Summer Spell-Exploring Weather Patterns for Farmers in Uganda

Summer Spell graduated from Azusa Pacific University with a degree in Global Studies. She spent a semester in Uganda staying with a host family.  She did an internship with elderly farmers who were struggling agains poverty. She listened to stories from 80-90 year olds. They talked a lot about the changes in the weather patterns since they were young. It used to be predictable, to the day, but in the last decade, the pattern has fallen apart. The sun was getting harsher on their crops.

She participated in creating a documentary about these people and the effects.

CLICK for link to the documentary trailer

Recommended reading:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
The Story of More by Hope Jahren
The Biggest LIttle Farm documentary
Podcast How to Save the Planet

To see photos CLICK

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Find me on my website: jan-johnson.com

Transcript

[00:04] Jan: Welcome to women of the Northwest, a podcast where I interview ordinary women leading extraordinary lives. This is episode 52, the start of the new year in 2023. Thank you for joining us. I'm sure you will enjoy this episode.

[00:33] Summer: They talked a lot about how they've noticed changes in the weather patterns since they were young. They were saying, yeah, when we were young, it was super predictable. We knew exactly when the rainy season was going to start, when it would finish, when we can play it, when we would harvest after the day almost. It was really incredible. But they're saying in the last, you know, decade, two decades, the pattern has just kind of started pulling apart. They don't know what's going on anymore.

[01:06] Jan: Hello, welcome to women of the Northwest summer spell. Nice to meet you.

[01:11] Summer: Nice to meet you.

[01:13] Jan: So ,your dad's been telling me about what a wonderful, great experiences you had. You're doing a documentary film?

[01:21] Summer: I am.

[01:22] Jan: Tell me about that.

[01:23] Summer: Yeah, well, I guess I'll back up a bit. I graduated from Azusa Pacific University and my degree was global studies.

[01:32] Jan: Okay.

[01:33] Summer: Really cool program, but part of it had us do a semester in Uganda at a Christian university there. So, we're just taking classes and some people were living on campus with Uganda and roommates. And I had a host family there who I lived with, and I also did an internship at a local organization when I was there. And that organization works with elderly Ugandans, mostly farmers who are struggling against poverty or just have a lot of grandchildren that they're supporting without much support from their community. So, I just got to kind of tag along in the fields and just hear stories from these, I mean, like 80, 90 year old boys.

[02:18] Jan: Like what I do?

[02:18] Summer: Yeah, basically stories and something that I noticed. They talked a lot and the sun was getting harsher on their crops, things were burning up or it would rain too much and there would be flooding and all this crazy stuff. So, yeah, I was really surprised to hear about that. So I came back home, finished my degree, and then those stories stuck with me. And I thought that I never heard anyone talk so plainly about climate change affecting their daily life. Casual conversation. People don't talk like that here. And it's not like we're connected to the land, and it's not like we're living off of it, trying to grow all our own food. Right.

[03:05] Jan: It's make it or break it.

[03:06] Summer: It really is.

[03:08] Jan: Yes.

[03:08] Summer: It's just like month by month, just affecting their lives. And I just thought if people here knew that and could hear that, then maybe at least a few more people would be motivated to try to make chicken make sense. Yeah, that's how the idea for the project got started. At first I was maybe thinking a book, but then some friends were like, well, what about a documentary? Like that's so accessible to so many people. And I'm not in film, but I thought it was a good idea. So, through some professors from the university was able to get connected to a Ugandan cinematographer, Alvin And. We're really good friends now and we've just been working together this past year interviewing and translating and driving around.

[03:54] Jan: So, when you're doing your interviews, are they some of them are English, but not all of them.

[04:00] Summer: So, they were all in Luganda, which is one of 52 languages spoken in Uganda.

[04:07] Jan: Yeah.

