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Freedom of the press is something most Canadians take for granted – at least I did. Of course there are rules, i.e. you can’t write lies about people or organizations. But it is considered the job of the press to expose the truth to the public – especially truths about government and their actions that the government doesn’t want the public to know.

Zambian journalists who did just that in the last year often had to pay heavily for it, with beatings, arrests, or other forms of persecution. The government threatened to close certain newspaper offices. Now they have introduced a new media bill that has the media institutions fighting for their rights and lives.

A free press is a basic element of democracy as we know it. The public needs balanced information to be able to make the decisions required of the citizens of a democracy, to vote for the people that will be most likely to carry out their wishes, to be able to protest when things are not going the way they should, or when the welfare of the public is misused or neglected. This information comes from the press.

Today one of the Zambian papers quoted an opposition party leader as saying that Zambia is on the verge of becoming a totalitarian state (www.postzambia.com, Friday, January 08, 2010). This isn’t the first time I have read such remarks in the online papers. It disturbs me, especially as we have watched what a totalitarian state does next door in Zimbabwe. Zambia is a long way (I hope) from that state of affairs, but Zimbabwe didn’t become what it is overnight either.

If you are interested at all in following some of these issues look up the Times of Zambia or the Zambian Post online. Both are free to read and come from different angles.

I am impressed with the forthrightness of some Zambian journalists. They know it can be serious trouble for them, but they still fight for the right for people to know – still name the facts and the people involved. My hat is off to them – may their fight be victorious!

There are Zambians who say these journalists are only stirring up trouble. Others think that’s what they should be doing. I’m not in a position to comment either way. But I do believe that citizens need to hear both sides of a story. No one side ever has the full truth, it seems.

Enjoy your freedom, Canadian journalists! Take care of it; be responsible with what you write, but never take it for granted!

Watch for the Western Producer’s special water issue this week. Essential to life, water is increasingly becoming a critical commodity. Where it is plentiful and free, few think about that fact. For others life revolves around the need to get water.

Women wait their turn to draw from the murky waters of Lake Victoria, Kenya. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Canadians use a lot of water. According to Environment Canada, in 2004 the average Canadian household used 329 litres of water a day, compared to the European average of 200 lts/day, and sub-Saharan Africa of 10-20 lts/day. Canadians seem to use more than their fair share!

Growing up on a pioneer farm in northern British Columbia, our household water came from a dugout. I learned early to appreciate enough good water. We only had cold running water as long as I lived at home (and I’m barely 50). You didn’t fill the bathtub more than necessary – and usually only once a week! We had sponge baths in between.

I lived in Europe long enough that even now, 18 years after leaving Switzerland, I’m sure our household is closer to the European average than the Canadian. I’ve been told I shower like a European – “What does that mean,” I asked perplexed.

“You turn the water on and off all the time.” Like most Europeans, I get wet, shut the water off, soap down, and rinse off. The only time I keep the water on the whole time I’m showering is if I am really cold, and even then I feel guilty.

Our Swiss relatives have their water metered coming into the house and again leaving the house. We know from Canadian statistics that cities that meter water have a substantially lower water usage per household than those that don’t. We value what we have to pay for.

Sometimes we were shocked at how water was wasted in Africa – not all Africans live with water shortages. On the compound where we lived, water lines were old and often in need of repair. If a tap was leaking, no one seemed bothered enough to fix it. As long as water comes, what’s the problem?

Village women and children clamour for water at a well near Mpongwe, Zambia. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Other Africans know very well the value of good clean water. I’ve watched African women and kids haul water out of a dirty hole that the cows were standing in. My diary says: “I hope they are only using that to water the garden.” Now I know they most likely used it to wash and cook and some to drink without purifying.

What often amazed me about Africans is that they can come out of their simple one room huts with no facilities whatsoever and they are clean, their clothes neat and pressed. A little water can go a long way!

Clothes are washed by hand at the well or down by the creek or the watering hole. Bucket baths are the norm – water is heated and poured into a basin, the body is splashed with water, then soaped, and rinsed. ‘You may be poor but you don’t have to be dirty.’

As global population continues to grow, water will become a hot issue. We need to learn to value it, and treat it as the essential commodity it is – with care.

The forestry department of Schleitheim always has a Christmas tree market the Saturday before Christmas. Reforested spruce stands are thinned out and the trees bring holiday joy. I bought two, one for Grandma and one for our little living room.

