Banana flowers, ferns, and kerosene lamps

Here I am in the deep dark center of southeast Asia! Well, it really IS dark. This town, along with many others, is experiencing rotating brownouts. It seems that nation wide the government owned power company is having trouble keeping its act together. The brownouts are daily and anywhere from 6-20 hours long at all kinds of different times but most likely during peak hours.

So what do you do when you are stuck all evening in a guesthouse in a town you don’t know with only a candle and a kerosene lamp for light - and your computer battery is already dead? Why you sit and talk with the night watchman/janitor, what else?!

Since he couldn’t do his job either being as how he couldn’t see to sweep the floors or clean he shared a bit of how he copes with life here. The rise in oil prices has prompted changes even in this remote area. The government has been trying to wean the people off of kerosene because kerosene is cheap while some other kind of fuel (aviation?) fuel, which is made from kerosene is expensive. If kerosene use can be decreased, there will be more available to make the other kind of fuel. So people are being encourage to use gas (LPG). Anyway, July was telling me that his wife still uses kerosene for cooking, since LPG is exensive and often difficult to find here. But now they are limited to 10 liters of kerosene a month. They have to show their family ID card to get a coupon and can only get it in the district in which they reside. So he gathers firewood to supplement the family’s kerosene ration. They boil their drinking water on a wood fire as well as anything else that takes a long time.

We talked about food. He said he raises his own chickens and a couple of pigs. He said a lot of people are now feeding special growth formula to chickens so that they mature fast and can be sold at an early age. He didn’t think that was a good thing so he avoids buying chicken at the market unless it’s live and he knows it was free range. He was suprised to hear that in the third of my worlds people buy special growth feed for their piglets. He didn’t know of anybody around here using that stuff though he had once heard that it existed. He said some people buy chicken guts in bulk at the market for their pigs because apparently the leftover chemicals in the chicken tissue stimulates growth in the pigs too.

He talked about how a lot of people spray pesticides on the “sweet” vegetables (I guess things like green beans, carrots, etc. that you have to plant) just before picking them to sell even though the instructions plainly say you must wait several days before it is safe to pick, much less eat. He said he won’t buy or eat it. They grow stuff in their yard and he described many of the traditional edible leaves and plants that grow by themselves or can be had for free. One of his favorites is banana flowers, another is ferns that grow wild near his house. He said the river used to be full of fish but some people nowdays use fish-stunning chemicals so they can make bigger catches and so the fish population isn’t like it used to be. He said that 20 years ago you could easily have ½-1 kilo of fish with only about 10 minutes of fishing. But now it can take hours. He doesn’t like spending that kind of time so he prefers to “fish” at the market.

We talked about formalin and how it is being used with wild abandon as an all-purpose food preserver. In addition to fresh noodles, soybean curd, and ocean fish, he said even people selling wild pig meat they hunt in the forest are starting to use it.

From there we discussed the recent fuel crisis and on and on. By ten I decided to go wear out a flashlight and try to get at least a little paper work done. The lights came on after 11pm just as I was nodding off over the papers, but by then I was too sleepy to finish...

Thousands of people will die

What is faster than a speeding bullet?
The grapevine.
What is faster than the grapevine?
Rumors on the internet.

A few days ago a friend sent me the following email:

July 18, 2008 – [Country X] will get 8.1 earthquake, thousands of people will die. PLS. LET US BE ALERT AND
MARK THIS DATE JULY 18, 2008, FRIDAY. LET'S BE PREPARED, AND LET US ALL PRAY THAT THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN TO US.
IF POSSIBLE: PLS. DON'T GO TO WORK ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH OFFICE LOCATED IN HIGH PLACES, BUILDINGS, CONDOS AND MALLS.
NOTHING TO LOSE IN THIS KIND OF REMINDER. MAYBE, THIS IS GOD'S WAY TO SAVE YOU, YOUR FAMILY , YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR OFFICEMATES OR LESSEN CASUALTIES. LET'S ALL PRAY AND MARK THIS DATE.
PLS. FORWARD TO ALL YOUR CONTACT LIST TO WARN YOUR RELATIVES, FRIENDS AND YOUR LOVED ONES AND ALL PEOPLE LIVING IN [COUNTRY X]
.
AGAIN: REMEMBER JULY 18, 2008 – HAVE AN ALARM ON THIS DATE.

