{"id":3978,"date":"2023-02-27T07:05:47","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T07:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/?p=3978"},"modified":"2023-02-27T07:05:49","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T07:05:49","slug":"conquering-fear-of-leaving-journalism-to-fight-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/27\/conquering-fear-of-leaving-journalism-to-fight-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Conquering Fear of Leaving Journalism to Fight Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"950\" height=\"609\" src=\"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ep-2-Lesley.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3980\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ep-2-Lesley.png 950w, https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ep-2-Lesley-300x192.png 300w, https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ep-2-Lesley-768x492.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 950px) 100vw, 950px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:30px\"><strong>Episode 2 :<\/strong> Conquering Fear of Leaving Journalism to Fight Climate Change<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"border-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Conquering Fear of Leaving Journalism to Fight Climate Change\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/1wfJ1XGxzwnWbsHmQnyzD1?si=zqlLbQJ0R9KwWslNppzBTw&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/ph\/podcast\/grassroots-in-action\/id1672829108?i=1000601755076\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/apple-podcast-logo-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3920\" width=\"126\" height=\"47\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/apple-podcast-logo-1.png 479w, https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/apple-podcast-logo-1-300x114.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 126px) 100vw, 126px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/spotifyanchor-web.app.link\/e\/pD8tIntJKxb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/anchor-podcast.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3930\" width=\"150\" height=\"44\" srcset=\"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/anchor-podcast.png 1024w, https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/anchor-podcast-300x88.png 300w, https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/anchor-podcast-768x224.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:35px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>TRANSCRIPT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:26px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Jingye (Dave) Tang (Host): <\/strong>Micro-entrepreneurs are the most common type of business in the world and this is especially the case in developing\u00a0countries.\u00a0Who are they? What do they\u00a0do?\u00a0And what motivates them? What are the challenges they are\u00a0facing?\u00a0Some of these answers might surprise you.\u00a0<br><br>Today we will take you to the perspective of an agricultural entrepreneur from the Solomon\u00a0Islands.\u00a0This is his\u00a0story.<br><br>Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to everyone.\u00a0Welcome to the Grassroots in Action, where we catch up on grassroots experiences and practice that impact one person, one community at a time.\u00a0<br><br>I&#8217;m Dave\u00a0Tang, and I am a correspondent of the 2022\u00a0Global\u00a0Correspondent Program.\u00a0<br><br>Our guest of honor today is\u00a0Lesley Sanga, an agriculture microentrepreneur from\u00a0the\u00a0Solomon Islands.\u00a0After spending 5 years working as a journalist\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0Solomon Islands, Lesley\u00a0changed his career and started to engage in farming in 2019.\u00a0<br><br>As an entrepreneur he has established a farmer school in Solomon Islands\u00a0teaching methods in organic farming as opposed to using chemical fertilizers, how to farm in sloppy areas and flat lands, how to adapt to climate change, and how to clean and plant in general.\u00a0He also collects local taro species to taro bulking.\u00a0He is also active in community development as the President of World of Youth Commission. <br><br>It is very lovely to meet you today, Lesley!<br><br><br><strong>Lesley Sanga (Guest): <\/strong>Thank you so much!