[04:07] Summer: So, we ended up picking five families and we followed them over the course of one harvest cycle. So, from the time they planted to the time they harvested and yeah, they all had different experiences. Some lived 2 hours away from each other and even just that two hour drive, like, they would have completely different weather patterns from village to village. So one family got rain in January and planted then and was able to harvest, like, the beginning of May. And another family, they didn't end up planting till April and they harvested in August. Really, it just should not be like that. Everyone was supposed to plant in February 15. That's when everyone used to plant. But now that's just all over the map. And some did well and got good harvests and some, they just lost almost everything that cycle.

[05:03] Jan: Wow. And so, what did they usually plant?

[05:06] Summer: What kind of major crops are beans, corn, ground nuts or I guess peanuts is what we call them. And just like, assorted vegetables, pumpkin, squash, that sort of thing.

[05:20] Jan: I went to Hungary this last summer in September and all of their I mean, they grow corn, massive amounts of corn, but it was all shriveled up and died. They just did not they had drought. There's so much not enough rain and they don't really irrigate.

[05:37] Summer: Yeah, I mean, here we have so much irrigation and everything. Like, if it's dry, we won't notice because we can just pump it from somewhere. But it doesn't rain there. There's literally nothing they can do.

[05:50] Jan: That's it and they don't have any. It's eating corn and it's feed corn and it's corn syrup and it's corn and other products and everything. So, your whole mile after mile is just as dead. That shriveled up corn that just never got to where it could really produce and everything was really sad.

[06:11] Summer: It is really sad. Another problem that a lot of families face was pests. I guess from changing weather patterns.

[06:19] Jan: It's bringing in different kinds of pests.

[06:22] Summer: And also, like, clear cutting is destroying habitat for a lot of different animals, especially monkeys. Where they used to just, like, have bid in the forest, they're now coming into human spaces and eating from there because they don't have any intro. Yeah.

[06:38] Jan: Are there different insect pests as well?

[06:40] Summer: Yeah, lots of insects too. Are they coming out of the forest? Because there's just not space for them anymore, and they're just having to eat people's crops.

[06:51] Jan: Before you did all of this, were you interested or taking an interest in climate change?

[06:58] Summer: Yeah, I think even though my degree was global studies, we talked about climate change a lot as one of the global issues. So, in a lot of my classes, like the papers I ended up writing or the research stuff that I did, I was usually focusing on environment.

[07:15] Jan: Yeah, interesting. Okay, let's get down to some nitty gritty. So you get over there and your professors have helped you line up somebody that could help with the videography over there. Do you speak any of the languages?

[07:34] Summer: There just some phrases enough to say, hi, be friendly. But the interview itself, we're just going.

[07:43] Jan: Through translating everything, which probably there's in every language that you need to write.

[07:50] Summer: Yeah, basically.

[07:52] Jan: But the people were open to being filmed and to tell their story, excited to share.

[08:00] Summer: And before we picked our five families, we had interviewed, I think 30 anymore. There was a mix of people excited and not excited. So we just found five who were open and excited and had different stories. We wanted a mix. We have one single lady. We have a couple, a pair of sisters, a wealthier family, just trying to mix it up, but they're all super great and yeah, wonderful storytellers.

[08:31] Jan: So, what happens? So now you've got the recording, then you've got to do some editing, and then who will produce it? Where will it go?

[08:38] Summer: Well, we're shooting for American audiences. You know, we want to show people how, like, our lifestyles are tied to systems of food and transportation that's, like, causing damage for other people. So, we want to show it in the US as widely as possible. And if we can get to Canada or Europe, other meeting places, that would be great. Right now, we have most of our footage. Our interviews are done. There's a few little shots here and there that we need to go back, so we kind of miss. But otherwise we're in post production. We're pretty close to getting a mock up done. So all the rough pieces are kind of patched together. And then once we get that together, we'll start showing it to friends, families, coworkers, other students, maybe at a film festival or something. We'll do the first round of feedback, and then we'll take what people say and then try to get a more refined version. But then, yeah, film festivals, anything, really. I mean, we're still having conversations with people about what options for distribution are because you can try to do it yourself or you can sell it to somebody.

[09:50] Jan: It's been a big learning curve, hasn't it?

