We might have a chance...

So we just got back to Singapore. Days are mixed up with nights and we're jet lagged like anything. We've been following the rhythm of nature so closely for the past six months... working when the sun shines and resting when its down... I think recovering from this jetlag will take a little longer than usual.

Meeting interesting inspiring people is the best thing about travelling and best thing about this new life we're entering. The last 2 weeks with Jordi Pedro has truly been educational and we've taken away so much from the man.

This evening we met Lai Hock at sempang bedok for teh allia. He's the founder of GUI - Ground Up Initiative and one hour wasnt enough to hear him tell us about the whole organic/ self sustainability/ reconnecting with the land movement in Singapore. Friendly, easy going and most generous with his time, he left his IT job of 11 years and backpacked all over the world for 4 years before coming back to Singaopore to start this. He shared with us what was happening locally, his plans for an educational centre and the prospects of enlightening everyday Singaporeans of an alternative way of life without killing oneself with consumerism and soul destroying jobs.

Today my mother asked me today - Is the work hard? I replied... its no harder than going to the gym for an hour's kick boxing or puffing away on the stairmaster. The difference is that instead of paying a company, spending airconditioning, electricity etc to work out where the energy i output just goes nowhere, the energy output from me goes into producing healthy wholesome organic food for my body, and the earth/soil benefits from the work. Yes wheelbarrowing soil and straw and sand and rocks from one place to another is back breaking. Weeding for hours on end strengthens the thigh muscles (from all the repeated standing and squatting). Harvesting olives while in a tree helps my balance and core muscles. Turning compost definitely brings the heart rate up. And what do we get rewarded with? Fabulous, fresh, organic food.

You know, there hasnt been a single time, or a single thing in my whole life that I can wholeheartedly say... I love doing, feels complete, and feels whole and truly good for me and good for this world. Hahaha... I know at some point I've got to be less whimsical about describing this new way of life we're carving for ourselves. But I just cant help it! Lai Hock explained what the ethos of GUI was today... essentially... Reconnecting people with the earth, Healing the land and the human spirit. Coz that's what's happening to us. Bjorn and I. In the process of connecting with the earth, in the process of healing the land, we're healing ourselves... body, mind and soul. You may ask --- why do we need 'healing'? Were we sick? No shit, of course we were. In so many levels as well. Not just health wise with the highly processed chemical foods we're eating (I'm quitting luncheon meat as of today and Bjorn is quitting instant noodles), but we were so diseased with this modern life of excessive spending and consuming, ignorant of the impacts our daily actions have on the environment, exploitation of people less fortunate countries we cannot 'see'. The whole out of sight, out of mind attitude most Singaporeans were brought up with. Dont give a shit where my rubbish goes, as long as its gone. Dont care where the oil comes from to drive our cars, where the electricity comes out from my wall. Dont care who the underpaid bangladeshi lady who sewed my H&M jeans is. Dont care how the chicken lived or how much antibiotics was injected in my chicken wings or how patheticly paid the rice farmer was paid for my bowl of rice today. We need to change all this. We need to fucking care, and if not to care, at least be aware.

This 'farming' thing isnt just about farming, growing food, gardening or plants. It's much much more.

The evolutionary reason of why humans seem to feel better and have their spirits uplifted when being close to the earth and being with nature/plants is coz we used to rely directly on our crops for our survival. Most people on the earth for thousands of years were directly reliant on the land. In the last 100 years, immigration to the city means that now more than half the population on this planet living in big cities. More than half! The direct connection is no longer there. Middle men, factories, processing plants, resellers, traders, ports... they are all now in the middle. Thus... the need to 'reconnect'. We have to remind ourselves that city living and apartments and supermarkets is only a recent phenomenon in the history of human kind. Half the world's population has gone 'sick'. And we need to quickly start the healing process, otherwise it will be too late.

We hope the Copenhegan talks this week will make a difference. I'm sure very exciting things will happen in our lifetimes.