Marie-Luise Matthys
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The water of life or: patience and spit
Bachelor thesis on field research in Ethiopia
While the cold winter wind blows in Witzenhausen, the scorching sun burns from the sky in southern Ethiopia. It is the dry season, the brown-colored pastures of the Borana have been grazed, the cattle have long since moved on with the herders. They will only return in a few months' time when the rain falls again, softening the soil and turning the pastures green. But it is still bone dry. My translator and I find shade in the sparse dwelling of a widow who invites us in for tea. Her gaunt figure, her bent back and her wrinkled face bear witness to her many years of hardship. She makes herself comfortable by the fire and begins to talk about her youth, her former physical strength and her enthusiasm for working with the animals. The more she talks, the brighter her eyes sparkle, the brighter her laughter sounds, and the more vividly I see in my mind's eye the young, irrepressibly strong woman she once was. We smile at each other and I sense that her willingness to reveal something, her skillful translation and my interest in her life have created a connection that ultimately needs no words.
And then she spits at me. Spits on my feet, on my hands, on my chest. I no longer understand the world, but while her saliva is still falling on me, I realize that there is nothing aggressive about this spitting but, on the contrary, something strangely loving. She mumbles something that is later translated for me: "May you grow old in abundance. [...] May your path be peaceful wherever it leads. [...] May your tongue and your hand be kind to all people. May you live in contentment wherever you go." Years later I read: "In an important form of blessing, elders, parents or special ritual 'spitters' convey fertility through the medium of saliva representing the water of life." This unexpected blessing was one of the most impressive experiences of my entire time at university. My time in Witzenhausen and especially my Bachelor's thesis at DITSL taught me to be open to other people, other cultures and the unexpected. The project work at the University of Faisalabad in Pakistan, the study trip to Kenya and the exchange semester at the College of the Atlantic (COA) in Maine, USA, did the rest. I am very grateful that FB11 made these diverse international experiences possible for me - in addition to three great years in Witzenhausen itself.
Master's degree in Zurich with a focus on Kenya
At the COA, I was enthusiastic about philosophy, so after a summer in the Alps in Switzerland, I decided to study for a Master's degree in History and Philosophy of Research at ETH Zurich. This took me to Kenya, where I investigated the implicit nutritional knowledge of farmers. A year later, I returned to Kenya to work for the Biovision Africa Trust in a knowledge transfer project on organic agriculture as part of the ETH NADEL Master of Advanced Studies in Development and Cooperation.
Doctorate on agricultural change in Nepal and Rwanda
I am currently writing my doctoral thesis at the University of Bern, in which I am investigating the socio-economic consequences of agrarian change in Nepal and Rwanda. The question of where my path will take me after I graduate in spring 2021 is still open. It is important to me to work in an evidence-based and action-oriented way, and I can well imagine that this would be possible both in application-oriented agricultural sociological research and in science-based development cooperation. Until then, I am practising patience with regard to future issues and trust that I will be able - perhaps by virtue of the water of life? - to pursue my profession in such a way that the skills I have acquired in Witzenhausen and elsewhere will bear fruit.