I get so caught up in my work that this blog tends to be an escape from responsibility. So I am not allowing the reader to think that Peace Corps isn’t accomplishing the services it espouses, I will give a briefing on my projects.
In training Peace Corps put a lot of emphasis on behavior change, but even if people changed their behaviors here, there would not be the infrastructure to support it. I would love to have everybody disposing of trash properly but the fact is, there is no one to carry it down the mountain – so they throw it in sinkholes. Not because they don’t know that they are watersheds for the rest of the island, but because actually, they are clean people. They don’t want to look at waste strune about the place, so they throw it in a sinkhole where they and no one else will have to look at it. You think that would motivate Solid Waste Management to come pick up the trash because it is really their problem – I mean – they are the ones drinking the water that drains though all that trash.
We should be getting 15 steel drums from Appleton to use as trash receptacles. My plan is to hold a trash can painting competition in the town, so people will take more pride and ownership in them. Maybe they won’t burn trash in them, or steal them to use as water catchments or roofing – like they did the last batch of drums.
I have tried teaching guitar in the school, but there is only one guitar and to make matters worse, the principle hand picked the students – (all of whom have no desire to learn the guitar). It didn’t take long before they just quit showing up. Who would want to stay after school against their will anyway?
One can waste a lot of time trying to teach people that don’t want to be taught. When you meet somebody who’s ready to learn then it can make all the difference. One evening, on the road I past by Dowdy’s shop to get a beer. Dowdy is one of those guys that you find all over Jamaica who work ridiculously hard at hustling money. One day they’ll be a taxi driver, the next day a welder, and then you see them on the side of the road selling shoes, pots n’ pans or those wonderful synthetic flowers that every Jamaican adorns their home with. They live on one of the most bio-diverse rocks in the world that contains countless varieties of beautiful flowers, yet they prefer the plastic ones. And I don’t mean one or two. There is not a mantle to dresser top that does not host one next species of plastic plant.
Anyway, so one night I am drinking a beer over at Dowdy’s and the man is just sitting there smoking a spliff when he turns to me and complains “Zeb…Di moneh not a run mon.” To any hard working American this makes stunning sense coming from a man who is doing nothing. Well, all I did was suggest that in his “spare” time when he had his hands free, he could be doing something – making something – Like…I don’t know – like a spoon. The next day I saw Dowdy, and he had already completed one spoon and started another. By the end of the week he had three spoons. To make things even better, he sold all three the next week. And on top of that, some guy in Maggotty saw him making a spoon and commissioned one big spoon from him. He must have made 5,500 Jay those two weeks – (7,000 = 100 USD) Its is always nice to see the power of a simple suggestion.
Now when someone starts to turn profit in Maroon Town it doesn’t go unnoticed. It didn’t take much time before a couple of others stated with the carving as well. You could see the smiles on their faces as they sat there carving – with those big, cartoon dollar signs in their eyes. I am not joking – this is a true story. They really did have those big cartoon dollar signs in their eyes. So far it seems like a capacity builder’s dream come true, and I wish I could say that they are all still sitting there working, but then this wouldn’t be a true story. It didn’t take long before Dowdy realized that he was pretty lucky so far – that there was not going to be a buyer ready every time his work was done. So the next time I saw him carving he commented that I need to start selling his work for him. Fatah, one of the other carvers, came to me trying to sell his work. I just told them not to worry – they’ll sell. There’s not going to be a buyer ready every time they complete just one piece. I told them, “you have to build an inventory.”
Inventory?
Yes, that term capitalists made up that defined our culture of surplus. Or the other way around – whatever. Either way, that big dollar sign in their eyes immediately changed into a question mark. They didn’t know that I was talking about. I explained in the most clear, respectful manner possible, but whatever I could tell them would not please them. Quick money is the way this place runs. How could they really grasp “inventory” coming from a culture that demands to be paid before they start work. So, I have enjoyed the little success they made, and the hope it gave them – It is just another example of why money doesn’t “run” here in Maroon Town. It’s actually more like a big fat girl sprinting the 100 yard dash – stopping about every 5 yards to regain stamina and motivation. There is this big cake waiting for her at the finish line, but she knows that when she gets there somebody will have already eaten it.
