The pandemic and us

I want to tell something, not because I've been asked to say it, but because I am living it directly, I am seeing it with my eyes and mind in our rural area, in our territories, which encompasses everything that exists.

It is the changes that are occurring in a very accelerated way, of the love for the soil, for the production, for loving our farms and our country houses, with no difference in age. All of us who come from the rural area, at least from Bambamarca, are giving importance to our provenance roots, to all our customs. And many of us are recovering what we had badly abandoned or forgotten.

We peasants who, in recent times, were beginning to be more urban –for its attractiveness of fashions, nearby pharmacies or more media services, for not wanting to walk a long distance–, now with the Coronavirus, we are changing how we look at our reality, to love our nature more, and realise that money is not everything, even less - individualism.

In these days we not only talk, but we are with the idea of ​​the importance of minga (collective and voluntary work) in our work, and we talk about exchanging products and putting our agricultural tools into action with our arms. And here's to our fields, our farm, our food, our medicinal plants, and the wisdom our grandparents taught us!

We have reinforced this especially with our youth, who now see the horizons of our farm, even if they are of a small area.

With this I do not want to alarm anyone, but now how many migrants are worried about returning to their place of origin.

I speak this not to boast, but to see in a positive way the problems that we have to face, as we do not know how long it will last, nor the consequences that will come with the changes.

How interesting!

Lino Gálvez Blanco,

Community of El Ahijadero, Bambamarca