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“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 4

Return of the Forest

When Veny and Kengo’s time at ARI came to an end in 2012, they had no plans to make a food forest in the tropics of North Sumatra, Indonesia—Veny’s hometown. Both of them are ARI graduates (2005 and 2012), having met when Veny was a training assistant in 2012.  Kengo, originally from Japan, had never been to Indonesia before, and the term ‘food forest’ was likewise new to both of them. At ARI, Kengo learned the basics of organic farming and was especially attracted to permaculture, with its principles of a keeping a healthy ecosystem, and farming without destroying nature. However, applying this knowledge in a new country and climate he was unfamiliar with posed a huge challenge. Kengo and Veny married in Japan, soon after ARI training, and then settled in Indonesia.  It was there they began to learn more intensely about the concept of a food forest.

In 2015, Veny and Kengo bought their first bit of land, but they didn’t start the food forest at that time. Instead, they planned to grow coffee, in order to make a living. They used what they learned at ARI by planting nitrogen fixing trees to make their soil more hospitable. One year later, Kengo felt there was something wrong with his post-ARI plan. He looked out over his land and saw only coffee beans, nothing else. The image of having only one crop made him realize that he needed to expand the farm—this is where the story of their food forest truly begins. 

What started as a personal project just to survive is now over halfway complete—Veny and Kengo are over 50% self-sufficient. They never buy their vegetables from the market. Instead, they harvest what they need from their forest and sell the rest. They grow all kinds of fruits too—guava, jackfruit, avocado, mulberry and many more. Even though the forest has been growing for 10 years, not everything has matured yet, and Veny and Kengo remind us that a project like this takes time and a tremendous amount of patience.

Now, after more than ten years of developing their food forest, they are proud to be able to show off their hard work to the community. Their neighbors grow their own rice and some vegetables, but their fields are not self-sustaining. They still need to go to the market for basic food staples. Veny and Kengo encourage others to become self-sustaining by giving tours of their own food forest. Last year, they received a grant from AFARI, allowing them to invite 50 local farmers in North Sumatra to visit their food forest and teach them how to begin their own projects. Now they are not the only ones in their community growing a food forest—many of these farmers have since embarked on their own journey of becoming self-sufficient.

The advice they give to others is simple but powerful: be patient. Results take time, and people may doubt you at first. But stay hopeful. When asked about their interpretation of the theme of Peace from Food, Kengo insisted that the peace reflected in this phrase begins with one’s own respect for earth’s resources, and that with a “peaceful relationship with nature, we can start to build a system for long-lasting abundance.” Veny was quick to add her own two cents, that this theme is personal to her. By harvesting fruits and vegetables that she grew herself, and then preparing them for the table, she finds a sense of care and connection rooted in nourishing others.  She “finds something peaceful in [her] heart.”

Inteviewed & Written by Marielle Randall (Wellesley College Intern)



Click here to read the series of articles

“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 1

“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 2

“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 3

“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 4 ← Now, you’re here.

“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates -spin off-

“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 5

“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 3

Healing from the Soil

Have you ever thought about what it is like to be a refugee?  Much to my surprise I found it can be sheer boredom.  I learned this from ARI graduates in Sri Lanka, who, during their civil war, had to flee their homes and lived in refugee camps for some time.  At breakfast, they lined up for food.  At supper they lined up for food.  The rest of the day they just sat.  No work. No TV or radio.  Nothing.  There was absolutely nothing to do.  The days dragged on, one after another.

Of course, it doesn’t start out that way.  No, in the beginning there is terror and panic when people find themselves in a situation so life threatening, there is nothing to do but grab a few things and run.  One ARI graduate of 2004, Jean Pierre, from The Democratic Republic of the Congo described how rebels suddenly entered his village and started killing people with guns and knives.  He and his family ran as fast as they could into the forest.  

Several hours later, when things had quieted down, they went back.  The place had been ransacked and many people killed.  Among the dead bodies, he saw a woman with a baby on her back.  She was not alive, but the baby was, so he picked it up.  Then he started walking east, with his family, and his neighbors.  In the morning, they reached the border of Uganda. 

Luckily, they were met by the Red Cross and taken to the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement, where they were given medical treatment and provided with emergency food and supplies.  Then came the time to wait.  Just like the Sri Lankans described, there was nothing to do but sit.  And though the body is still, the mind races and all the horrors of what just happened come flooding in.  Where are my other friends and family members?  What has become of my village?  My home?  How long will I be here?  What will I do?  The worry and anxiety eats at them, drains them of life. They feel helpless and at the mercy of the world.

So, Fr. Kizito gives them a hoe, along with some seeds.  Kyangwali is not a refugee camp as you might imagine it, with thousands of people living in tents.  It is a settlement, spanning a vast area. People live in simple houses and are provided plots of land to farm.  Currently, it is holding over 130,000 refugees, mostly from The DRC and South Sudan.  Some have been there for years.  Many of the children you see were born there.

Fr. Kizito is a Catholic priest and an ARI graduate of 2000.  He wanted to do something for the refugees so he started an organization called St. Patrick’s Centre for Integral Development (SPACID), just outside the settlement in an area where many humanitarian agencies operate.  When Fr. Kizito gives a refugee seeds and a hoe, it is about much more than farming.  It is the starting point for healing.  Taking that hoe in hand, digging the soil – these familiar actions of the body begin to calm the mind.  Tilling the soil, with its promise of food in the near future gives them a small feeling of control over their own destiny, a sense of hope, of peace of mind.

Working at SPACID is another graduate, Richard, who attended ARI in 2023.  He manages the SPACID farms and gives training and assistance to the refugees.  Currently he is doing a project together with a youth group in his church of raising black soldier flies. It may sound odd to purposefully grow flies, but their larvae are excellent food for fish, pigs, and poultry.  It really helps the refugees.

Speaking of poultry, I have to tell you about SPACID’s large aviary, in which they raise all sorts of different birds – local chickens, ducks, guinea fowl, geese, turkeys and more.  Fr. Kizito likes to show it to the new refugees, pointing out that although they are all different, they live together peacefully, even laying on each other’s eggs.  You too are from different countries and tribes, with different languages and customs, he tells them, but here in this settlement we must learn from these birds and help each other.  By working together and caring for each other, we can all thrive.  Then he points to the sign hanging over the front door where ARI’s motto is written: That We May Live Together.

And that baby Jean Pierre picked up?  She was reunited with her father about a month later and given the name Uwimana, meaning “with God.”

Steven Cutting
Graduate Outreach
Asian Rural Institute


Click here to read the series of articles

“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 1

“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 2

“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 3 ← Now, you’re here.

“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 4

“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates -spin off-

“Peace from Food” from the tables of ARI’s graduates Vol. 5