Modified Rapture

November is a month for struggle.

I fancy that I am not the only one who finds this ‘shoulder’ time of the year harder than others, a kind of dull feeling of shortening light, darkening days and wet-running roads. Sure, it brings its compensations (bullfinches and tree sparrows back in the garden after decades absence, for example), but fundamentally, I still think I was designed for a 300 day year.

In this late career move of mine, I have obviously set myself up as someone who wants to influence people. It would be ridiculous to pretend otherwise, as it is certainly not for the money, the stability or the fame. But I have a genuine delight in standing in front of an audience of whatever size and trying to persuade them that what I am talking about matters; I also get equal pleasure from someone who tells me that they enjoyed something I have written. Just in the last two months, I have stood in front of well over 2,000 people (cumulatively, not at one time!), always imagining that even if I end up improving a tiny part of the life of just one of them to, it’s all I can dream of.

Seldom do I get any proof that this blog does anything useful. People mention it in passing, of course, but I have no idea of its reach in amusing, provoking or encouraging my friends who read it. You lot.

Until now. Until just now.

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about a project in Africa called ‘Farming on Crutches’. In brief, I told the story of a man who was running farming courses for people who had been injured, mainly by machete, in the Sierra Leone civil wars, and of how he had run out of money and did not have the funds to run the third course, one that was due to start last weekend. His is such a tiny venture that it simply doesn’t have the ability to have a website, let alone slick marketing; he either gets the money from friends, or the course doesn’t happen. People I trust implicitly vouched for him, and Groundswell Farming Conference agreed to provide the payment system. Then we waited.

Well, it worked. Because enough of you were moved by his story to contribute, and I am beyond delighted to let you know that, between us, we have done it. A tiny little success racked up against the prevailing tide. A few lives made a little better. The course is up and running, and that is all that counts.

He has sent a long report, and some video which I will try to post, but the gist of it is that 15 participants from 5 cities are being trained by 8 instructors in field management, harvesting, farm work, sustainable agriculture, watering and morning exercise. He finishes his report by saying ‘what you need is around you’, which I love.

15 lives transformed, all for the cost of a short weekend for two in London, with a cheap show thrown in. We didn’t even need to provide £1,000, but it is all happening.

Thank you all so much. The dial got moved infinitesimally forward.