"Land reform helps people who have nothing"

We are finally able to post to our blog, delayed due to Internet problems and long days of travel. Yesterday, we set out on our visit to the landless community, Fazenda Jabuticaba, and almost did not make it. After turning off the highway, we began a long slow drive along an endless farm road lined on both sides with stick fencing separating the road from a wide expanse of private land interspersed with boulders of flat rock. We were in the agreste, the plateau region of Pernambuco. The occasional horse drawn cart and one or two motorcycles competed with us for space. It had rained that morning and our large van got bogged down in the mud. After several attempts to get unstuck, 11 of us gratefully accepted a ride in a small four wheel drive truck that had seen better days, five of us in the front and the rest in the back, pitching and heaving as the road became even more difficult with boulders and mud. There were times when we thought the truck would not make it.

And then we saw it, the flag of the MST (Brazil's Landless Workers Movement, mentioned in an earlier blog) flying high above a tree. We drove in and members of the community came out to greet us. We were expected. One hundred families live in the acampamento (encampment), although most were away at the market, selling their produce. The most striking feature of the acampamento was the stark black plastic tents that the people call home. Close at hand was a large gong. A big man quickly went to get his axe and, as if it were as light as a small hammer, swung it at the metal disc. The loud piercing noise could be heard far away in the fields. This is to warn the community in times of danger or to call them to gather, we were told.

The people took us to their community centre, a small mud brick room with a dirt floor. As our eyes adjusted to the darkness we could see that there were already people standing or sitting along benches against the wall. Then they began to speak. Voice after voice spoke of struggle, hope, longing, and deep faith. "We want to live out of our sweat. We are not stealing. We are working with these tools, with our sweat running."

Kathy and our translator Leo listen to Joao
 tell the heart-wrenching story of his community

They told us that they moved onto this unproductive land six years ago and have made this difficult land productive. With pride in their voices, they named all the crops they produce. In those six years, they have been evicted by the state authorities 11 times. Each time, their crops are destroyed and the children are taken out of school. When he told us this, Joao's voice broke with emotion and frustration. Sometimes armed men have come to threaten and frighten them. Each time they are evicted, the communities leave, only to return again to the land in 48 hours.

They told us that the day after our visit, they were to be evicted again. In the face of so many impoverished landless people and so much land in the hands of a few, Brazil's agrarian reform law states that all lands that are unproductive and have no social return must be expropriated. But the process to gain that land is a long and difficult one. "God said there is supposed to be land for everybody," Jose said. "We are here to work. Land reform helps people who have nothing. We are working this land that had no production, so why can't we stay?"

The homes in the fazenda are made of stick frames
covered with heavy plastic sheeting

We were privileged to visit this community, to eat the roast corn they shared with us, and to hear their stories, stories they wanted so much to tell. Their words and their weary faces are now etched in our hearts and minds. As of today, we have been unable to find out if the community was evicted on Friday as they expected.

Kathy