[09:52] Summer: That's a huge learning curve. Again, I did not do anything in film for school at all.

[09:59] Jan: Do you feel like you want to do more in there or to study that more? I don't know.

[10:07] Summer: I think for now, I'm feeling like it's a one time project. I think with my internship and family and friends there, I did have a particular connection to this story and an opportunity to share this particular story. But outside of that, I don't know.

[10:25] Jan: It'd almost be interesting to do the same thing in some other countries somewhere else. Yeah. I mean, you have it kind of down as to how you did it, the process and whatever. It wouldn't be hard to translate that into somewhere else.

[10:41] Summer: Yes. I guess we'll see after distribution how it goes and how people receive it. If people are wanting more, then we'll think about it. It was a lot of work.

[10:52] Jan: It is really draining all of it. It's a lot of work. Yeah. Well, and you're living in a different where were you living when you were there?

[10:59] Summer: Just a little house out in the village. Yeah.

[11:03] Jan: And you ate Ugari and what?

[11:08] Summer: Mostly rice and beans.

[11:10] Jan: Rice and beans? Yeah, rice and beans. We went to Tanzania for a few weeks and yeah, that was my Africa experiences.

[11:20] Summer: Neighbors, actually. There's a lot of overlap for food, climate and stuff.

[11:24] Jan: Yeah. And so, did the people you talk to, were they feeling hopeful that the message would be an impact in some sort, or were they just kind of, oh, this is kind of fun, let's just do it?

[11:41] Summer: I think it can be really hard to imagine stopping changing the weather. That's so huge.

[11:49] Jan: Well, it is.

[11:50] Summer: It is huge. And who knows if we'll actually pull it off or not? So I think it kind of felt like a shot in the dark, but it does to all of us. I think that maybe this could make.

[12:00] Jan: A difference, and I think it's all the little pieces together and everything. Let's just talk philosophy a little bit here's. The people that say it's all climate changes because of our actions, and then there are people who say that it's well, it's just climate change has happened before in the past, and now it's just happening again. Where are you on that?

[12:32] Summer: I think sure, the climate has changed in the past, but those were huge cycles over millennia. This is the judges have seen it in their lifetime. And, you know, February 15 for planting. That schedule goes back hundreds and hundreds of generations, as far as they can remember. And now it's all changed in two decades.

[12:57] Jan: Yeah.

[12:57] Summer: Something's going on. And they've seen factories go up, and they've seen forests be cleared and swamps filled for construction, and they've seen that affect the rain patterns in your local microclimates. So, they know, and I believe that it's like current actions in this century that are causing these changes.

[13:20] Jan: Yeah. Are these people that you were the farmers, were they educated or did they just go to school just through grade school or something? Or were they people who are they're kind of a mixture family.

[13:35] Summer: But I think what they all had was family knowledge left down.

[13:42] Jan: Yeah. Because there's a lot of stories know.

[13:46] Summer: The food that they're growing and they know the forests and the swamps and they have just a deep knowledge of that that really respect and trust.

[14:00] Jan: It would be interesting even to do, say, the same kind of thing with people in the Midwest even or something because it is changing everywhere, even this year. So we live on a farm and my husband has mainly sheep but also grows blueberries and corn and pumpkins for the great school kids can get. But we didn't normally he'll plant around the 1 June. He couldn't even begin to plant until the middle of July.

[14:30] Summer: Wow.

[14:31] Jan: So, the corn wasn't ripe until like close to October.

[14:34] Summer: Crazy. Yeah. Farmers, indigenous people, they're the first to notice climate change are also the most impacted by it all over the world.

[14:45] Jan: And there's no doubt that it's changing. You look at an ice storm here the other day.

[14:52] Summer: I've never seen that. I'm only 23, but I've not seen ice like that ever.

[14:59] Jan: Yes, isn't it? Yeah, those things happen. So what's next on your agenda?