<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host):<\/strong> We\u00a0are\u00a0going to begin our conversation today with what motivated you and made you change your career path from a journalist to an agricultural\u00a0entrepreneur.\u00a0I am really curious about this.<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest): <\/strong>Just to start, as you\u00a0mentioned, my name is Lesley Sanga and I come from one of the\u00a0central\u00a0parts\u00a0of\u00a0Malaita\u00a0province, a remote community there.\u00a0<br><br>Just to be brief, the reason why I changed\u00a0from\u00a0my\u00a0career \u2013 from journalism to agriculture\u00a0\u2013 is something that I have been thinking about for a long time. Yes, I worked as a full-time journalist\u00a0for some\u00a0leading\u00a0Solomon Islands\u00a0newspapers\u00a0for five years.\u00a0And after that,\u00a0I resigned from my\u00a0former job as a reporter in 2019, and came back to\u00a0Malaita, where I live now and move into agriculture.\u00a0<br><br>The reason why I decided to move\u00a0into agriculture is\u00a0because\u00a0during my career\u00a0as a reporter, my field of reporting is mainly agriculture and climate change\u00a0and during these times I was influenced.\u00a0And I deiced to\u00a0make my\u00a0change my career from\u00a0journalism\u00a0to agriculture. <br><br>I remember that I\u00a0finally came up with this decision after\u00a0I visited\u00a0Taiwan, where I was briefed\u00a0on\u00a0Taiwan\u00a0starting its economic development program with agriculture,\u00a0in 2017.\u00a0So,\u00a0I believe that agriculture is the only means for the Solomon Islands and Malaita to be developed from where we are at the moment.\u00a0<br><br>I really believe in agriculture and what really changes me and motivates me to leave my career from a journalist to agriculture.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>Oh, I see. So previously as a journalist you reported a lot on issues related to climate change and agriculture, and that&#8217;s\u00a0what motivates you and convince you that agriculture is a\u00a0meaningful sector in\u00a0the\u00a0Solomon Islands\u00a0to boost the\u00a0economy\u00a0while counter some of the effects brought about by the climate change.<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest): <\/strong>Absolutely.\u00a0That&#8217;s right. So that&#8217;s the basic reason why\u00a0I moved\u00a0from journalism to farming right now.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>Is there anything captivating about the geographical location where you are working in? Is there anything special Malaita?<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest): <\/strong>There\u00a0are\u00a0a lot of special things in Malaita.\u00a0Malaita\u00a0is\u00a0not far from\u00a0Honiara,\u00a0our\u00a0country\u2019s\u00a0capital.\u00a0What is\u00a0really\u00a0special about Malaita is that we as Malaita people, agriculture is not a new thing; we are born and live in agriculture.\u00a0So,\u00a0I believe\u00a0it\u2019s a sign that\u00a0we can move beyond\u00a0the fact that people\u00a0before\u00a0mainly survive from farming organically\u00a0and something like that.\u00a0<br><br>It\u2019s a sign we can move further\u00a0from making small\u00a0harvests\u00a0to\u00a0commercialize them\u00a0so\u00a0that\u00a0we\u00a0can\u00a0earn the money\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0farming\u00a0for living.\u00a0We are good at\u00a0working as farmers. We are good at that!<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>Yes, I\u00a0see that\u00a0Malaita\u00a0and the\u00a0Solomon Islands as a country has a proud tradition of\u00a0agriculture.\u00a0You want to carry it forward and make it more commercialized.<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest): <\/strong>Yes, just to give some more information. During the\u00a0blackbirding, there were more than 9000 people\u00a0from Malaita\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0blackbird\u00a0took them to work in Fiji and neighboring countries to work\u00a0in\u00a0sugar\u00a0cane\u00a0plantations\u00a0and other things \u2013\u00a0farming there. We from Malaita are good at\u00a0farming.\u00a0It\u2019s time we can capitalize that and\u00a0improve\u00a0our yield\u00a0to\u00a0build our economy starting from agriculture.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>What is your\u00a0most\u00a0recent project in your farming school?<br><br><br>Lesley (Guest): OK thank you so much. So,\u00a0at the moment,\u00a0CCC Insight came back from\u00a0Honiara\u00a0in 2019 and started\u00a0SWC\u00a0and\u00a0working with youths, women, and people in the community\u00a0to move further in farming.