I've just come back from the field... an unusually intense experience. For the first time I was in control... well administratively anyway
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This sounds very similar to stories my mum tells of her youth, though they weren't living in quite so much poverty.
She tells of how you had to plan your cooking time around how hot the coals would be at different stages, so that you used every bit of heat they gave. Quick communication meant running to the post office, and you only sent a telegram if someone died. They filled their mattresses with food they needed to store, like sugar before a wedding. They pulled water from the well each morning (if it wasn't dry) or fetched some from further afield (if it was). They'd dig a new hole for next year's lavetory. My mum used to clear out the goat's pen, because she was the youngest girl. They'd feed it fruit peelings and stuff, so that they didn't have much rubbish to get rid of.
And yet, there stand the very next generation with almost as much as we have at their fingertips. TV, computer with internet, phoneline, electricity (that, these days, even works in the afternoons!), water pumped into a tank by a motor each morning, gas stove, they don't grind their own flour or churn their own butter. They can buy pretty much anything we can - toiletries, convienience food, disposable nappies...
Have they changed so much? Not really. Despite the rapid changes in so many areas of their lives, esentially they are the same. They still strive towards self-sufficiency. The fact that they can buy pre-processed goods means they can achieve greater things with their efforts. It's never about making a job easier, only about making the results of the the same day's labour more impressive. They still have a bartering mentality that means they know exactly who made what and where things came from and how. They may like modern fashions, but the person who sews the clothes for them is still a local person they can go and talk to. They buy food at the market, but it's more like a farmer's market than a supermarket.
A village like that, it takes dramatic changes in it's stride without changing the essence of the community. No one in Pachora would go back to how things were before, but that's because they picked and chose what to take out of the advancement of the Western world and the big cities. They have the benefit of seeing the whole picture in a way that we couldn't when we were making these changes. And, given the opportunity to take up the lifestyle, they will take what suits them best, not what you choose to give to them. So you'll be surprised at how they manage to keep the self-sufficiency and being accountable to no one else. They probably won't want to go back, like you do, to that freedom, because they get to choose to move onward with their eyes far more open than us about the possible consequences.
Hmmmm very interesting, I didn't know your mother came from such a background... As much as they have more choice about what to pick and choose, I still feel that the reality of those decisions often entails unexpected consequences, mobile phones coming with 12 year contracts meaning you NEED to have the mony in the bank at the end of the month. As it is, these people don't have the money to have soap, let alone monthly payments. And for the pre-processed food, this is a perfect example of a time-saving product that allows them to do more in a day. But, as with us, disrupt that supply and you'll really the dependency and accountability. If for example Tescos etc all stopped providing us food, we'd all be screwed wouldn't we. This is the freedom I'm talking about. I totally see why everybody would want it, but then we have to acknowledge how potentially exposed it leaves us.
Such development also depends on the government. Over here everything is highly centalised into public hands and as a result development and service advances at a snail's pace! China is developing the phone networks, and its about as healthy as their choc bars and children's toys, it works once in 5 times if you're lucky. Power is intermittent (because they selll it to Sudan) and right now we only have a trickle of water through the municipal supply. And this is in a major city! For the rural folk who see precious little money and work generally in susbsitence farming, I think the next generations will be stuck in the mud unless something changes politically but there's no sign of that at the moment. Often to make ends meet they work in the government Safety Net program that pays them in kind for work.
She tells of how you had to plan your cooking time around how hot the coals would be at different stages, so that you used every bit of heat they gave. Quick communication meant running to the post office, and you only sent a telegram if someone died. They filled their mattresses with food they needed to store, like sugar before a wedding. They pulled water from the well each morning (if it wasn't dry) or fetched some from further afield (if it was). They'd dig a new hole for next year's lavetory. My mum used to clear out the goat's pen, because she was the youngest girl. They'd feed it fruit peelings and stuff, so that they didn't have much rubbish to get rid of.
And yet, there stand the very next generation with almost as much as we have at their fingertips. TV, computer with internet, phoneline, electricity (that, these days, even works in the afternoons!), water pumped into a tank by a motor each morning, gas stove, they don't grind their own flour or churn their own butter. They can buy pretty much anything we can - toiletries, convienience food, disposable nappies...
Have they changed so much? Not really. Despite the rapid changes in so many areas of their lives, esentially they are the same. They still strive towards self-sufficiency. The fact that they can buy pre-processed goods means they can achieve greater things with their efforts. It's never about making a job easier, only about making the results of the the same day's labour more impressive. They still have a bartering mentality that means they know exactly who made what and where things came from and how. They may like modern fashions, but the person who sews the clothes for them is still a local person they can go and talk to. They buy food at the market, but it's more like a farmer's market than a supermarket.
A village like that, it takes dramatic changes in it's stride without changing the essence of the community. No one in Pachora would go back to how things were before, but that's because they picked and chose what to take out of the advancement of the Western world and the big cities. They have the benefit of seeing the whole picture in a way that we couldn't when we were making these changes. And, given the opportunity to take up the lifestyle, they will take what suits them best, not what you choose to give to them. So you'll be surprised at how they manage to keep the self-sufficiency and being accountable to no one else. They probably won't want to go back, like you do, to that freedom, because they get to choose to move onward with their eyes far more open than us about the possible consequences.
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Such development also depends on the government. Over here everything is highly centalised into public hands and as a result development and service advances at a snail's pace! China is developing the phone networks, and its about as healthy as their choc bars and children's toys, it works once in 5 times if you're lucky. Power is intermittent (because they selll it to Sudan) and right now we only have a trickle of water through the municipal supply. And this is in a major city! For the rural folk who see precious little money and work generally in susbsitence farming, I think the next generations will be stuck in the mud unless something changes politically but there's no sign of that at the moment. Often to make ends meet they work in the government Safety Net program that pays them in kind for work.
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