IF YOU WANT TO READ MORE….

This was followed by a long story of a Brazilian mystic called Mr. Juseleeno Nobulega DaRoose , and a list of major catastrophes he predicts over the next 10 years. There was also a list of all sorts of major world events he supposedly predicted with great accuracy. It said he had been a Nobel Peace Prize winner so I did a web search figuring if that was true then surely he’d be on the web. All I found were dozens and dozens of Chinese and other Asian language blog pages with the same story – only highlighting whatever “prophecies” applied to their particular country. Eventually I discovered the name had been mangled but that there is indeed a Brazilian mystic called Jucelino Nóbrega da Luz who makes his living predicting catasrophes around the globe, some of which happen, some of which don’t. (I mean, how likely is it that there will be earthquakes in countries in the earthquake zone? And how likely is it that volcanoes will erupt along the Ring of Fire?)

The interesting thing is that this story has now spread all over the place and gets worse all the time. The 8.1 earthquake of a few days ago was 10.1 yesterday and today my helper overheard her neighbors talking aboutthe coming 10.5 earthquake. The internet rumor has moved to the text world, and text rumors spread even faster than internet rumors. Everyday we hear of more and more people discussing this earthquake and praying that it won’t happen. Taxi drivers, shop keepers, fellow passengers, neighbors, church mates. I expect by next week there will be special prayer meetings called all over the city. (And who knows how strong the earthquake will be next week???)

Dealing with beggars

In many parts of the world begging still flourishes. There are many assumptions about begging and its causes. Those who come from places where begging is unknown often are horrified by beggars. They assume that no one would be begging unless they were absolutely destitute. But over the course of time I have become aware of the fact that there are many reasons people beg.

Many years ago I lived in a large city in the second of my worlds. There weren’t many beggars back then but those who were around tended to be of two sorts: lepers and the mentally disturbed. The lepers were agressive beggars and I suppose the thought of being touched by them motivated many a reluctant giver! They had their established begging spots – outside the post office and outside of mosques and churches when services were held. They would be brought to the sites by car and picked up at the end of the day. The government actually provided housing, stipend and medical care for them but this was a way of getting extra. Many people did give, after all charity is a good religious duty, but others told me they refused to give because they said the guys just used it for gambling. Others said they were part of a syndicate and most of what they collected went to their bosses. Others saw giving as a way to show God they were grateful it wasn’t them who had leprosy. As for the mentally disturbed, many people out of pity would feed them and give them clothing. In smaller communities and face to face neighborhoods people know who is in need and why, and they deal with them appropriately. But in large cities begging can be done more anonymously.

In recent years, however, the numbers of beggars in that city has increased substantially and a large number are children. Nothing is more heart-rending than a grimy little kid out there begging. Those from places where begging is unknown are undone at the sight and would probably be apalled at what that city is doing about the begging problem. Starting in December, it will be a crime to give to beggars. That’s right. If you are caught giving to a beggar you face up to 3 months in jail or a fine of about $166. If someone, even a child, is caught begging he faces fines of up to $500 (ha, ha, ha) or up to three years in jail.


Now you may think that is harsh. But according to the local government, most of those children are being used and exploited by adults in syndicates who use them to raise money as a business, a begging business. A few are street kids who prefer the freedom of living on the streets to living at home, going to school, etc. Children are at extremely high risk of abuse in these situations, in fact you can probably assume that they will be abused. The mayor’s office says that people are welcome to help street kids but that cash should be given to the social organizations which have been set up to help them rather than giving directly to the beggars themselves.

Honestly

Today I flagged down a taxi and when I went to get in I saw something on the back seat that perhaps a previous passenger had left. I pointed it out to the driver and he turned around and picked it up and opened it. It looked like a large fancy scientific calculator that some student had left. I got in and he asked if it was okay to go back to where he had let his last passenger off. It was only about a block away – though to get there we had to drive across a field to where a paved sidewalk too small for a car goes on up the hill into a crowded low cost boarding house area. Three young guys were sitting on a nearby porch talking. I heard the driver ask them about a person in a green shirt and they grunted and pointed up the hill (where cars cannot go) and one of them came down and got the calculator.

