The “Pre-JMJ in Idanha”

For a year, we had been preparing for it… And they came!

Precursor of the World Youth Days in Lisbon, a French-speaking group, made up of 31 young people and 4 guides, coming from France, Reunion, Belgium, Lebanon, Madagascar and the Mauritius Islands, gathered in Idanha- a-Nova, sent by the movement of Rural Christians, to spend a week thinking about the agriculture of tomorrow by analyzing the agricultural methods of yesterday and today and their consequences…

They chose this theme of reflection, in connection with the texts of the encyclical Laudato-si of Pope Francisco, to awaken consciences to respect for Creation and to the care to be given to our “common home”, the Earth, which time is massacred, polluted with the aim of mercantile exploitation and profitability at all costs.

Put in equation the Respect of Creation, the Faith, a professional implication and the daily life… vast “challenge”!

Camping on the land of a local property (in the tents lent by the scouts of Idanha), dominating the Campina, we were able to cross them on the GR12, the GR08, the Way of Compostela between Idanha-a-Nova and Idanha- a-Velha, discovering the different cultures, the seeds in Varzea, the production of essential oils in Segura, the meager pastures of cows and sheep under the cork oaks and the olive trees… Visiting several farms and businesses in our BioRegion of Idanha, they questioned the producers on the development of innovative projects that are born, here and there, in the field… while tasting the local specialties (the discovery of the Ladoeiro watermelon was memorable… to the point that their group on whatsapp took the name !!!) .

The “Idanha-a-Vida/Plantarfuturo” project in Idanha-a-Velha, as well as the conference on “Organic agriculture as an essential solution to the food autonomy of tomorrow, for all” at the Raiano Documentation Center in Idanha- a-Nova particularly challenged them on the consequences of the methods used, among others:

• loss of soil fertility through the establishment of monocultures and the application of chemical inputs each time more important in the farms,
• leaching of the soil and elimination of a large part of the local fauna and flora, due to an often irrational consolidation of the land,

These reflections revealed the need to maintain biodiversity on the farms and to respect the environment in each of the actions taken; each aspect being in inter-relation with the others: good health of the population comes from good food which itself is the result of good agricultural management, as it is true that, for health, the the farmer has an even more important role than the doctor… (according to the famous declaration of Dr. Pierre Delbet at the French Academy of Medicine).

The animators of the group, members of the great Ignatian family, led them to reflect on the really important objectives for the human being as an individual and as a society… the immediate and exclusive profit of a minority or the good -being collective and preserving the planet for our children? Should we not wonder about the action of lobbyists and the inconsistency of certain political leaders who manage our future from more or less distorted reports?
How to reconcile sharing and profitability, profit and equity?
How to place Faith and the search for truth at the center of what gives life?
A whole new awareness, a whole unique challenge!

The President of the municipality, Armindo Jacinto, gave them an “overview” of the history of our council from the birth of St Damas, to Idanha-a-Velha (37th pope, originator of the Vulgate) until These days. They took the time to discover the richness of the Naturtejo park and its superb variety of birds, to appreciate the natural pool of Penha Garcia, the involvement of the adufe and the “adufeiras” in local life and folklore, the beauty of our sunrises and sunsets… They meditated on Creation and celebrated under the olive and fig trees, symbolic biblical trees which for them remained, until then, mythical…

They left for Lisbon (supplied with watermelons!) to share their discoveries and continue their quest for a better world, having imprinted on them Carlyle’s phrase “if YOU complain about your time, if YOU find it bad, before to complain and criticize, ask yourself what YOU did to make her better…”

Some have promised to return and even to take part in the next olive harvest… Welcome!

Photos / Fotos de Francine Rodet et Jeanne Caillaud