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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