Today our home was honored by a visit from two Brazilians, Alexandre Ramopazzo and Tatiana Polestri, a husband & wife documentary film crew. They had just completed a documentary called “Nas Terras do Bem-Vira” or “In Search of the Promised Land”. It is the story of the destruction of the Amazon rain forest in Brazil and the use of slavery to do this. It is also the story of Sister Dorothy Stang, an American nun who organized and fought for the rights of the people of this state in Brazil from the 60’s until she was murdered a few years ago. You can watch a trailer for the film on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhSFmz5-yn4. The film makers are in the USA to produce a documentary on another Dorothy, Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement. They feel Dorothy Day was a similar person in spirit to Sister Dorothy. I had met them the other night at a gathering of local Catholic Workers, and since Catholic Worker and Dorothy Day had affected my life they called to speak with me. Speaking with them on and off camera about the Catholic Worker and Dorothy Day made me realize how much my attraction to Growing Power and Growing Renewable Affordable Food (G.R.A.F) is rooted in the same value system as my interest in the Catholic Worker movement. I always felt and knew there was a connection between the Catholic Worker spirit of works of mercy and nonviolence and my interest in Growing Power, but today that awareness was deepened. At the end of our visit I gave them my copy of the DVD documentary on Dorothy Day called “Don’t Call Me a Saint” and they gave me a copy of their DVD. You can find out more about the Dorothy Day documentary and watch a trailer at http://www.dorothydaydoc.com/home.html. I felt I got the better part of the trade, since I can always purchase another copy of the Dorothy Day documentary but if I hadn’t met these two young adults, now my friends, I most likely never would have watched their documentary.
In Search of the Promised Land is a good description of the rest of my day. This morning Marna and I of the DMZ Community Garden waited at a school across the street from the garden for a principal who was home sick. Later in the day the principal got out of her sick bed to go to school so she could call us to apologize. There was no need for this since we had rescheduled the meeting with the vice-principal for next week, but her call did say to me how important she considered the connection between the promise of the land, this garden, and the school’s children, teachers and parents.
Part of the day was working on my own land, my GP home model garden. Part of it was preparing with my wife the Growing Power presentation we are doing tomorrow at the Resource Fair at our Church, Blessed Trinity.
Yes we all, like Dorothy Day, the people in the Amazon, Sister Dorothy, the principal, Dawn, Marna and I of the DMZ are “In Search of the Promised Land.” “Thy Kingdom Come on Earth as It is in Heaven.”
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