As Grandma and I hung shiny glass ornaments a neighbour popped by. “You’re trimming the tree already? Isn’t that a job for Christmas Eve?”

Kids all over the village are making snow men and snow forts with the fresh snow that fell last night. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Traditionally in Switzerland parents trim the tree on Christmas Eve in the living room behind closed doors. After a special meal, the children are allowed into the Christmas room. They will light the candles and sing Christmas carols. The children will recite the poems they have learned in school or play a musical piece they have practiced. The father will read the Christmas story out of the Bible. Then finally, they will open the presents.

Changing cultures, values and separated families have created a different reality for many, of course. But the old traditions remain symbolic of a perfect Christmas for most Swiss.

I still needed a string of lights for my tree. The manager of the local UFA showed me a box. “That will be long enough for my little tree, I think”, I said.

“But you know this string is for indoors only?” he asked. Of course. Few people light the tree artificially. Even my daughter-in-law Jacqueline says they will use real candles.

The danger of a fire is rarely at Christmas. It is at New Year’s, when many light the candles one more time, that the now drying tree can easily catch fire. When I said something to Jacqueline, she said, “You just have to have a big pail of water nearby.” That brought back memories of Christmas when I was a child – and the pail of water my father always made sure was at hand.

Fresh snow softens the light of the Christmas trees lining the creek through the village centre. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

I look forward to Christmas morning. Robert and I will join a group of early risers at 6 a.m. for the traditional Currende singing. Reminiscent of the story of the shepherds as they went back to their sheep, telling everyone of what they have seen in the manger, we will tour through the village, caroling as we go. Hot chocolate and breakfast will be waiting for us when we come back, before we go on to the senior’s lodge and care home to sing some more carols there.

I’ll cook a special dinner for our grown children and Robert’s parents – it won’t be turkey. Maybe roast pork, with pilaw rice, and brussel sprouts; orange crème and chocolate cookies to round out the meal, with strong coffee.

Then we’ll light the candles on the tree and sing “O du fröliche”. Grandpa, 87, will sing tenor, and Grandma’s once strong soprano will still hit the high notes. What makes Christmas truly special, anywhere in the world, is being together as family to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child.

2 a.m.: Three candles glow on the advent wreath. I savour a hot cup of tea and the muffin I saved from the last plane’s breakfast. The eight hours time change from Alberta to Switzerland has me wide awake.

Advent candles light up the night. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

I like the quiet of night, the house and village around me asleep. I check my email, read with pleasure the Christmas letters many have sent the last days. They share with me the joys and sorrows of living.

The day before we left Canada my good friend Joanne phoned to tell me that she is in the university hospital, with a possible tumor. She has been having severe back pain, but doctors thought it was sciatic nerve. It was hard to leave with that news. I feel I have abandoned her.

Yesterday we were in Schaffhausen at dusk. A very large spruce tree twinkling in white lights decorates the city square. Under its spread branches a merry-go-round turns; its brightly painted horses and carriages moving up and down in time to the music. The same African woman we’ve seen for years is still roasting chestnuts under a tent close by. Shoppers stop for a bit, warm their cold hands around a packet of hot chestnuts and savour their nutty flavor.

The crowd thronging the streets of Schaffhausen is a mixed lot, from every part of the world. The percentage of cultures other than Swiss continues to grow. Many Swiss feel threatened by the large numbers of refugees and immigrants from the developing world. It is true that crime and social problems are overly represented by this group of the population.

A people very protective of their heritage and fiercely independent (they still are not part of the European Union), the Swiss, I think, are more resistant to change than Canadians. And as the percentage of other cultures continues to increase in the country, change is going to come. It is inevitable.

A Swiss farmer hurries to plow his 5 acre field before Christmas. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Mostly I admit I like the fact that Switzerland tries to remain what it has always been. The fact that each country is unique and has its own culture is what makes our world so interesting. But as cultures mix more and more, we need to learn more to understand and accept one another in our differences.

I am not as good at that as I would like to think I am. Despite the fact that we have travelled and worked in Africa so often, and that I am an immigrant child myself, I realize how quickly I make judgments on people of other cultures. Seeing a Muslim family before me, the thoughts that pop up are as likely to be tainted by prejudice as by curiosity as to who they really are.

It’s not just village Africans that find it hard to change!

