Coffee Plants at the Monastery near Da Lat
Last week after we bid adieu to the other two adopting families my mother traveled up to the Benedictine monastery's property near Da Lat. She rode by crowded van with Sister Agnes, the superior of the monastery, and Sister Elisabeth, who we presume is in training to be the next superior.
Most of the nuns in the order live at the place in Thu Duc, a suburb of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). I think there are fifty or sixty, including the postulants and novices. The property near Da Lat is small--six or eight acres--but very compact. It is staffed by three nuns and six novices. They manage a tea and coffee plantation that provides one of the major economic resources for the order.
There were two guest houses, more spartan than the Thu Duc facility. These rooms did not even have fans, but then the Da Lat area is noted for its temperate climate.
The nuns enjoy as hearty and delicioius a meal choice as do the ones in Thu Duc.
Here my mother poses (and towers above) Sister Elisabeth and Sister Agnes just outside the main building and with the river in the background.
Tea Plants
Baskets and scales used in harvesting the tea and coffee. 
Coffee beans drying on a tarp, with corn plants in the background.
The lovely scenery in the area around the monastery.
The monastery land is several kilometers from Da Lat, accessible by one of the two motorbikes the sisters own. The suspension bridge (pictured on the first photo) allows bikes as well as foot traffic.
The sisters follow the same time schedule as the Thu Duc sisters--rise at 3:30 in the morning for the start of a busy day. They harvest tea and coffee as well as the other crops and they also study alone and together. Mass is said twice a week by a visiting priest.
Other farmers in the area gather wood for kindling, carrying it in basket backpacks.
No comments:
Post a Comment