\u00a0We\u00a0planted this cash crop and we\u00a0call it\u00a0kava, a highly demanded crop.\u00a0People can&#8230; We have some commercial corps like taro,\u00a0cocoa, and copra.\u00a0<br><br>During my time with the community, we introduced taro farming. At the moment as we speak, we\u00a0have just released our farming school since 2000 (2019)\u00a0and\u00a0until now, we are yet\u00a0to complete the classrooms and other infrastructure.\u00a0But wehave established a school and we\u00a0decided to come\u00a0up\u00a0with\u00a0the idea to do taro bulking.\u00a0<br><br>Taro bulking is something we\u00a0took different taro species from\u00a0around our region, Kora region around central Malaita, and planted them at one place. The idea of it is very important\u00a0as things\u00a0begin to\u00a0change,\u00a0as it continues to\u00a0invade our places,\u00a0we have seen\u00a0most of our\u00a0important taro species extinct already.\u00a0<br><br>The idea\u00a0here\u00a0is\u00a0to take the old taro species and put them at\u00a0one\u00a0place.\u00a0We hope that our future generations,\u00a0from now and onwards,\u00a0people\u00a0will see\u00a0the origin of taros. If I could further explain, the idea to bulk them is to calling\u00a0their names\u00a0because\u00a0now\u00a0the generation, they do not understand the original names of the taros. When we bulk them, we have to document them: their original names\u00a0(like our\u00a0native names)\u00a0and how long it takes\u00a0for taros\u00a0from planting to harvest.\u00a0<br><br>We\u00a0really want to\u00a0do it more\u00a0organized\u00a0than before\u00a0when people plant taros mainly for consumption.\u00a0We really want it to be done more organized.\u00a0Our future generations\u00a0learn from\u00a0that\u00a0but\u00a0at the moment, we don\u2019t have such things in\u00a0our country, like more organized farming and all those things.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host):<\/strong> A lot of work that is done by your\u00a0farming\u00a0school is also about passing the torch, the knowledge, and\u00a0the\u00a0knowhow\u00a0about\u00a0farming to the next generation.\u00a0I assume that many of the members are also young people.<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest): <\/strong>Rightly said. For most of my group\u00a0working at the farm\u00a0comprises\u00a0of\u00a0young people\u00a0and women as well. In our\u00a0tradition,\u00a0women are more important\u00a0when it comes to farming.\u00a0For\u00a0men, we plant the whole things and women are\u00a0always there to\u00a0help men\u00a0to\u00a0implement\u00a0the ideas.\u00a0So those are the things that I moment we have\u00a0for youth. Most of our group are young people and women as well.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>I&#8217;m curious about\u00a0what are your strategies for attracting young people to farm? And\u00a0how does social media actually play a role in that process?<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest): <\/strong>Actually, it was a long process to get the young people involved in such things.\u00a0The first thing we do is to educate\u00a0our young people and common people\u00a0about the importance of farming,\u00a0especially\u00a0commercial farming, and\u00a0about\u00a0doing the bulking.\u00a0<br><br>We have to explain the importance of bulking the taros and other things, the importance of those knowledges\u00a0and other things.\u00a0Again,\u00a0we started with\u00a0raisingawareness\u00a0and\u00a0the community\u00a0agreed, then we started implementing the idea.\u00a0That\u2019s how we started.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>OK interesting.\u00a0Can you tell me maybe one or\u00a0two\u00a0interesting story or challenge you encountered\u00a0when\u00a0you&#8217;re trying to recruit\u00a0young people to farm?<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Host): <\/strong>We didn&#8217;t have\u00a0lot of challenges, but I can tell you one major challenge in terms of farming: we don\u2019t really have professional knowledge.\u00a0<br><br>I came from a journalist background, but we\u00a0have\u00a0someone who worked in the field of\u00a0organic farming\u00a0for\u00a0more than 20 years\u00a0at home. I supported him and we have to come up with ideas. He\u2019s there to\u00a0mainly\u00a0do organic farming and\u00a0all those things. From my background,\u00a0I supported\u00a0him. We started to influence the young people.