Nature Serves as a Constant During Change

Wandaka Musongera smiling at his work at New Leaf Farm

Born in 1995 to the Nande Tribe of the Congo, Musongera lived on the endless beauty of a mountainous landscape within the lush scenery of Lubango. He made frequent trips to the pasture with other Nande boys, gathering mushrooms or herding goats and sheep. Each summer, Musongera lived at his grandparents’ plantation brimming with bananas, which they used to produce Urwaga beer. 

When Musongera was just six years old, his mom gifted him with his first plot of farming land. 

“I was so happy when my mom gave me the farm, but I know it was kind of a trick to get me to work,” Musongera said. “It’s like when parents trick their kids into thinking washing dishes is a game.”

In the 1990s, the Tutsi militia, supported by Rwanda, wanted to seize the Eastern Congo and exploit its resources. Additionally, former Hutu soldiers ran to Congo after the 1994 conflict in Rwanda to steal people’s property. Wandaka often ran from gunshots with his younger brother Luvango and lived with other members of the community to hide from the violence. 

To flee conflict in the Congo, Musongera’s family moved to Kampala, an urban city in Uganda, to await acceptance into a refugee camp. During his seven years in Uganda, farming disappeared from his life. 

“It wasn’t until later in my life, when I returned to farming, that I realized the emptiness of my life when I wasn’t farming.”

A refugee camp in the United States accepted Musongera and his family in the summer of 2013. Now, as a 25-year-old living in Austin, Texas, Musongera still works in nature every day, but his approach is different.

Musongera works at New Leaf Farm, a farm that provides employment to refugees while serving fresh produce and connecting volunteers to the community. The farm implements regenerative farming techniques and allows its workers to reconnect with their own traditional methods. 

In the Congo, Musongera used non-automated and subsistence farming techniques such as hoes that limit waste. Similarly, Musongera uses simple tools at New Leaf Farm, utilizing a permaculture master plan that models agricultural production after nature and thus works for the benefit of the existing ecosystem, rather than its detriment. 

A New Leaf Farm worker gathers from the hibiscus plants.

“Farming is a form of magic,” Musongera said. “It is so beautiful to observe the causes and effects of nature.”

When Musongera began farming in Austin, he had to adjust to differences farming his homeland. The Congo maintains a tropical climate, with temperatures between 80 and 90 degrees fahrenheit throughout the year, while Austin has hotter summers and colder winters. Additionally, the rain is much more prevalent in the Congo, and consequently, fertilizer and irrigation there is unnecessary.

All of Musongera’s plants died during his first winter in Austin. Though discouraged, he learned from nature’s course. He adjusted his approach in order to successfully cultivate produce.

He then began planting broccoli, bok choy, and kale, all of which were unfamiliar to him. Musongera also began planting Hon Tsai tai, an Asian green that he now considers a favorite. 

Musongera holds his harvest of red noodle beans, also known as Chinese long beans.

“I love getting to play with nature every day,” Musongera said. “Even when I mess up, it is so interesting to observe nature’s reaction.”

Musongera recommends farming to everyone. Even if someone is a poor farmer, there are essential life skills learned from farming, like patience and the ability to connect with nature.

“When I began farming again in Austin, I immediately recognized the piece in my life missing,” Musongera said.

Because of his great admiration for nature, he said it has been a blessing to live amid the landscape of the Congo as a boy and as a farmer in Austin. He longs to visit the Congo once again in order to visit family and walk around the land he once inhabited. 

Musongera has endured many transitions, but there has always been a comforting, unchanging element that remains alongside him — nature. Nature has provided him comfort in times of adolescence, peace in times of conflict, guidance in times of transition, and familiarity in times of the unknown. From the Democratic Republic of Congo to New Leaf Farm, nature remained consistent while his life was ever-changing.

Photos by New Leaf Farm