Last month my wife and I had the opportunity to visit the country of Cuba with colleagues from the NC Baptist Singers and Orchestra. We enjoyed our time with the lovely people who made us feel as if we were “rock stars.” A beautiful country of mountains and sea; nothing like I anticipated. Thanks to interpreters we were able to communicate, enjoy home cooked food, and make friends with the kind people of Cuba.
One evening at Sunset a large thunder storm moved into the area. This is from a roof top viewing the beautiful sky as the storm arrived.
One day we visited a retirement home for Christian workers. This is the lovely chapel at the retirement home near Santiago City.
I saw this guy enjoying lunch on the side of the road.
Life was hard in rural Pitt County, NC when Richard grew up in the 1960’s. His mother and father were share croppers on a farm just outside Greenville near the road that was called Red Banks. Before and after school each day Richard had no choice but to help his family of 10 brothers and sisters bring in the harvest. Summer was the just the same but more hard work. Unfortunately, the food he and his family harvested never found its way to their own dining room table. The food they harvested went to others.
Leaving that farm to enlist in the Army, a new military life, was a new beginning that taught him much. After his tour of duty ended, he found himself in rural eastern NC once again looking at farming. This time his motivation was due to the need he saw all around.
He became a pastor, among other ministry positions, and noticed that the people with whom he worked were not living much past age 40. In his first year as pastor of Conetoe Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, he performed 30 funerals. People died of preventable diseases. If only they knew of good nutrition and how to plant food; healthy food. Thus began Richard Joyner’s new life; returning to a life he once despised. Now with excitement because of the knowledge of farming that his parents once taught him. In 2007 The Conetoe Family Life Center in Conetoe, NC was begun by Richard and a bunch of children and teenagers. This center that has made a tremendous impact on the town of Conetoe as well as the surrounding counties of Pitt, Edgecombe, Martin and Nash counties of eastern NC.
Collards are a mainstay in eastern NC. I made this painting of one of the community members harvesting collards .
LaCount Anderson 