\u00a0<br><br>As we know, young people these days have a lot of\u00a0things, influences,\u00a0or\u00a0activities, and other things to influence them.\u00a0But again, with the creativity we have to\u00a0come in\u00a0and\u00a0start to\u00a0influence\u00a0them, and like, I said, and it was quite challenging because I started with nothing\u00a0with\u00a0something like\u00a0money.\u00a0We don\u2019t have money but we just sacrificed.\u00a0<br><br>The most important thing\u00a0here\u00a0is that\u00a0we educate them to know the importance of the\u00a0idea. Why is\u00a0there that\u00a0idea? How important is\u00a0it\u00a0and how will\u00a0it\u00a0benefit them?\u00a0Those are the areas\u00a0we cover\u00a0in talks\u00a0and\u00a0we started to influence them\u00a0to work.\u00a0It&#8217;s quite\u00a0challenging. We don&#8217;t have money to start with.\u00a0We\u00a0don&#8217;t buy them\u00a0to work in a farm. We&#8217;re\u00a0using talks\u00a0and share ideas to let them\u00a0come in and join us.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>I see. Thank you. I think\u00a0your efforts and your sacrifices will not be in vain, and this will have a really profound influence on future generations.\u00a0<br><br>And now let&#8217;s speak more about working with the government and the public sector as a micro entrepreneur in\u00a0Solomon Islands. I read a lot in news stories and studies, and also from the story\u00a0you just told me that\u00a0for\u00a0a microentrepreneurs and developing country to start,\u00a0it&#8217;s usually quite difficult without enough capital\u00a0and needing to know more about the environment in general. <br><br>So,\u00a0a\u00a0big part of running a business is to\u00a0work with\u00a0the government,\u00a0whether that is getting the financial support or to cope with the regulations.\u00a0<br><br>My first\u00a0question: how would you describe your relationship with the government and the public sector?<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest): <\/strong>That is a\u00a0very\u00a0important question.\u00a0Like I said, in terms of government support and my relations with the government,\u00a0at the moment\u00a0it\u2019s not 100% that we can get government support. If I can tell you the truth,\u00a0what I am doing is that sacrificing ourselves to do it. <br><br>The government is\u00a0(not)\u00a0here to assist us at the moment\u00a0because of a lot of things, maybe because I don\u2019t\u00a0seek assistance from themor those things.\u00a0At the moment,\u00a0the government is afraid of our activities.\u00a0We have yet to receive any support from them\u00a0to support our activities.\u00a0We want to keep working. The idea is that we want to provide self-reliance\u00a0for\u00a0our communities. We want something done before the government steps in. <br><br>Maybe\u00a0in the future, we can\u00a0ask the government to step in.\u00a0But at the moment, the government is not yet stepping in to support us. We just started with nothing,\u00a0with our bare hands\u00a0at the moment, just to tell you the truth. But the government\u00a0is always saying agriculture is the backbone of our country,\u00a0but we are yet to see that becoming\u00a0the reality in our case at\u00a0the moment.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>I see.\u00a0And you mentioned about the Government actually has some concerns about what you and your business is doing in a moment?<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest): <\/strong>Yeah, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0Maybe the government&#8230;yes,\u00a0actually\u00a0the governmentmaybe have\u00a0concerns\u00a0for different\u00a0crops, or something like that. I don&#8217;t know, but yeah.\u00a0But at\u00a0the moment,\u00a0like I said,\u00a0we don\u2019t receive any support from the government\u00a0or even seek whatever from the government We\u00a0just\u00a0go on with our own. We just believe we can achieve it.\u00a0<br><br>What I said is that we want to\u00a0start it\u00a0first before the\u00a0government\u2026as long as we came up with\u00a0whatsoever\u00a0and maybe it\u00a0can support\u00a0us later. But I don&#8217;t know there&#8217;s just something like that,\u00a0I&#8217;m just saying. But at the moment\u00a0we\u00a0do it ourselves without any support from\u00a0the government, a\u00a0donor, or whoever. We just go\u00a0ahead with\u00a0what we can do at the moment.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>I see.\u00a0Now I think we can move to our next topic, which\u00a0you have also mentioned before, and that is climate change.