"I am an Iowa Farmer"
--Esta Minani, Lenga Lenga Farm
Last Friday and Saturday, I attended the Practical Farmers of Iowa annual meeting in Des Moines. As I wrote after I attended the Iowa Farmers Union meeting in December, these are the kind of meetings that I love the most—where I know less than anyone else in the room about what’s being talked about.
A learning gold mine.
I was wandering around, hoping a story would find me. I mentioned that to Terri Speirs, Development Director at PFI, and she told me something like, “I have one for you—'Growing African Vegetables in Iowa', and there will be translations into English and Swahili. Terri pointed toward the stairs. “Up there and to the right—it’s about to begin.”
So, of course, I went.
A young woman helped me with my earpiece, and I learned that Esta would be speaking in Kirundi, a Bantu language and the national language of Burundi. Other farmers were in the room who had come to the United States from Africa, and a Swahili translation was also available.
I wanted to record her presentation, but since the translation was coming in through my earpiece, I couldn’t. I was able to capture some photographs of her slides, which helped with this story.
Esta began with some information about her family—the number of her children and grandchildren. We learned that Esta was born in Burundi and grew up farming with her parents. Her family fled to a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when she was six years old.
Her family arrived in Vermont in 2008, and by 2010, she was farming with the help of a local Burundian association. In 2014, the family moved to Iowa, and she and her daughters found gardening opportunities similar to those in Africa. Eventually, she had a 10’ x 10’ garden plot at the Franklin Library.
In 2016, she was accepted into the Global Greens farm incubator program in West Des Moines, gaining access to a 20’x 50’ plot.
From the Global Greens website: Global Greens farmers are former refugees building small businesses and finding a path to sustainability through farming.
Esta grows African and other vegetables.
At the beginning of her talk, when Esta proudly said, “I am an Iowa Farmer,” my chest swelled, and I felt a tear coming to my eye. I was proud to be an Iowan at that moment because people fleeing war-torn and environmentally damaged countries found a home here, and were contributing to our quality of life and economy by growing food for us.
Let me put it another way—Esta and other refugee farmers working with Global Greens are here to provide a better, safer life for their families by FEEDING US locally grown, healthy produce.
Thank you.
The audience in the room was all in on Esta’s presentation, listening intently, and there were more questions than there was time for.
Toward the end of the question and answer session, a young woman stood up and said something like, “I don’t know these African vegetables—I don’t know how to cook them, to season them…”
Esta replied:
“I will come and cook with you, and I will eat with you…”
I’m a proud member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please check out our work here. I also publish Cedar Creek Nature Notes, about Violet the Dog and my adventures on our morning walks at Cedar Bluffs Natural Area in Mahaska County, Iowa.
And I’m now on TikTok, believe it or not. Here you go…I’m publishing videos and stories that you might not see here.
“I will come and cook with you, and I will eat with you…” (quote from Esta)
That can change the world — someone’s world, at the very least.
Thank you for sharing this uplifting piece, Robert Leonard.
Wow, thank you. I needed this to help bring me back from my darkness.