"Junk! Junk!
No, sir, not Junk!
Junk! Junk!
No, ma'am, not Junk!
Bricabracs, brickbats
Knitting needles, Knick- knacks!
Kickshaws! Curios!
Camisoles! Cameos!
But... Junk!
Junk!
No, sir, not... Junk!"
~Excerpt from "Dandelion Wine," by Ray Bradbury
Recently, as I was reading some Bradbury, I ran across this dreamy little chant. While the story it comes from is supposed to take place in a locale that seems like late 19th or early 20th century America, it reminded me of modern day West Africa. The chant recalls the realities of a place so poor it can not afford to be wasteful. Soap bottles, and mayo jars; inter-tubes, tomato paste cans, school notebooks, and pesticide containers- all useful to a common African. Pages are torn out of school childrens' notebooks, and used by merchants as a wax paper of sorts for handling locally made cakes; while mayo jars, if collected, are valuable enough to be resold to those wishing to reuse them for homemade peanut butter, nuts and bolts, or other foods and odds and ends. Tomato paste cans become a serving place for the natives' traditional soap; while the well-loved, modern motorcycles' pierced inter-tubes are cut into long, stretchy cords, that used to strap a load of goods together for transport. We say the United States loves efficiency, and I think this is true, but I think here, in this land of people struggling to survive, and if possible develop, I experience a different type of efficiency. The people here are slow to act as if they think just any old thing is "junk," or trash. Africans would consider a Western landfill a good second hand hardware stores of sort. Here it is part of everyday life to reuse resources of many sorts, even though not all possible resources are reused.
I admire the creative reuse of resources by the people of Benin, West Africa. I believe that wealthier nations can indeed take a page or two from the books of less developed nations. I believe that traditions that come from an understanding of humankind's connection to the natural world can help us to be more efficient and conservative in our use and reuse of resources. I say this because I realize it is not just poverty that drives locals to save things, and make treasures from what Western people might call junk; no, no, it is a way of life that has been passed down through many generations of West Africans. They seem to understand that if one conserves the world's energy, then you help to conserve your own energy in the future. The idea that all things take our energy comes from a people that draw water from a well, thus understand using water recklessly will means more work tomorrow. While the Beninese are at times very wasteful in some respects, I believe that they may be able to offer part of a new, but ancient way and example on how to conserve the earth's resources. I believe that to live well in the future it'd do us good to continue to research more efficient technologies and such, but I think it'd do us well to embrace helpful traditions and ways of life that can be found in our world's large cultural heritage. Yes, I've taken a page from postmodern philosopher - there is a need to move forward as a world community, but we can not totally abandon our community's traditions.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
"Ça c'est à nous!"
Each week I spend a little time helping out at a tree nursery located about five kilometers from my home in Kalalé. Depending upon the season, you'll find two colleagues and I transplanting trees and vegetable sprouts, preparing a compost heap, tending to a small garden, pumping water into storage towers, grafting mango trees and more! But no matter the season you'll always find us talking- my colleagues laughing as I, often stunned, learn important lessons about both Beninese culture and life. Most frequently I find myself learning about the Beninese work culture, in this obviously appropriate location.
One day, as we cared for our plants, I started posing some of my quite famous questions. I asked about how much my colleagues earn through the work we are doing in the nursery. Abou, the senior technician, explained to me what benefits they recieve from the nursery. The nursery is run by an assembly, or association, that was formed eighteen years ago when a German group offered up aid to valorize a local water reserve. Using a gas-powered engine and large hoses, the nursery staff pumps water from the reserve into two concrete towers that are around maybe fifteen feet tall and a decent distance from the reserve.
Much time is spent just getting water to the nursery, cleaning the grounds, and watering the plants. Two days a week we show up, and try to cram in basic maintaince work and expand the nursery's stock. Most things take longer than an American might expect, we hardly are ever able to finish the work we set out to do.