Snow, minus 17C and a nasty wind blasted us in Edmonton after a wonderful week of warm sun, green palm trees and the deep blue ocean of the Mexican Mayan Riviera. Welcome home to Alberta!

Reality check: Welcome back to Alberta! (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

But not for long: on Sunday, December 13, we leave again, this time for six months. Our annual trip overseas is beginning early this year. In Switzerland we’ll celebrate Christmas together as a family for the first time in six years.

Somewhere towards the end of January we’ll fly on to Kenya, then Zambia – back to our work with small farmers there. Pastor Jessy sent an email this week: When are you coming? Soon, Pastor Jessy.

I spoke with Geoff Doell this week; an agronomist with GROWTH Agri-Coaching Inc. Geoff told me corn grows best on its own stubble, citing one farmer in Iowa who has grown corn on the same plot for over hundred years. (Well, probably not the same farmer!). And we keep telling our farmers in Zambia they need to rotate crops.

Corn is a heavy feeder. Zambian small scale farmers rarely have the nutrients available for a consistent good corn crop, especially if they can’t buy high priced fertilizer. They have very little livestock, and that roams around freely. One reason even commercial farmers rotate corn with soybeans is to replenish the soil with nitrogen. Soybeans also build up the fragile tropical soils, which leach nutrients during the heavy rains.

Most small farmers burn the stubble right after harvest in May. So the soil lies exposed and bakes in the hot sun until they plant again in November, at the beginning of the rainy season. This destroys many microorganisms near the surface of the soil.

Masaiiti Farm Institute has done much research with available nutrients to small scale farmers, including ashes. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

I was especially interested to hear that Geoff’s clients are using wood ash in their fertility programs. Ash brings up the PH of the soil, but also contains potash and many important micronutrients. Our small farmers all cook with charcoal and ashes are a waste product for them. But ash is a good liming agent. Zambian farmers are strongly encouraged to use lime when planting their fields, as most land is very low in PH.

We will definitely be encouraging farmers to add a small amount of ash to their planting holes, at least in some rows to see if it makes a difference. Geoff is a big fan of using what resources are available to northwest Canadian farmers. It’s even more important in Zambia, where commercial resources are expensive and difficult to come by.

Where does a farmer take his wife for a date? – To the farm show! The crops are in (or under the snow) – it’s time to have some fun.

The Red Deer Agri-Trade Exposition was held November 11-14, parallel with Edmonton’s Farmfair International. Next weekend is the Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, Sask. – my niece, Jennifer Zingre, will be there from Fort St. John, B.C. She’s judging cattle at the national 4-H judging competition.

What's a farm show without a pots and pans salesman? (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

I was impressed by the Mission Statement of the Agribition in Regina:
To create and maintain an effective, hospitable and entertaining atmosphere to market Canadian agriculture products and expertise to the world. (from their website: www.agribition.com)

I’ve always thought of these shows as a place where farmers and ranchers spend a day or more to drool at the newest combines and hang out with other farmers and ranchers. Okay – and to learn the newest in agriculture technologies.

Show organizers also see it as a prime opportunity to market Canadian agriculture to the urban population. Especially Agribition and Farmfair International, with their emphasis on livestock and ending with a rodeo, attract many urban families.

Robert and I drove the three hours to Red Deer and met some of my family from the Fort St. John, B.C. area. My sister, Maya, and husband, Franz, Wenger took a holiday and spent two days at the show. My brother, Fred Lehman, used the opportunity to take his “old” dairy bull to market and pick up a new one on the way home.

The arena showcases the newest shiny technology. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Maya was interested in seeing what new innovations farmers have come up with. One booth displayed a better swing auger for air seeders that actually gets under a super-B truck comfortably.

There was the newest shiny iron – green combines, red tractors, yellow grain carts… the banks were right there too to provide financing.

A salesman entertained a large crowd as he deftly shredded cabbage on his orange (brown?) V-slicer. I swear I watched the same guy years ago at the OLMA- the Swiss national farm show – except the jokes were German.

One company was looking for investors to put money into Jatropha plantations (a biodiesel shrub) in Kenya. That’s a subject for another blog.

No styrofoam cups left, but that doesn't stop an innovative farmer from enjoying a cup of coffee! (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Maya and I parked our sore legs for a bit and listened to a talk by Agri-Trend, brokers for Alberta carbon credits. Later we stopped at their booth to discuss the whole issue a little more. Can we sell credits for the 100 acres of virgin bush we keep on our home quarter? – We can’t, because it was there before 2002. We would have to clear the land and replant it to trees – then we could sell credits! There are definitely some questions here.

