The leaves of the shrubs and trees along the path shine in soft tones of green. On a field at the edge of the path are three farmers walking in complete unison along the furrows, sowing corn.
Selma Brasil de Alencar and her friends from the Catholic community walk slowly up a hill in the evening light. Bibles and water bottles in hand, they visit every house on their “Campanha da Fraternidade”, pray with the inhabitants and exchange the latest news. This is the second winter with not enough rain. The conversations between the farmers are about deep wells, cisterns, lack of government support and election fraud. The carcasses of cattle which have died of thirst lie all along the cart tracks. The animals are too heavy to be moved. So the spring-like fragrance of the growing green mixes with the morbid odor of the rotting carcasses.
The last house which Selma and her friends visit this evening is situated in a settlement called Queimadas. The group has now grown to 40 people, they sing as they walk in the dark up the mountain while their flashlights cast cones of light like glowworms bouncing through the darkness. Having arrived at the farm, the women improvise an altar in front of the house. A white blanket over the kitchen table… flowers … a picture of the Virgin Mary emerges from somebody’s backpack. Chairs are distributed; one of the women prays aloud, the others repeat what she says. They ask for rain and for God’s help through the drought.
Adriana wears a white T-shirt with a picture of her brother Renato. Renato lived with his brothers Fabio and Alberto in Goiânia, the capital of Goiás. They had supported their parents by working as street vendors selling everyday household products. A month ago Renato was hit by a car and died on the spot. Selma is now often sick; she vomits and spends much time in bed. Alcacio works obsessively in the fields – the rice has to be weeded, the corn sown and the cows taken care of.
He set up an irrigation system, planted high-growing resilient grass, and marked out plots. He and Adriana want to buy more dairy cows. Milk production would be profitable with five cows or more. Only the missing prospect of sufficient precipitation prevents them from making the investment.
Sunday is meeting day at the small farmer collective of Baixio Grande. Twelve men gather around the dining room table in the home of Didi Brasil – one of Alcacio’s eight brothers. Adriana and her friend Islandia are also there, they run the businesses in the community. The men begin rummaging about in their pants pockets. Receipts and letters from the tax office land on the table. The women straighten out the crumpled pieces of paper and enter the amounts into the account books: the taxes are due. The necessary tractor repair can no longer be paid, which they all regard as a lesser evil since there is not enough rain to guarantee their fields a productive harvest. Adriana and Islandia are shocked to hear from Luciano, one of the farmers, that their lake has dried up. The emergency water supply for three cities has evaporated in the heat. Only the drilled wells and cisterns still have enough water – maybe for the rest of the year.
In the evening, Adriana and her family sit quietly on their veranda, hot gusts of wind sweep through the valley, the sheep bells and cattle bells ring in the distance. The sound of a moped rattles closer and closer to the house. Alcacio’s brother Vincente has come for a visit. He has more than 100 cattle and is full of worry. Alcacio and Vincente weigh their options. They want to sell their animals before the summer drought, but the market is satiated, the prices are at rock-bottom. They can only hope for rain and better prices.