\u00a0<br><br>Climate change is now a\u00a0global phenomenon, and I believe that despite the fact that now I&#8217;m living in London in the northern hemisphere, and\u00a0Lesley is\u00a0living in Solomon Islands, in the southern\u00a0hemisphere. We can all feel some unusual changes\u00a0in the weather\u00a0over these years. And\u00a0I think that, especially from the point of view of a of a\u00a0farmer\u00a0whose\u00a0main source of income is significantly reliant\u00a0on good weather.\u00a0<br><br>What would you say\u00a0that\u00a0which group of farmers\u00a0\u2013\u00a0to\u00a0be more specific\u00a0\u2013\u00a0is most vulnerable to climate change?<br><br><br>Lesley (Guest): Yeah, as we\u00a0know climate change is a global issue at the moment. But\u00a0from where\u00a0I am\u00a0now,\u00a0we\u00a0can\u00a0also feel the\u00a0impact\u00a0and the effects of climate change.\u00a0Especially\u00a0in terms of\u00a0sea-level rise,\u00a0mainly\u00a0for the\u00a0coastal\u00a0people. <br><br>But for us those who live in the\u00a0highlands of\u00a0Malaita, we also\u00a0feel\u00a0the\u00a0impacts\u00a0of it.\u00a0I&#8217;ll give you one example, like for us farmers, one thing that\u00a0really affects us\u00a0at\u00a0the moment\u00a0is the\u00a0changes\u00a0of our\u00a0weather. The weather\u00a0changes.\u00a0<br><br>Like for\u00a0the\u00a0case of\u00a0Solomon\u00a0Islands,\u00a0we have\u00a0our rainy season.\u00a0It started from November to April.\u00a0The dry season\u00a0is\u00a0from\u00a0May to October\u00a0or something like that.\u00a0But\u00a0at the moment,\u00a0that is not\u00a0really right.\u00a0Most of the time\u00a0for us people\u00a0live in highlands, we experience a lot of our rain\u00a0than\u00a0dry season.\u00a0So,\u00a0for us farmers, for this case we have\u00a0(been)\u00a0affected a lot because we have more rain than dry\u00a0season. <br><br>So,\u00a0you know, because\u00a0the method we use\u00a0for gardening\u00a0is slash and burn. Slash and burn will work\u00a0only\u00a0during a\u00a0dry season. But\u00a0since\u00a0that we have more\u00a0rain\u00a0than dry season,\u00a0the method of\u00a0gardening\u00a0is not really working at the moment. So,\u00a0this is why we\u00a0have\u00a0to come\u00a0up with some adaptation methods\u00a0and we have to\u00a0research our own\u00a0methods and we came up with. <br><br>So,\u00a0this is\u00a0the reason why\u00a0we\u00a0have to come up with this school, and, like the school that I mentioned already, those methods will be\u00a0taught\u00a0as soon as we start the school. So,\u00a0the methods we\u00a0are\u00a0teaching\u00a0at the school is the climate change\u00a0adaptation\u00a0methods. At least we can teach\u00a0our farmers\u00a0so that\u00a0they\u00a0can\u00a0farm and feed their family, and earn money from\u00a0farming\u00a0as well. I&#8217;ll give you one example of\u00a0our methods at the moment.\u00a0<br><br>For example, slash and burn is the\u00a0normal one or the\u00a0common one\u00a0everyone is\u00a0using\u00a0in highlands. But since people suffer from rain and change of weather,\u00a0we shift from\u00a0\u201cslash and burn\u201d\u00a0to\u00a0\u201cslash and plant\u201d. Slash and plant is our own method:\u00a0you don\u2019t have to\u00a0burn\u00a0them,\u00a0you just have to brass,\u00a0clean the area, and then you plant. No, there is no need for to\u00a0burn like \u201cslash and burn\u201d\u00a0or to burn your rubbishes.\u00a0You just\u00a0brass\u00a0and clean\u00a0that area\u00a0and you plant. <br><br>But that is one of the methods\u00a0that we came up with, and it&#8217;s really working well for us at the moment, because, you know, like I said earlier on,\u00a0for us it is quite different from those who live in the coastal area that they\u00a0experience\u00a0a lot of sun or\u00a0dry season\u00a0than heavy rain or\u00a0rainy season compared to us. Because we live in the mountains,\u00a0there are a lot of\u00a0trees,\u00a0and so\u00a0they attract\u00a0rain and sun.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>Thank you! And\u00a0I&#8217;d also like to ask you so. What are some of your recommendations for policymakers to provide accommodation for those most impacted by the climate change?<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest): <\/strong>Yes,\u00a0just to be true and to tell you the truth.\u00a0A lot of the\u00a0decisions\u00a0made at the highest levels\u00a0with the decision makers,\u00a0well,\u00a0some of\u00a0decisions\u00a0made\u00a0were\u00a0just\u00a0assumptions\u00a0because the\u00a0reality\u00a0is still on the ground.