind and rain during the past couple of days, so it wasn’t an easy deal. But we dealt with it. I was grabbing a stalk full of rice, chopping, piling, grabbing another stalk of rice, chopping, and piling on top of the others. From this simple process of rice harvesting, I learned a lot about myself as well. That yes, I can move knee-deep in mud. Yes, there were interesting weird bugs all around me but whatever. Yes, it got a bit itchy but I’m having a good time! And it was cool seeing others get into it as well; there was a team cutting, a team grabbing the piles out of the field, several others helping carry the load out to be processed. Although Gerard, by the end of the trip, said that we were the laziest bunch he’s ever seen (harvesting only 65% of the rice field) I think everyone learned how to work together, and experienced what many everyday Vietnamese in these villages do for a living…or now, for a portion of their living since many of the villagers have also taken on different jobs today, no longer depending heavily on rice harvesting for income. And I guess this is exactly what Gerard wanted us to realize, that rural life in Vietnam is also changing.
On a side note…I’ve learned how to feed an army of farmers after the work day of harvesting rice is done!
Well, after this experience, we all know how amazing the farmers are. When I was harvesting, the sentence: “Please protect the grain” kept resounding in my mind. It’s so true to say farmer is the most strenuous job ever. To bring the processed rice to become eatable, farmers put on it lots of efforts. Then, appreciating every single rice is necessary. However, as I observed, it’s totally a manual job when a large number of farmers in Vietnam haven’t invested in some kinds of machine to increase productivity and save their strength. Also, when we were around to conduct the job, we just wanted to do it as an assemble line, means a group of us stand in line and carry the load. I thought it saves much more time and energy. All we need is to be careful and watch out the grain,make sure we wouldn’t drop any.
Actually, I wanna add some the hazards of this work, Michelle. First, the likelihood of being cut by the sickle is so high, thus the lesson is to make sure you’re not stepping the left leg in front. Second, because you will deal with several kinds of bug, absolutely you will get the dermatosis. Alleviator is useless because you’re sinking half of your legs in mud.
But you know what, harvesting is good for your mental. I mean it is a very good way to fresh up your mind, to release stress in life. Especially when you do it with friends, chatting while working, singing while working and just working manually it self is awesome!