Saturday, December 7, 2013

It’s the Little Things

This is our drying rack/sink made
out of bamboo and a bucket
As mentioned earlier there is a huge issue with garbage. Therefore as a group we are constantly attempting to be as inventive and creative as possible in order to reuse material. For example, if you were to walk around our house you would see that our flower pot is in fact a plastic water bottle, that our bathroom curtains are maid out of a potato sack, and that our “sink” is made out of a bucket.

            My favorite thing, however, is that I have learned how crochet using plastic bags. There is a special way to cut the bag in order to turn it into a long thin piece as if it were string. When crocheted together you can create bowls, bags, wallets, baskets, etc. Nevertheless, ever since I have learned I can’t stop. I find myself picking up plastic bags on the side of the road, organizing them by color, and spending all my free time crocheting plastic bags into a variety of things. And I’m not going to lie, I’ve gotten pretty good!
            While crocheting all around the village many women and children have stopped to watch. Many people are shocked and very impressed. I decided one day to sit with one of the girls who had been following me around and show her how I was doing it. Immediately I was surrounded by children all curious and wanting to learn as well. I was so excited by the interest and decided that I wanted to organize an official class. I asked all the children who wanted to learn to meet me the following day at 4:00 and to bring a plastic bag and pair of scissors.
            Based on previous stories other volunteers have told me in regards to organizing people I was not expecting a very large turn out. Nevertheless at 4:00 the next day I walked up to the tap and waited for my participants. To my surprise I saw 7 girls walking down to meet me, all with plastic in their hands! I spent one hour teaching them how to cut the plastic and how to start. It was  very hard because only a few people understand English so it involved a lot of repetition and hand gesturing in order for each participant to understand. When it started to get dark I told them that it was time to go and told them that if they were interested in continuing to learn to meet me in three days at the time and same place.
       
While I was really surprised by the initial turn out I expected that the second meeting would not be as successful because of the significant gap between lessons. However regardless I realized that I would need to have crochet needles for everyone because as of that point we only had mine and there were clearly to many people to share just one crochet needle. When I went home I explained the problem to my roommates who helped me come up with the idea to make needles out of bamboo! For the next two days worked endlessly making crochet needles out of bamboo sticks, which actually work quite well!! By the end I had make 27! When the day came to meet the girls I was once again surprised with everyone’s arrival plus additional participants!  At the end of the class I was able to give each girl her own stick in order to practice at home.
Over the next week I met with the girls 2 more times, however I was still unsure of whether everyone was understanding the different concepts. While I kept asking everyone to bring to me what they had made at home, everyone kept throwing theirs away because of the mistakes. However yesterday I passed by one the girls and she called me over. She asked if I wanted to see what she has made and I said “of course!” The young girl reached into her bag and pulled out a little basket!! I was shocked! This whole time I was very unsure of my teaching abilities and whether anyone of the girls were catching on and learning, or whether they just liked having something to do after to school regardless of their progress. However this confirmed that they not only were learning but also practicing and getting better.

While life in the village is slow and at many times it’s hard to see the effect we can have here, it’s clear that if you put in the time it’s 100% worth it. More importantly, it’s the little things in life that count.

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