Somewhere in between the lines of National Geographic and travel documentaries and history novels, I'd gleaned the idea that those with little take care of what they do have. I have this image of Okies mending old clothes and impoverished children cherishing their one toy. Maybe this assumption generally holds true, but I am constantly shocked by how much this area seems to deviate.
Outside of where I live, I can't say that I know many people living in poverty. I can say that I tell people to take care of their stuff all the time. The wind blows a piece of clothing off the line. It stays in the mud, then becomes a rag in the home. Trash collects outside people's homes. People let water coming from their roofs stagnant below instead of digging proper drainage. My attempts at landscaping have pretty much failed from kids trampling the flowers instead of using my gravel pathway. I taught the kids how to make bracelets. Everyone had lost theirs within a few days. I take hotel soap from David to give to community members. Though you can use the soap several times, they're usually single use because they'll leave the soap on the rocks in the river or simply let it float downriver. Last year, the government gave out a pair of Crocs to every kid in my school (and plenty of adults were seen sporting their new foot ware). Within a month, almost no one had their pair of baby blue Crocs (I know! and they were real Crocs). This year they gave out backpacks the middle of March. Here we are in the middle of April and many kids backpacks are torn they they had been a dog's chew toy for the past month. The list goes on and on.
So this begs a basic question. Why??? Why is the "rich" gringo the one mending his clothes, wearing the same bracelets he made at the beginning of service, using his soap until it runs out, digging drainage, picking up other's trash they leave in his yard? (I should point that there are a rare few who landscape, have gravel paths, etc. so it's not like I'm full of new-fangled Western ideas). If you don't have the money for a shirt, why do you let the one you do have go to $#!@?
This is a question that has confounded me for a long time. Perhaps it has something to do with the weather. The sun is intense, as is the rain. Things quickly return to the earth. Maybe that creates a sense of futility. Maybe it's that "stuff" is a relatively new idea. The idea of maintaining for the future is equally as new. These ideas of planning and investing for the future are still being woven into the cultural fabric. Maybe it's a sense of helplessness, that they just go with the flow because it's not in their power to change the way things are.
The truth is, I have no idea. It's all conjecture. It's also incredibly frustrating. But I guess that comes with the territory. I'm on the ground floor planting little thought seeds in the hopes that, long after I'm gone, the clothes will be picked up and put back on the line.