\u00a0And\u00a0since we experienced this climate change\u00a0and effects of climate change,\u00a0no one is coming to us\u00a0to ask\u00a0about\u00a0our own\u00a0measures\u00a0and to\u00a0ask about how we can deal with them.\u00a0They just\u00a0maybe came up with their own and\u00a0talked\u00a0about\u00a0\u201cout there\u2026\u201d, but the reality is on the ground.\u00a0<br><br>So, what\u00a0I suggest is\u00a0decision\u00a0makers\u00a0should\u00a0come to us,\u00a0ask us,\u00a0\u201chow do you deal with\u00a0these\u00a0effects of climate change?\u201d,\u00a0\u201chow do you make your\u00a0gardening seeing\u00a0that you\u00a0have a lot of rain here?\u201d.\u00a0I mean\u00a0those are the questions they should come and ask us\u00a0so that\u00a0we can\u00a0show\u00a0them. <br><br>It&#8217;s really good\u00a0if\u00a0the\u00a0decision makers\u00a0can listen to us,\u00a0so we can show them\u00a0what\u00a0methods we use and\u00a0the things that we use\u00a0so that we can help address this kind of a situation that\u00a0is\u00a0affecting our people and our lives at the moment, specifically\u00a0farmers.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>So,\u00a0governments in the world should play a bigger role\u00a0in providing accommodation for those most impacted\u00a0by\u00a0climate change, and it is really important for them to actually come to the field as to see from the\u00a0grassroots\u00a0perspective\u00a0so that they can get an idea of what is really happening.<br><br><br>Lesley (Guest): Yes, that&#8217;s correct.\u00a0You are correct.\u00a0So,\u00a0what I am saying is climate change is not a loving\u00a0mother at the moment. It also\u00a0affects us farmers\u00a0or the rural people.\u00a0We are\u00a0the people that\u00a0are\u00a0really affected by the climate seeds like for us. <br><br>We have our own\u00a0methods, for, you know, dealing\u00a0with this\u00a0climate change. Some of the methods we used\u00a0is quite different\u00a0because\u00a0it is\u00a0something connected\u00a0with our beliefs\u00a0\u2013\u00a0how we\u00a0can\u00a0stop the rain\u00a0and\u00a0those are from our\u00a0traditional knowledges. So those are the important things that we use for us. I can still remember some of our grandfathers\u00a0when I was\u00a0a little kid.\u00a0<br><br>We experienced a lot of\u00a0rain, and we\u00a0asked\u00a0our grandfather, who is still\u00a0holding\u00a0sacrifices to our\u00a0ancestors\u00a0to stop the rain because we wanted\u00a0to make\u00a0garden. So,\u00a0he did that.\u00a0I have seen\u00a0with my naked eyes, and is so like I said,\u00a0it is not ordinary\u00a0thing;\u00a0it\u00a0is quite different. It&#8217;s something related to our\u00a0beliefs.\u00a0So,\u00a0it&#8217;s quite different from the beliefs\u00a0of\u00a0maybe\u00a0whoever. But this is what\u00a0he did.\u00a0I\u00a0have\u00a0seen\u00a0them\u00a0with my\u00a0naked eyes. And I&#8217;ve tested that.\u00a0I have\u00a0passed\u00a0that.\u00a0<br><br>So,\u00a0like\u00a0I said, it&#8217;s quite important that the authorities must not\u00a0neglect\u00a0us.\u00a0They should\u00a0come,\u00a0and see us,ask us what we need to help and find ways to address this.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host):<\/strong> This is really interesting.\u00a0Indeed,\u00a0the\u00a0government should work more closely with\u00a0the\u00a0grassroots,\u00a0the farmers in the field to tackle their problems.<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest): <\/strong>Yeah. That\u2019s right.\u00a0Just one more thing I\u00a0would like\u00a0to mention\u00a0here.\u00a0In terms of climate change, we have seen a lot of conferences, like COP27\u00a0\u2013 whatsoever,\u00a0you name it \u2013\u00a0taking\u00a0place over there.\u00a0Our\u00a0government\u2026local government\u00a0receives\u00a0a lot of money from donors\u00a0supporting us\u00a0to\u00a0deal\u00a0with\u00a0this climate\u00a0change. But at the moment,\u00a0we have yet to\u00a0see the fruit of that.\u00a0<br><br>What\u2019s the reason\u00a0for those COP27 and those conferences?\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0a question\u00a0I would like to\u00a0post\u00a0for the leadership\u00a0and the big people\u00a0to ask themselves\u2026because\u00a0of course\u00a0we have a lot of\u00a0conferences, but until now there is no great impact\u00a0on that.