Private Story
Mildred Apenyo
During the years 2020 and 2021, the global COVID-19 pandemic fostered hunger and loneliness for many. Spaces of communion that form naturally around food were deemed dangerous, and many people lost their sources of income as well as venues for social interaction. Restaurants, markets and farms, and the humans that made them vibrant, all experienced new realities, especially when transportation became scarce or completely unavailable to many. 21% of people reported severe loneliness during the COVID-19 lockdowns in Uganda compared with 6% prior. A similar number of people surveyed were defined as isolated based on their usual connections, with 13% reporting a substantial increase in isolation. We lost touch with reality as we knew it.
This experience made it important for me to not only focus on my garden but to seek ways of sharing the knowledge that I have around growing, tending, harvesting and preserving food. The Owning Food project was started in 2020, and it gave me a chance to interact with others by sharing various edible plants and herbs. However, while this was a great solution for the times, it did not replace the joy of full interaction with others.
This story takes you through the three phases of my interaction with the ever-changing earth over these recent years. During the pandemic, I was isolated, but protected from hunger by my garden and encased in the love and favour of Mother Earth. We then explore my symbolic, ever-growing relationship with nature and end by documenting the experience of the joy of stepping out to interact. The joy of meeting and communing with like-minded earth healers and their spaces after experiencing the mandatory isolation of COVID-19.
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