The world of Tzu Chi May-June 2022 (Vol.141)

2022 • 06 44 her green fingers, she has had bountiful harvests of whatever she planted. Over time, her cultivation of vegetables spread across a larger area, with more and more varieties of vegetables, such as lady’s fingers, sweet corns, water spinach, amaranth, choy sum, lemongrass and long beans. Not only were the harvests sufficient for her family, she was also able to sell the produce at the market through a middleman, or to regular customers. When she noted a demand for roselle leaves, she started growing them on another piece of land on the other side of her house. She does not have an exact idea of the size of land she has been cultivating. However, she uses whatever empty space to sow seeds. With her good relationships with others, her friends, late husband’s relatives, and countrymen would voluntarily help her to improve the watering and irrigation systems, as well as during harvesting. Siti toiled away day and night, for the farm was all she had. There were times when she experienced symptoms of heat stroke having worked under the sweltering sun, and times when she accidentally stepped into the mud as she strolled around the farm on nights that she could not sleep. She said that to ensure customers get her vegetables as fresh as possible, she would rise early to harvest. Vegetable farming relies highly on favourable weather. She also has to face drought and floods, as well as fluctuating market prices. Once, when a flood destroyed her crops, she called a friend while crying, and was told to be brave and soldier on. Hence, she quickly dried her tears and went on to work again. Recently, her harvest dwindled due to ouching Life Story When Siti Rahayu’s vegetable farm was flooded and she had no income, volunteers brought her emergency cash aid from Tzu Chi. [Photo by Chua Yih Tan]