So, Abou explains how much they earn monetarily, and I try to equate the count of work and energy put into the nursery and how much one theoretically would earn. His sum and mine aren't the same, they earn very little for their labor. I learn that they, like many Beninese people, literally have to dabble in several different types of work to make enough money for their family's to live off of, and then to provide an environment in which their family can maybe thrive.
I'm wondering, why do they do it; why do they labor here for a significant enough portion of the week for little, in a society where people do little unless there is a financial incentive?
So Abou explained it to me.
Abou's father and Moustarou's (the other colleague) father are both a part of the original assembly. Someone is needed to run the nursery, really what has become their fathers' nursery, and thus their own. Abou emphatickly states, "Ça c'est à nous;" that is to us, that is on us. Let of explain, the nursery is their own, it must be cared for. Other options of abandoning the nursery until someone comes along to care for it, or not, are unfathomable. This has become their inheritance, even if the assembly is non-profit. My colleagues motivation to work is not financial gain, but the need to retain self and familial respect. To leave the nursery is to render the work of your parents ultimately fruitless, something that a collective, tradition-bound society is VERY slow to do.
Something about the ownership of the products and well-being pleases my spirit. I think about Marx's criticism, or observation, about the effects of industrialization. Marx noted that humans became alienated from the fruits of their labor, because in modern socities the end product is not associated with the anonymous factory worker or person in an office. Often humans when feel alienated from their work in more developed locals.
With Abou's words I saw connection to his product, his co-workers, and his offsprings; Abou is far from alienated from his environment. I don't know what this implies for other lives, but for my own life it stokes my desire to remain emotionally-tied to my labor and its outcomes. Abou's life suggests to me the importance of thinking about one's actions in how they will affect the world or one's offspring seven generations from now. When we see how we are connected to a picture bigger than our own self-portrait, a self-respecting, world-respecting person may begin to choose to act and think in ways that do not always go along with "normal" cultural values. And perhaps, just maybe, one will even find some developing a greater sense of self- and world-respect.
One day, as we cared for our plants, I started posing some of my quite famous questions. I asked about how much my colleagues earn through the work we are doing in the nursery. Abou, the senior technician, explained to me what benefits they recieve from the nursery. The nursery is run by an assembly, or association, that was formed eighteen years ago when a German group offered up aid to valorize a local water reserve. Using a gas-powered engine and large hoses, the nursery staff pumps water from the reserve into two concrete towers that are around maybe fifteen feet tall and a decent distance from the reserve.
Much time is spent just getting water to the nursery, cleaning the grounds, and watering the plants. Two days a week we show up, and try to cram in basic maintaince work and expand the nursery's stock. Most things take longer than an American might expect, we hardly are ever able to finish the work we set out to do.
So, Abou explains how much they earn monetarily, and I try to equate the count of work and energy put into the nursery and how much one theoretically would earn. His sum and mine aren't the same, they earn very little for their labor. I learn that they, like many Beninese people, literally have to dabble in several different types of work to make enough money for their family's to live off of, and then to provide an environment in which their family can maybe thrive.
I'm wondering, why do they do it; why do they labor here for a significant enough portion of the week for little, in a society where people do little unless there is a financial incentive?
So Abou explained it to me.
Abou's father and Moustarou's (the other colleague) father are both a part of the original assembly. Someone is needed to run the nursery, really what has become their fathers' nursery, and thus their own. Abou emphatickly states, "Ça c'est à nous;" that is to us, that is on us. Let of explain, the nursery is their own, it must be cared for. Other options of abandoning the nursery until someone comes along to care for it, or not, are unfathomable. This has become their inheritance, even if the assembly is non-profit. My colleagues motivation to work is not financial gain, but the need to retain self and familial respect. To leave the nursery is to render the work of your parents ultimately fruitless, something that a collective, tradition-bound society is VERY slow to do.
Something about the ownership of the products and well-being pleases my spirit. I think about Marx's criticism, or observation, about the effects of industrialization. Marx noted that humans became alienated from the fruits of their labor, because in modern socities the end product is not associated with the anonymous factory worker or person in an office. Often humans when feel alienated from their work in more developed locals.
