Squatter Bother

[etimodnar]

Across the road from us, in the bush land, live a small community of squatters. Their numbers fluctuate frequently, there does seem to be some consistency in who lives there. And they use the water tap at the front of our house for their water source

Comments

[etimodnar]

In response to your questions: No, I haven't tried getting to know them. But James has, and hasn't experienced much success. They aren't interested in a relationship. However, as he has made efforts, so they have made efforts to get more stuff out of us. It seems the more they know us/him, the more likely they are to come take advantage of us.

The thing is, Indigenous cultural is all about sharing. There isn't ownership as we westerners know it. If a family member is earning a wage, then the whole family is entitled to it. If someone owns a house, the entire family is entitled to stay there. And I mean the entire, extended family. This is both a beautiful way to care for each other, and a horrible means of exploitation. The Indigenous staff members at school find it rather grating that their family members come around once a fortnight to collect their share of the wage to spend it at the pub, when they've been working hard to earn that money. On the other hand, I've seen other families take care of many nieces and nephews whose parents cannot. It's really fantastic that those children get a stable home.

I appreciate the sentiment and your suggestions. But unless James (as the person who's most invested in the squatters) were to go over and explicitly confront them, then offer help, I don't think they want help. And inviting them to stay with us is SOOOOO NOT ever going to happen ever!! No no no no. No. I have a gif here that'll helpfully explain how I feel about that idea

So as James gets to know these squatters better, so they feel more entitled to ask us for things, it's just the way their culture is. The only thing I've personally found effective is nipping it in the bud. No, you cannot put your meat in my freezer, maybe you should have thought about that before you decided to live in the bush instead of with your family/buy your meat in the morning instead of the late afternoon. Or maybe she could have bought the meat frozen from the freezer section so it would thaw out during the day.

[unmowngrass]

Sorry, I hadn't realised the cultural differences you were dealing with! Yeah, um, ouch? headdesk?