PELUM-ZWE Country Coordinator and an African Earth Jurisprudence fellow with the Gaia Foundation, Gertrude Pswarayi-Jabson invited humanity to participate in the dance of life when she led one of the five key conversations at the African Food systems and SDG conference held in Saly, Senegal from 3 to 5 November 2018.
The conference, which was facilitated through art, explored five themes namely: Urban food systems, Food systems and climate change, Policy change on food systems in Africa, The future of food systems in an increasingly complex world, and Protecting African cultural food systems.
Pswarayi-Jabson said human beings needed to return to their senses and follow the wisdom of ancient indigenous communities who did not strive to own or control nature but to live in harmony with all beings - human and non-human.
“Earth is alive and intelligent. It has a living spirit which connects all beings. Our ancestors understood that they were part of a complex system. They did not view Earth as a machine,” said Pswarayi-Jabson.
“Human beings have disconnected themselves from the larger life system and they are causing an ecological genocide. It is high time that we all return to our senses and begin to connect with our other way of knowing,” said Pswarayi-Jabson who led approximately 150 conference participants in an eating meditation to help them understand the deep connections within the African Food system.
The purpose of the conference was to promote the complexity, diversity and nutritional value of African food systems and launch an action plan and declaration for change for better food systems geared towards the general public and policymaking bodies.
The conference was organised by Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative for Africa (EOA-I), African Organic Network (AfrONet), and The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) – Organics International.
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