With Abou's words I saw connection to his product, his co-workers, and his offsprings; Abou is far from alienated from his environment. I don't know what this implies for other lives, but for my own life it stokes my desire to remain emotionally-tied to my labor and its outcomes. Abou's life suggests to me the importance of thinking about one's actions in how they will affect the world or one's offspring seven generations from now. When we see how we are connected to a picture bigger than our own self-portrait, a self-respecting, world-respecting person may begin to choose to act and think in ways that do not always go along with "normal" cultural values. And perhaps, just maybe, one will even find some developing a greater sense of self- and world-respect.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Change is difficult
From my xanga blog- xanga.com/jodopop
So, I have started writing on the gmail blog, but it is not the same as the long-standing relationship I have with this-here blog and those who read here. I am more honset, and comfortable here.
Anyhow, so now I am in Benin, and I am wondering what int he world did Seth want to send me, but never ended up sending? And I am wishing that I could ask him this in person, and at the same time wishing I could ask many people about there lives in person or on the phone. I want to ask how are you, who have you loved or been loved by recently? Yes, these things interest me, they help me to understand a person's true well-being.
But I am in Benin, missing people, but trying to love this place. It is true, it is difficult to love a new place, to change environment and people all so quickly as life in Peace Corps has led to. Haha resistance of change not only in the blog-life, but also the relational-life! Hmm, it is interesting!
Love you all much, keep me updated!
So, I have started writing on the gmail blog, but it is not the same as the long-standing relationship I have with this-here blog and those who read here. I am more honset, and comfortable here.
Anyhow, so now I am in Benin, and I am wondering what int he world did Seth want to send me, but never ended up sending? And I am wishing that I could ask him this in person, and at the same time wishing I could ask many people about there lives in person or on the phone. I want to ask how are you, who have you loved or been loved by recently? Yes, these things interest me, they help me to understand a person's true well-being.
But I am in Benin, missing people, but trying to love this place. It is true, it is difficult to love a new place, to change environment and people all so quickly as life in Peace Corps has led to. Haha resistance of change not only in the blog-life, but also the relational-life! Hmm, it is interesting!
Love you all much, keep me updated!
Saturday, December 6, 2008
City life
Why hello there...
It's been awhile, hasn't it! I've been living at my post. Generally I have lots of work.
This time I'm getting to go to training is actually much welcomed, because really it is like a little vacation. I'm finding I'm something of a workaholic if left to my own devices.
I'm now in the large city of Parakou. As I headed into town there was this almost fear and wonderment too that creeped up on me. I was fearful of the change from the limited development in Kalale to much more developed Porto Novo (going there tomorrrow) and I saw it'd be even harder going back to the US in a couple of years. But it is good, i go indeed enjoy the city luxuries, of good food and lots of types of bon bons! :)
The wonderment definitely came from the cities pletifulness - it is absolutely amazing. I don't know what I think about it. It's so cool, but seems unnecessary and foreign maybe? What changes have taken place in my view of material things? Am I less materialistic numerically, but more lustful or desirous towards "creature comforts?"
I guess we'll see!
I'm really loving seeing my Peace Corps friends, they're such a blessing to me. I look forward to seeing more tomorrow, but for today the 5 or so good friends that trickled in was just right numerically and in quality.
Thank God for today, and even the many random people I met and came to love today through the workstation guaardian!
It's been awhile, hasn't it! I've been living at my post. Generally I have lots of work.
This time I'm getting to go to training is actually much welcomed, because really it is like a little vacation. I'm finding I'm something of a workaholic if left to my own devices.
I'm now in the large city of Parakou. As I headed into town there was this almost fear and wonderment too that creeped up on me. I was fearful of the change from the limited development in Kalale to much more developed Porto Novo (going there tomorrrow) and I saw it'd be even harder going back to the US in a couple of years. But it is good, i go indeed enjoy the city luxuries, of good food and lots of types of bon bons! :)
The wonderment definitely came from the cities pletifulness - it is absolutely amazing. I don't know what I think about it. It's so cool, but seems unnecessary and foreign maybe? What changes have taken place in my view of material things? Am I less materialistic numerically, but more lustful or desirous towards "creature comforts?"
