This is Jason, the boy who lives with his uncle and aunt on the island where we work. He doesn't go to school, but is smart with a pride that I don't see in other kids. With Machete strapped to his waist, he comes by daily, checkin our work. I took this picture of Jason on Monday, when he was climbing a coconut tree to cut us down some coconuts to eat for snack. The tree is 35 feet high, and he scampered up and down with ease, no ropes, no shoes, just ease.
Monday morning, our bamboo finally showed up, so on tuesday morning, we began tying the giant poles to blue plastic barrels to begin work on the floating guard shack that will serve as a place for the men to take turns and watch over the seaweed and fishcages that we're making. They are skilled at hand work, using sticks and ropes to do the job of vices and clamps. They hack bamboo at right angles with precision, every successive slice with the machete in exactly the same cut as the first.
In and of itself, the essence of working together day by day, eating off the same banana leaves and tugging at the same bamboo poles will pay divedends for the future sustainablity of the project. Every addtional day the men work together is another day of accountability that I hope they will have for making the project last.
Here is a picture of Jason and his uncle, 'Boy' coming back from collecting tuba in an adjacent island. 
At one point, I grabbed a piece of nylon and started binding bamboo poles together, tightly wrapping the thick cord first across, then over, then across again. Edwin, the man on the left came by, smiled apologetically, and took the slack line from my hands and started the process over, making my first attempt seem amateurish. That's how it is working with the men here, everything is taught by example, I never hear repromands, just see people working, and if that work isn't sufficient, someone will come behind them, without word, and do the task over.
So far, a third of the guys have broken their flimsy sandals while working in the water on the project. Many times, when people are not working here, it is out of a pragmatic need to avoid strenuous labor that will cause them to either get hurt and need expensive medical attention, or mess up shoes or clothing that they cannot afford to replace. I'm now contacting chaco, teva, tom's, and some other manufacturers of water shoes to see if I can replace the men's shoes with footwear that's more durable. So far, no luck, but we'll see how it goes.
After they got the 4 sides of the guardhouse built, I noticed how enormous it's going to be. The men are excited to be building such a big place, and I joke with them that while they are guarding the seaweed farm, their children can come and excercise by running laps around the guardhouse platform. We jokingly discuss where the living room will be for the mammoth undertaking.
Friday night, Selena and I stayed at some friends' house nearer the airport, and got up on saturday and flew first to Manila, and then to our vacation destination for her birthday, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The city of Kuala Lumpur, often referred to as 'KL' is bustling with life from many different cultures and religions. Along the skyline, you can make out both western and eastern architectures, the KL Tower with it's muslim design, along with familiar businesses like DELL, McDonalds, KFC, and Kenny Rogers Restaurant. I've counted 8 different Starbucks locations so far.
KL Tower was made to enhance the nation's telecommunications advantage in the region, so they have a telecommunications museum that we hit up for our first destination.
We also visited this cultural center, atop a forested hill where the KL tower stands. In this place, we learned about many of the cultures that are present in this part of the world.
I even met this guy, a pakistani student, who let me wear his traditional hat, and a scarf with the pakistani design that means hospitality. He was an extremely nice guy, and teaches about pakistani culture on weekends, and goes to school at the local university for his MPA during the week.
Several times in the Mangroves in the Philippines I've seen these lizards, called Halo Halo in the Philippines. However, they're always too fast for me there, so this guy was a little slower and I was finally able to get a picture to show everybody!
No comments:
Post a Comment