\u00a0<br><br>Maybe I don&#8217;t know\u00a0what\u2019s the\u00a0reason, but what it\u00a0is important here is\u00a0the\u00a0big\u00a0people\u00a0and leaders\u00a0should\u00a0come down to our\u00a0rural\u00a0people and ask us how we can work together,\u00a0collaborate\u00a0to\u00a0deal with this issue because\u00a0it\u00a0(climate change) is not a loving mother\u00a0at the moment.\u00a0It affects us, affects our lives, and maybe in the future\u00a0if we continue to\u00a0live\u00a0careless\u00a0about this,\u00a0the impact of\u00a0climate change in the future\u00a0will be more than what we have\u00a0been\u00a0experiencing\u00a0now.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>Yes, indeed.\u00a0For our next topic I would like to move on to another topic that is also equally important as climate change, and that is\u00a0the role of women in agriculture and development. And you mentioned before that women play a very important role in farming, and I would like you to elaborate more on that. And how is\u00a0the role of women different to that of men?<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest):<\/strong> Coming back to the roles women were playing in agriculture and farming,\u00a0our cultural context is quite different from what people may say about us. In our context,\u00a0women are always the powerful people in farming. <br><br>Women are important because they play an important role\u00a0for\u00a0supporting men\u00a0with ideas\u00a0on\u00a0farming. For us, men\u00a0can talk about ideas\u00a0but\u00a0women are implementers. For example\u00a0\u2013 I will give you an example\u00a0\u2013\u00a0men\u00a0can say, \u201cthere&#8217;s a good place\u00a0to farm\u201d. The next thing women\u00a0can\u00a0go with their men and\u00a0start\u00a0the garden and\u00a0cleaning\u00a0the area.\u00a0Women play an equal role in farming.\u00a0<br><br>In some of the cases like I\u00a0mentioned earlier on,\u00a0for\u00a0some\u00a0native\u00a0names of taros, we have lost them already.\u00a0At the moment,women, some of the women\u00a0\u2013\u00a0maybe\u00a0few\u00a0\u2013\u00a0still got the knowledge\u00a0because\u00a0they are into\u00a0the garden\u00a0more than us men.\u00a0For men, like\u00a0I said,\u00a0we can plant, but\u00a0women are implementors of\u00a0those things.\u00a0Indeed,\u00a0women are important in farming\u00a0because they do most of the jobs in the farming.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host):<\/strong> In terms of the labor of\u00a0agriculture, so\u00a0it&#8217;s not just about the\u00a0strength and using the tools, but it is also a lot about the know-how about how to\u00a0perform the right\u00a0kind of methodology in farming, and in planting.<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest): <\/strong>Correct. You are right. Like I said, some of our knowledge\u00a0about our traditional ways of farming, some women know that more than men\u00a0because women are more into the garden and into the farm\u00a0than men as well.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>Maybe can you tell me if there is a\u00a0crop\u00a0\u2013 when you are planting a\u00a0crop\u00a0\u2013\u00a0that is impossible to do so\u00a0without\u00a0the participation of women?<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest): <\/strong>OK, good. Traditionally,\u00a0there are some plants\u2026 but in our case, our\u00a0traditional, aboriginal\u00a0plant is taro. Some of the taros are male and some of taros are\u00a0female.\u00a0Some of the taros are mainly for men and some of the taros are mainly for women.\u00a0There are others that men and women can eat. And there are others that only women can plant.\u00a0I am yet to give you the truth on this\u00a0because\u00a0I am yet to complete my research on that. <br><br>Currently I am doing a research on taro\u00a0and that question is in that research. If I\u00a0completed it,\u00a0I will give you,\u00a0but basically\u00a0that is a\u00a0fairly\u00a0important question\u00a0because some taros are mainly for men, some are mainly for women, and some are\u00a0just\u00a0general for men and women.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host):<\/strong> I think it is.\u00a0It&#8217;s quite fascinating\u00a0that\u00a0there&#8217;s different gender participation to the planting of a specific crop.<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest): <\/strong>Yes.<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>I\u00a0think\u00a0we will\u00a0wrap it up for our broadcast for today. Thank you, Leslie, for having this\u00a0intellectually stimulating conversation with me. Thank you very much.