I guess we'll see!
I'm really loving seeing my Peace Corps friends, they're such a blessing to me. I look forward to seeing more tomorrow, but for today the 5 or so good friends that trickled in was just right numerically and in quality.
Thank God for today, and even the many random people I met and came to love today through the workstation guaardian!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Kalalé
Well, it turns out this is difficult for me to find time to keep up with! But I am headed to Kalalé, Benin to serve as a Natural Resource Advisor. I leave for post on Monday!
I will be a few hours from internet, so will not be using the internet much! but I have contact information i would like to post, and information on the type of things I would enjoy recieving in a package!
Jocylin Pierro, PCV
Corps de la Paix
B.P.: 01
Departement de Borgou
Kalalé, BENIN (West Africa)
Package instructions are in the right hand columns! Please write, I will respond! I miss you eacha good bit!
My phone number is + or 00 229- i think that is the country code, and then 97 95 12 03. You can call or text tis number anytime!
For packages things I enjoy/need:
Calander for next year
Gummy Bears
headphones, mine are messed up now
drink mixes
large bottles of hand sanitizer
stationary
magazines- old ones are good, like and miss news a lot!
Rice Crispies
Water proof watch, mine is dying :-(
Macaroni and Cheese
herbal teas, you can stick them in baggies to save space :)
Trail Mix
Socks are always good too - they said I would not need them, it turns out I do! :)
Things for cleaning dishes, like rags
Anything you think or know I like would be wonderful really! Please include a letter, that is something I would really like as well!
Send all packages in padded envelopes for security reasons.
In other news my camera is broken, not sure why. Pictures are difficult to post from here, so you may have to wait two years to see them! The camera if the most expensive needs I have. Sending one as cheap as like 130 dollars, like an aiptek would work here though! Those cost more than that here. Maybe for Christmas or my birthday (Sept 15th) someone would want to send this one! ;)
Thank you for your love! God bless you each, I will be praying for and writing you!
I will be a few hours from internet, so will not be using the internet much! but I have contact information i would like to post, and information on the type of things I would enjoy recieving in a package!
Jocylin Pierro, PCV
Corps de la Paix
B.P.: 01
Departement de Borgou
Kalalé, BENIN (West Africa)
Package instructions are in the right hand columns! Please write, I will respond! I miss you eacha good bit!
My phone number is + or 00 229- i think that is the country code, and then 97 95 12 03. You can call or text tis number anytime!
For packages things I enjoy/need:
Calander for next year
Gummy Bears
headphones, mine are messed up now
drink mixes
large bottles of hand sanitizer
stationary
magazines- old ones are good, like and miss news a lot!
Rice Crispies
Water proof watch, mine is dying :-(
Macaroni and Cheese
herbal teas, you can stick them in baggies to save space :)
Trail Mix
Socks are always good too - they said I would not need them, it turns out I do! :)
Things for cleaning dishes, like rags
Anything you think or know I like would be wonderful really! Please include a letter, that is something I would really like as well!
Send all packages in padded envelopes for security reasons.
In other news my camera is broken, not sure why. Pictures are difficult to post from here, so you may have to wait two years to see them! The camera if the most expensive needs I have. Sending one as cheap as like 130 dollars, like an aiptek would work here though! Those cost more than that here. Maybe for Christmas or my birthday (Sept 15th) someone would want to send this one! ;)
Thank you for your love! God bless you each, I will be praying for and writing you!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
guilt!
I feel guilty that I haven't wrote i this thing, but I kind fo feel like no one reads it probably! I am doing well though!
I have been having difficulty with french, because I feel so full of it! I feel like I haven't had the opportunity to let the grammar and such settle in my mind! So I look forward to time to rest at Kalalé, to have alone time there to just study and think!