[15:05] Summer: What are you thinking still? Just wrapping up this project. I don't want to think too far ahead. I just want to focus on what I'm doing right now. But yeah, I don't know. I'd love to personally be more connected to just land, to maybe do an agricultural program or apprenticeship or something like that with gardening.

[15:29] Jan: Maybe connect with the food web.

[15:31] Summer: Yeah, exactly.

[15:33] Jan: Yeah. Actually I have an interview with somebody from the food web. And of course your family is glad to have you back here even for a brief time before you go off to something else.

[15:44] Summer: Yeah.

[15:46] Jan: And interesting.

[15:47] Summer: Yeah, it's good to be home.

[15:49] Jan: What do you think that we every day could make the biggest change from changing our lifestyles or what we're doing?

[15:58] Summer: Yeah, it gets tricky because one individual lifestyle change is kind of just a drop in the bucket on a problem as huge as this. But I think trying to use less plastic or trying to eat food that's local or sustainably grown or consume products that are sustainably and ethically made even if those, quantity wise, don't make a difference. I think what they do is they make people confront systems that our lives are run off and you realize, oh, it is really difficult to live like this. And I feel like I'm really going against the current. And I think when people try to make individual change, it really opens their eyes to the systems of the world. And that's really impactful because once you start seeing it, you can't unsee it and then you share and that's when you build momentum and more people start wanting to make change.

[17:03] Jan: Yeah. And I think, too, your generation really needs to start thinking about me. We've already made our efforts.

[17:11] Summer: Now for.

[17:11] Jan: You and it's your problem now. But seriously, you will be the generation that really will start impacting change because you can see already the things that have changed to be thinking of. There's so many things. I saw an article today about roads that they're paving with non recyclable cyclable plastics. Yeah. It's just like good. Something that's going to make a good use out of that.

[17:43] Summer: We are just thinking.

[17:44] Jan: Exactly. Yeah.

[17:47] Summer: I'd say maybe. I don't know if you've heard of the book animal, Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsley.

[17:53] Jan: No.

[17:54] Summer: Fantastic read.

[17:57] Jan: Okay. I think I've seen it. Yeah. Yeah.

[17:58] Summer: It's just her family's journey of getting in touch with eating only what they can get, I think, within an hour's drive from their house. And they do that for a year. And I mean, it was hard, but it ended up being really bountiful in community building and healthier. So people read that.

[18:20] Jan: Yeah.

[18:20] Summer: I'd be happy with that.

[18:21] Jan: Yeah. Are there other good books that you've read there that you would recommend to people?

[18:29] Summer: Well, my favorite documentary is the Biggest Little Farm.

[18:34] Jan: Oh, my daughter showed that to us.

[18:36] Summer: It's fantastic.

[18:38] Jan: I'm not sure all of it could really happen or not. Yeah.

[18:45] Summer: It'S so beautiful. Other books let me think, story of More by maybe I'll look up for that really great read, but it just kind of walks through how we got where we are as far as what's happening with climate change, why it's happening. And she goes sector by sector, agriculture, fishing, plastic, pesticides, ocean, watershed. She just goes through all of those. Story of More by Hope Jaron. Okay. And I think it's really accessible online too. It's up there. You can just find it. And that's a fantastic read and it was helpful for me and thinking through the storytelling for this project and how I want to portray what's going on. And then a podcast specifically about climate change is how to save a planet. That was really fun.

[19:48] Jan: Okay.

[19:49] Summer: Those are the ones I like.

[19:50] Jan: Yeah.

[19:50] Summer: And that have been probably really impactful for me.

[19:53] Jan: It's great you'll be one of those people that at the end of your life, people are going to say, this girl made a difference.

[20:02] Summer: I'm really trying.

[20:04] Jan: Yeah. Well, thank you, Summer. This is really interesting. I think a lot of people are going to enjoy listening to this.

[20:11] Summer: Yeah, I hope so.

[20:17] Jan: Thanks again for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you go to my website, Jan johnson.com, you'll be able to see more photos of Summer and her trip to Uganda, as well as the links to the books and other resources that she mentioned. Have a wonderful week and we'll see you again next time.