-Chuck Rapp
Saturday our village went to help another village process the rice harvest. Here you see the before and after pictures. In between is a lot of hard work!
The first step is to cut and bundle all the rice stalks by hand. All the bundles are combined into a few large piles.
![FullSizeRender[2]](/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/FullSizeRender21.jpg)
A 30 foot by 30 foot area was then cleared and swept clean. A handmade fence with a gate was erected around the clearing.
The rice was then carried into the fenced in area and spread evenly around.
You may not believe what’s next!
Approximately 25 cattle were rounded up and turned loose in the fenced area.
This brought to my mind the scripture “don’t muzzle the ox when it tramples the grain” (Deuteronomy 25:4). The process here is the same at it was 3,000 years ago!
Over a period of several hours Shawn and I helped pitchfork a huge pile of straw after the rice grain was removed. The result of all this hard, manual work is the pile of rice you see.
![FullSizeRender[3]](/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/FullSizeRender31.jpg)
People from at least two villages participated in this event. Food was provided, rice and fresh fish. All ages, men and women and children took part. It was quite an interesting cross cultural experience.
