Lilongwe, Malawi … The sun is near the highest point in the sky. There is no relief from the heat, and it has been this way the entire morning. It is over 80 degrees, and this will continue until the sun goes down in the late afternoon. He will return to his fields tomorrow and the next day and the next after that.
This farmer has his hand on the nearest thing to a John Deere and a piece of field cultivation equipment that is available to a village farmer in Malawi. There is no expectation of having a John Deere in his lifetime. This hand hoe is how his father cultivated these fields and his grandfather before him. This is the way it has always been and probably will always be for him and his family.
After he completes the cultivation and planting, he and his family will pray there are good rains this year. Just right, not too much and not too little.