<br><br><br><strong>Lesley (Guest): <\/strong>Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for these wonderful privileges\u00a0to come about and\u00a0talk about\u00a0what we are doing\u00a0at\u00a0the rural areas at\u00a0the moment.\u00a0Thank you so much for capturing the stories at the rural area.\u00a0Thank you so much!<br><br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>Yeah, Thank you as well. And\u00a0good luck to\u00a0your agriculture business. Andthank you for listening. Thank you.<br><br>After speaking to Lesley via phone, we also chatted over text the other day and I learnt in this conversation that Lesley is also very active on social media and\u00a0especially\u00a0Facebook. <br><br>On\u00a0Facebook, he has set up Malaita News to advocate for the rural people and has a lot of covering of interesting stories about people in Malaita. He said that he often sees the voice of rural people never being heard and through a platform like Malaita news, people can see what they have\u00a0accomplished\u00a0and know these\u00a0activities. <br><br>Please do check out Malaita News on\u00a0Facebook\u00a0if you are interested.<br><br><strong>Dave (Host): <\/strong>Grassroots in Action is powered by Diinsider Life. If you want to follow-up on this episode or discuss with us further just drop us an email at life@diinsider.com or follow us on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/diinsider_official\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/development-innovation-insider\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">LinkedIn<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/diinsider\/?_rdc=1&amp;_rdr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Facebook<\/a> at Diinsider. Subscribe to our podcast and hear our latest episode on our website, www.diinsiderlife.com or on <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/ph\/podcast\/grassroots-in-action\/id1672829108\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Apple Podcast<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4lukimtoeqZk8fuD2Icsu7?si=31fe429de657456f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Spotify<\/a>. <br><br>Rate us or leave a review, this will help more people find the show.<br><br>Thank you for listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:71px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Micro-entrepreneurs are the most common type of business in the world and this is especially the case in developing\u00a0countries.\u00a0Who are they? What do they\u00a0do?\u00a0And what motivates them? What are the challenges they are\u00a0facing?\u00a0Some of these answers might surprise you.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[158,157],"tags":[14,56,122,82,160,161,90,162,96,163,97,47],"class_list":["post-3978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grassroots-in-action","category-podcast","tag-asia-pacific","tag-climate","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-movement","tag-cop28","tag-farming","tag-food","tag-food-security","tag-sdg1","tag-sdg13","tag-sdg2","tag-youth"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ep-2-Lesley.png",950,609,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ep-2-Lesley-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ep-2-Lesley-300x192.png",300,192,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ep-2-Lesley-768x492.png",768,492,true],"large":["https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ep-2-Lesley.png",950,609,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ep-2-Lesley.png",950,609,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ep-2-Lesley.png",950,609,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"diinsiderlife","author_link":"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/index.php\/author\/diinsiderlife\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Micro-entrepreneurs are the most common type of business in the world and this is especially the case in developing\u00a0countries.\u00a0Who are they? What do they\u00a0do?\u00a0And what motivates them? What are the challenges they are\u00a0facing?\u00a0Some of these answers might surprise you.\u00a0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3978"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3983,"href":"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3978\/revisions\/3983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diinsiderlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}