Amina was a botanist. Three years before, a drought had nearly killed the old seeds of her village, Tamba. The grandmothers saved a few handfuls in clay jars.
Now Amina carried a small box of those seeds: red beans, millet and a small hot pepper. The box was going to a vault inside a frozen mountain in the Arctic, where seeds from all over the world are kept safe. The journey took four days, by boat, bus, plane and van.
A guard in a thick coat wrote "Tamba: beans, millet, pepper" in a book and took the box in both hands. Amina walked down the cold, quiet tunnel between shelves of silver boxes. She felt small and hopeful.
On the plane home she thought, "If something happens, the beans of Tamba will grow again."
