I would like to tell the people of Lake Murray what I’m feeling now and thank them for all they taught me in so short a time, about forest life, resistance and community building and life’s values. I want to thank them for showing me that with almost no resources it is still possible to plan – and to create an alternative way to foster development. This is an issue that so many high-level “think-tanks” have debated for ages, with no outcome.

But my words are far too poor. A handshake, a hug, and then only the silence can express what I feel.

The aircraft arrives, lurching on the grass landing strip, heaving big splashes of iridescent mud. A crowd has assembled at the side, mostly women and children. They look at us silently, while we step on board, and keep looking at us through the windows, until the propellers drag us away. It is a silent greeting, difficult to forget. The deepness of that silence covers the engine’s noise. Something of me is still there, under the infinite sky of Lake Murray.