My backpack full of brochures and my head with information, I was happy to meet the guys at 4:30 p.m. It was a great date (with Maya)!

Heart of Africa Mission (HAM) asked for money for the next round of fertilizer for the banana plantation. We’d promised to pay for the fertilizer this year to give them time to get back on their feet financially. Basically, we felt it was a bailout and didn’t have too much hope that things would change much. But we’ve invested quite a bit into those bananas so thought we’d give HAM another chance.

It seems it was worth it. Jerry Schuetz was a missionary there for many years and left for a new assignment last April. He visited HAM in October. Jerry wrote us that the farm staff is following Robert’s instructions concerning fertilizer and irrigation procedures precisely. The bananas are giving a decent harvest considering the cold weather they had in June.

Schoolgirls before stalls selling cell phone talk time - typical Zambian businesses. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Even better, the farm manager visited several other banana farms to discuss plantation management problems. They are actively looking for options for the time when the bananas will no longer produce (within the next two years). These are things we strongly recommended before we left. It is good to see them take these initiatives.

When Jerry left there were dire predictions of the mission going under. Too often it has been the experience that when the whites leave the business fails. But the board hired a new African manager, who is now living on site and seems to have a good rapport with the staff. There, as here, management is everything. Nothing would make us happier than to see the struggling mission farm get back on its feet. This would be especially rewarding because it would be totally Zambian led.

Zambian led initiatives that work should be the goal of all development workers. Most of us go out to the ‘field’ with high hopes of making a big difference. But often reality quickly brings us down to earth.

We believe strongly in helping Zambians to develop successful businesses. Anyone working in Zambia sees that most businesses are owned and operated by either whites or Indians. Few (including farms) are under black African management. Why?

Almost all larger farms belong to whites and Indians. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

The answers are many and complicated. Some say, “They’re lazy”. But most Zambians we know work very hard. Others talk about the long period of socialism at the beginning of independence that promoted dependence on the state. Cultural traditions and customs are more socialist than capitalist – the village system depended on everyone working together and discouraged independent enterprises.

Low levels of education, high levels of corruption, and almost non-existent access to loans for the average Zambian increase the likelihood of failure. Often we are as discouraged as our African counterparts.

So every report of success, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is grounds for celebration!

We’re finalizing our winter plans. We’re excited to spend Christmas with our son and his wife in Switzerland. It will be the first time our family has been together for Christmas in six years. Somewhere in January/February we’ll head to Zambia again for a few months to continue working with our agriculture projects.

Mr. Moomba's farm is a prime example of the benefits of conservation farming. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Bukuumo Cooperative finally got their cheque from the Zambian government. Their truck distributed the government’s subsidized seed and fertilizer to farmers last November. It took a full year to recover their fuel and salary expenses! We were worried they wouldn’t get paid at all – just as some farmers never got paid for the corn they sold to the government food reserve agency.

The long dry season in Zambia – no rainfall between April and end of October – is coming to an end. People are getting ready to plant corn, their staple food. Most subsistent farmers wait until a rain has softened the soil before plowing it, usually by hand with a hoe. If they’re lucky, they use oxen. The usual practice is to burn the trash from the last crop after harvest (May/June), so the soil is exposed to the merciless heat of the sun for months, making it even harder.

Sometimes the first rains become quite lengthy, so planting is delayed. Research shows that every delay in planting is a substantial reduction in yield. Together with farm consultants in Zambia we try to show farmers a better way – conservation farming (CF). CF uses a form of no-till – leave the trash on the field, make permanent planting holes before the rains, put in fertilizer or manure, then seed after the first good rains.

CF also stresses the importance of rotating corn with legumes. Farmers who use this method have much better yields and lower expenses.

A group of farmers listens attentively as a Zambian agriculturalist explains how to plant using the conservation farming method. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

We’ve made it a stipulation to the Mpongwe farmers receiving our loans for seed and fertilizer that a part of their land must be prepared and planted using the CF methods. Several men and women were trained in the CF methods at a nearby farm training institute and are to train others. It will be interesting when we go back to see how successful the implementation was.

