Perseverance

“Today's tears water tomorrow's gardens.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo

I sat down at a low table on a cloth pillow next to the small stream that flowed through the Kham family rice plantation. There was a smell that lingered throughout the air of wood burning on the open fire, cooking our meal of rice noodles, and the crisp odor of the outdoors. I watched as each of the five members of the Kham family poured their soul into the meal they were making and took pride in everything they did. As I took a bite of the food, the eldest Kham woman, who was the widowed grandmother of the man in charge of the farm, looked me in the eyes, her face filled with hope that I would enjoy the meal. The flavors that I tasted brought a smile on my face and I could taste every ounce of love that went into this dish.

I took this photo during my travels in Laos last year. I had the opportunity to go to a remote rice plantation outside of the city Luang Prabang to explore this farm and eat a tasty meal that this elderly woman made for me. The meal she made was her traditional rice noodles with a variety of vegetables; all of the ingredients that she used in the meal were grown on her plantation. Throughout the day, we witnessed the family prepare the meal from start to end. Her son would wake early to plow the rice patties with a water buffalo before the hot sun began beating down. Afterward,  the grandmother would grind the dried rice into flour with her homemade stone grinder as her daughter-in-law picked vegetables. The family took so much pride in their work and even though it was very labor-intensive, they woke up every day and worked for hours on end to feed the family. What struck me the most about this experience was that the Kham family was completely self-sufficient. They could feed themselves with everything they had on their plantation and sell their produce for profit. 

This woman taught me the important lesson that hard work leads to beautiful things. The quote  “Today’s tears water tomorrow’s gardens.” by Matshona Dhliwayo encompasses her lifestyle., Each day, she put in the hard work of maintaining her farm and providing for her family in exchange for the gift of her family’s happiness and safety. While this woman didn’t necessarily cry (as said in the quote), she endured laborious work every single day to achieve her goal. I realized that she didn’t resent her work but instead saw her hard work and consistency as her path to her goal to provide for her family and community. I have taken this lesson of determination to heart and have tried to apply it to every aspect of my life. Rather than seeing hard work as something rigorous and painful, I look at it as my path to something beautiful: the end product of my labor. This switch of perspective has allowed me to find the beauty in perseverance and to accomplish wonderful things through effort and persistence.