Perhaps it si presumptuous o me, but I think I am going to love my post, even though I have not yet seen it! Often times people arer discouraged by post visits, and leave the Peace Corps. I think ti will have the ooposite affect for me. I look forward tos eeign what my community is like, problems and all! I think problems tend to me rather than scare me! So we shall see how things develop, but I have faith that this community is my own!
Thank you dear God for giving me a place to belong in Benin!
And how are you my friend?
It is actually nice to post on here, maybe I will do it more often while I have the time! Peace and love to you all!
I have been having difficulty with french, because I feel so full of it! I feel like I haven't had the opportunity to let the grammar and such settle in my mind! So I look forward to time to rest at Kalalé, to have alone time there to just study and think!
Perhaps it si presumptuous o me, but I think I am going to love my post, even though I have not yet seen it! Often times people arer discouraged by post visits, and leave the Peace Corps. I think ti will have the ooposite affect for me. I look forward tos eeign what my community is like, problems and all! I think problems tend to me rather than scare me! So we shall see how things develop, but I have faith that this community is my own!
Thank you dear God for giving me a place to belong in Benin!
And how are you my friend?
It is actually nice to post on here, maybe I will do it more often while I have the time! Peace and love to you all!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
A look at Beninese Beliefs
About a week ago I had an interesting conversation with one of my host Uncles. It went a little like this...
He mentioned that Jesus liked when people were equal, refering to economic status in particular. I agreed.
We went on to talk about Christianity in Benin and my personal beliefs. I mentioned I was not a big fan of a church group that mixed several religions. He was not sure if they had it so wrong though. He said that Africa began believing God was in all of nature. Then European Christianity came and said it is all about Jesus. Such an emphasis seemed to say the creation did not matter, that personal salvation was most important. He said that does not work in Africa, for we already had other beliefs. I agree and said you know I do not think God wanted nature to be destroyed thoughtlessly just because we were saved. I gave some scriptures where it says like when humans destroy the earth, the earth will come back and destroy us, scriptures that revealed how God wants us to care for the earth.
It was an intersting thing to think aboug, a sad one too. To think that some who share my faith in Christ do not mive it out in how they treat the same savior's earth. In John 3:16 it says he came to save the world; the original meaning of world in this context is all of creation, not just humans. God gave Christ for the whole world, he cares about all that has been created.
My African friends seeing the discrepancy between the behaviors of some Christians and what seems like what God would want, have turned to idols, or a pluralistic faith in search of people who live for a God of all creation. It is a bit sad for me, but so fascinating. I love these sort of conversations that challenge me and other Chrisitans to think are we really seeing and treating the world as God would, as God intended us to?
God guide your thoughts until next time! Love in Christ, Joc!
He mentioned that Jesus liked when people were equal, refering to economic status in particular. I agreed.
We went on to talk about Christianity in Benin and my personal beliefs. I mentioned I was not a big fan of a church group that mixed several religions. He was not sure if they had it so wrong though. He said that Africa began believing God was in all of nature. Then European Christianity came and said it is all about Jesus. Such an emphasis seemed to say the creation did not matter, that personal salvation was most important. He said that does not work in Africa, for we already had other beliefs. I agree and said you know I do not think God wanted nature to be destroyed thoughtlessly just because we were saved. I gave some scriptures where it says like when humans destroy the earth, the earth will come back and destroy us, scriptures that revealed how God wants us to care for the earth.
It was an intersting thing to think aboug, a sad one too. To think that some who share my faith in Christ do not mive it out in how they treat the same savior's earth. In John 3:16 it says he came to save the world; the original meaning of world in this context is all of creation, not just humans. God gave Christ for the whole world, he cares about all that has been created.
My African friends seeing the discrepancy between the behaviors of some Christians and what seems like what God would want, have turned to idols, or a pluralistic faith in search of people who live for a God of all creation. It is a bit sad for me, but so fascinating. I love these sort of conversations that challenge me and other Chrisitans to think are we really seeing and treating the world as God would, as God intended us to?
God guide your thoughts until next time! Love in Christ, Joc!
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