Pastor Jessy, Mpongwe, emailed us that there is much excitement this year concerning agriculture. Most of the plots we gave a loan to last year yielded well. The loans were paid back with a good profit. That’s good news. More important to us is that they are learning better ways of farming – sustainable ways that will increase profit so they can feed their families, educate their children and enable better health care.

One of our land renters, Chris, is selling carbon credits to Viterra. He needs us, as the land owners, to sign the agreement, which we have no problem with.

But it did rekindle my curiosity in the whole carbon offset issue. Chris said that we should be eligible to sell the credits for the years we still worked the land from 2002 to 2005, as we used reduced or minimum tillage systems on it.

One pass with low disturbance openers for anhydrous in the fall, a second pass with low disturbance openers to seed in spring can qualify for no-till requirements for carbon credits. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Money was the final impulse for the research I’d been meaning to do for some time. Not that it’s big money – Viterra is paying $1.56/acre/year for no-till practices on black soil – but hey, that’s still a nice Christmas present…

The manager of our local Viterra office told me that many farmers are against selling credits to companies. They feel that the whole scheme is just an enabling device for companies to continue their poor environmental practices. He tells farmers that companies are going to buy credits anyway, so they may as well profit by it.

There are various eligible areas where farmers can possibly sell carbon credits – afforestation, beef days on feed, biofuels, composting, no till or reduced tillage are some of them. The credits can be retroactive to 2002.

Bill Chapman, of Alberta Agriculture, tells farmers to wait a little yet. “There hasn’t been enough trading in carbon credits to see if there’s any value in it,” he says. Many companies buy credits through brokers. By the time the broker has been paid, and the auditor you need to comply with the protocol, there isn’t much left for the farmer.

I think that’s why Viterra’s price is quite low. They’ve taken all that out of it already, and present the farmer with a pretty straight forward agreement. Of course, it still gives Viterra far more rights than the farmers, or so it seems to me. But it’s something the average farmer can read, understand, and feel pretty safe about.

If you’re interested in making some extra money, and you’re using reduced tillage or no tillage systems already, it might be worth looking into.

There’s a lot of information on these two sites: www.atai.ca (the protocol for credits for tillage practices, in PDF format) and carbonoffsetsolutions.climatechangecentral.com.

I found though, that much of the information is confusing. I also found that I’m not the only one confused. It’s still a new concept, constantly changing and adapting.

Did I miss a season again? Candles glow on the white tablecloth; soft snow falls outside. Beat, who joined us and the Koeman family for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, said: “It feels like Christmas to me.” Snow at Thanksgiving isn’t new to us Canadians. But for a Swiss it would definitely be a novelty!

The temperature has been near zero or below for a week now. Robert is doing anhydrous ammonia for Iman Koeman. He’s struggling with dirt clumps freezing on the cultivator shanks and 20% slippage and more from the tractor due to freezing soil and snow.

A quick snow storm blows through as the nurse tank fills Robert's tank with anhydrous ammonia. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

My Facebook page was full of people saying ‘thanks’ today. Most were thankful for the special people in their lives. Last night, before we tried the pumpkin pie, we went around the table and shared what we were thankful for. Overwhelmingly it was our family and friends.

I’m also very thankful for the rights I enjoy as a woman in Canada. I read ‘Three Cups of Tea’ and ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ over the Thanksgiving weekend. Both books deal with the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan. A long commentary on a Swiss online newspaper reports on how little has changed concerning the actual rights of women in Afghanistan. Young girls are still married off to older men, women are not allowed out in public, and are often tortured at the hands of husbands.

In Zambia, Africa, women especially in the urban areas have much more freedom. But even in highly educated circles, men still pay a bride price for their wives. In rural areas such as Mpongwe where we work, few women read well or at all. Many of them are still seen as property, with little rights of their own.

We know from reading and experience that education is one of the mightiest tools to improve the status of women. Educated women have fewer and healthier children and will send their children to school. Being able to read a contract or a newspaper gives a woman the power to negotiate.

Robert knocks off ice buildup on the cultivator while waiting for a fill of anhydrous ammonia. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

There is little we can do to help our sisters in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is increasing their war on girl’s schools and women’s rights. We can pray, and support those who are fighting on the front lines for women there, like Greg Mortenson and the CAI group who build girl’s schools. (check www.ikat.org)

But in Zambia, we can stand personally alongside people like Pastor Jessy, Eva Sanderson and many like them. They are passionate about helping their people move forward out of poverty, especially women. And so I am ready to think about going back.