This time we interviewed Shumaila Shaikh, a well-experienced Farm Experience Internship organizer and currently an intern at Boerengroep. Enjoy!
What is your name?
Shumaila Shaikh
Where are you from?
Coastal India
Do you have a farming/theatre background?
Yes! In both. I played the shoemakers wife in a play when I was 10 and I grew BT cotton on half an acre of land during my bachelors.
What do you study?
I’m currently doing my Masters in Organic agriculture
Who found who first? You or the Boerengroep/Inspringtheater? (How did it happen? How long have you been active in BG/IT?)
I found Boerengroep through friends and it’s been an exciting journey. I got involved seriously when I organized the Farm Experience Internship for the first time in 2019.
And how long have you been active in the Boerengroep/Inspringtheater?
Sporadically in 2019 and regularly in 2020
What are you doing in Boerengroep/Inspringtheater? (your function) Is it something on the agenda?
I am currently an intern at Boerengroep.
Can you give us something secret away about the Boerengroep or Inspringtheater?
They asked me to sacrifice three prejudices I have against the world before joining the cult.
When you are asked what you do on Thursday nights, what do you say? (friends, family)
“I got Boerengroep man.”
If you be any kind of farmer/animal/crop/garden tool/machine, what would you be?
I would be a blunt axe, not too sharp but creates enough tension.
What kind of food would you feed our board members during the meetings?
Wraps. Falafel wraps.
What is the most inspiring thing you have done with the Boerengroep/Inspringtheater? (event, meeting, lecture, excursion…)
Organizing the FEI has hands down been the most inspiring thing I have done in the life.
If you had a private meeting with the Minister of Agriculture of your country, what would you ask/tell him/her? (Carola Schouten, Angela Merkel, Phil Hogan…etc)
To end ties with Bill Gates and his fake philanthropy, ban Monsanto and start reviving and respecting out ancient traditions and wisdom again.
Who is your hero? And why?
Anybody that follows their bliss is a hero. It takes a lot of courage and restores the balance of the world.
On a scale of monoculture to polyculture, where would you place yourself?
I am a small scale mixed farm that grows traditional varieties of grains and vegetables with fruit and nut trees in my food forest.