Mizoram Diary 2009 #1 by Sap PuTar Stuart Spani
One more week and I will be on my way back to Mizoram - my 8th trip to this Christian State in NE India.
During my third trip in 2000, I was visiting the small town of Baulpui in southern Mizorom and God gave me a vision in the middle of the night, The vision was 10-10-10 which was to challenge every Mizo to spend 10 minutes every day seeking God for what they could do for Mizoram, then spend 10 hours every month doing whatever God told them to do and to keep this up for ten years. If they did they would create a pardise like the world has never seen. I am not sure how many Mizos have taken up this challenge but I know a few have and it is something I try to do myself.
During my 5th trip in 2005 I had been asked to address a conference of economics being attended by economists from the 8 states of NE India, Now I am not an economist and I asked the Holy Spirit to guide me. What came to me were three criteria that needed to be met for any community to prosper on a long term basis. These criteria were:
1) The community must be able to feed itself or they would be controlled by whoever they rely on for food. When I first visited Mizoram in 1996 almost all of their food was locally grown. By 2005 much was being imported from the flat farmlands of Assam raher than the labor intensive hills of Mizoram.
2) They must hve an apprpopriate educational system. That is a system that prepares students to make a living and contibute to their community, Mizoram boasts of a high standard of eduction but almost nothing which prepares students for farming, which is by far Mizoram’s leading industry. Mizoram lacks the interstructure to employ most of it’s graduates therefore the brightest and the best have to leave the state and seek employment throughout India.
3) For long term stabilty it is necessary for it’s people to believe in eteranl life which is based on truth. This is something that Mizoram certainly has. Without people knowing that they are responsible to a higher power they will not plan beyond their own life time.
I likened these three points to a three legged stool, one leg was strong but the other two were weak, so the stool was not stable and if this is not corrected the future was bleak.
The 10-10-10 vision and these three points have had a major impact on my life ever since, especially in my thoughts and prayers concerning Mizoram.
During my last two visits in 2007 and 2008 I saw both progress and further problems in each of these areas. There are small but significant moves to introduce more agriculture into the education system. I was particularily excited by a new agricultural high school being opened near Lunglei shortly after my last visit. I had a great discussion with the prinicpal and saw a gret potential.
Sloped Agricultural Land Technology farming (SALT) is gaining acceptance and a workshop in Champhai saw 37 farmers commit to changing from slash and burn farming to this sustainalbe method.
A major problem over the past year and a half was Mautam - a rat plague that strikes the region every 49 years. There is more on this elsewhere on the site.
When I first visited Mizoram in 1996 I experienced the most wonderful, innocent form of Christianity I could imagine. Each visit since I see more of the problems of the world creep in. Satan has been working overtime to spoil Mizoram’s Christian witness - He is using all of his diabolic tools especially corruption, addiction and immorality. A the same time I see the church working ahrd to address these issues and with 80% of the population being in church every week
As I prepare for my upcoming trip I have been reminded of the importance of the village farms to the futrue well-being of Mizoram. Like most of the world people are leaving farms and migrating to cities. Very few young people see their future in farming but they all want three meals a day and without farmers the cities will starve. The present world-wide financial crisis underlines this point, poverty and violence in the cities is on the increase and unless the cycle is broken starvation is bound to follow.
I have sought God for possible solutions to these trends. At first I was thinking only of Mizoram but I came to realize that God wants to use Mizoram as an example to the whole world. It is far more than a coincidence that Mizoram is the most Christian place on earth and that it is very much part of God’s plan as we move ever closer to the return of Christ.
During my prayer time I have seen 12 do-able things that could contribute to making farming a viable option for Mizo young people. Unless many young people maintain this vital industry Mizoram will cease to exist in it’s present form.
1) SALT Sloped agricultural land technology has been introduced as an excellent alternative to jhum, or shifting slash and burn farming, which is traditional in Mizoram. This visit one of my aims is to produce a video on this farming method to be used to introduce it thorughout the state and to show to all Mizo schools.
2) FAITH Food always in the house - a program to convince farmers to first grow all the food needed for their own families before a cash crop, then to preserve and protect it so that their food supply is maintained throughout the year.
3) Partnerships between Mizo village churches and North American Churches. Much more on this in later blogs. This is a win-win-win opportunity waiting to be seized.
4) Water - assurance of clean drinking water is primary anywhere on earth. Sand filters have been introduced to Mizoram and at Missions Fest I found a new filter that shows great promise. Google Sawyer Water Filter.
5) Sanitation - will be introducing do it yourself composting toilets.
6 Primary Health Clinics Mizoram has already established highly successful, cost effective Malaria clinics which can form the basis of health centres in Mizoram villages.
7) Communications - as Mizo villages are almost all built on hilltops it seems high speed internet and VOIP could be used effectively.
Mizoram has an old but dying tradition of village blacksmiths. As the tools needed for SALT farming can all be produced by a blacksmith our pryaer is that this tradition will be born again.
9) Rodent proof food storage. Too much food is destroyed by rodents especially when mautam strikes.
10) Technolgy is becoming available allowing the smallest village to pursue commerce via the internet. This will prove to become a major reason for villages to fluorish.
11) Reliable Power
12) marketing of village produce. Farmers co-ops are improving the marketing of their products both locally and exports. There is a major move to allow Mizo product to reach the world via a deep water port in Mynamar.
Watch this web-site for regular updates as I discuss these points with the people of Mizoram over the next few weeks.
Please add your prayers to mine and watch how God will continue to use this Christian State as an example to the wolrd.