We took off and the driver said he often finds things people leave behind even cellphones. He said he always returns them because there’s One who knows, and he pointed to the sky. It was very heartening to see an ordinary citizen going out of his way to return a lost item. (And he didn’t turn the meter on until he was back on the main road where I had flagged him down!)

A friend was telling me about her niece who works at a gas station. She recently got a very nice cellphone for about 1/4th of the cost of a used phone from a taxi driver who regularly fills up at that station. He apparently often finds cell phones left behind in his taxi. Instead of bothering to try to return them he just sells them cheap to the gas station employees. He has even found nice camera phones. He has found as many as four in the course of one week. Whenever he shows up to fill up with gas, the employees come running to see if he has any new cellphones for sale.

What a world.

When life gives you floods go swimming

It seems we are getting lots of experience these days with utility failures. Yesterday afternoon I returned home in another torrential downpour. This time I had taken my flip flops along so I wore them home in the rain. That way I could wade in the water and not ruin my shoes. Nothing was deeper than mid-calf and I was able to find a taxi waiting on the other side of the worst part. The driver complained all the way about all the flooding and traffic. I tried to cheer him up by reminding him how much worse the capital city would be and he did indeed brighten considerably thinking about that!

When I arived home there was no electricity. Apparently a coconut tree had fallen and snapped some wires near our place. Like I said yesterday, falling trees is one of the common results of too much rain. Anyway I tried to light our old kerosene lamp but realized in time that it now leaks. So I decided to light candles instead and then stumbled around trying to get things put away.

The power eventually came back on, but this morning the telephone doesn’t work, nor the internet. I called a friend on my cellphone so they are going to call the phone company for me and report it.

Meanwhile the poor garden is a mess of smashed plants and flower pots but the huge limb that fell has been mostly cleared out and it turns out it didn’t damage the roof or the wall it was balanced on. Even though it’s disheartening to look at the mess in the garden, it’s probably good in the long run. Now it will have more sunshine. Almost everything will have to be cut back which will allow for new growth. Some things will have to be replanted and some replaced. A lot of plants around here can be propagated by trimming the stem of a broken-off piece and replanting it. So you can end up with more than you started with.

Maybe in the same way all the storms and hassles of life, the big and the little can bring some good to us too. I like the attitude of these kids: When life gives you floods go swimming! -->

* Pictures swiped from local paper.

The trees are falling

This afternoon I was jerked to attention by a loud, drawn-out, tearing, rumbling crash and an earth-shaking thud. After peeking out the window and seeing nothing obvious I ran to the door to see what on earth had happened. Apparently an ancient moss covered mango tree in the lot next to our building had fallen. It must have been cut down on purpose though I don't recall hearing chopping.

An hour later a tremendous downpour started up with thunder and even wind. Soon there was another drawn-out tearing crash. But this time it was in our back yard and it was NOT on purpose!

A HUGE chunk of our tropical almond tree had broken off and rebounded off the concrete wall and broken into more pieces. Big branches are suspended on our wire clotheslines, others are balanced on the concrete wall and extending over to the the neighbor's roof and some small ones even up on the the second floor roof. But what a perfect fall! It couldn't have fallen better if somebody had tried! The biggest part fell vertically right next to the base of the trunk. (I couldn't get back there to take a picture cuz of the rain - plus there's a lot more of the tree still standing!) The weight of the branch on the neighbor's roof is resting mostly on the concrete wall - not on the roof.

We've been asking to have the tree cut back for a couple of years. But I doubt they would have cut it as well as this! Since it is still raining and almost sunset we'll have to wait until tomorrow to start cleaning up the mess.

This is another sort of thing that happens when the ITCZ meets up with the Tropical Wave.

When the ITCZ meets the Tropical Wave

One of the things I miss living in the second and third of my worlds is the Weather Channel. Of course weather around here is pretty predicatable, at least temperatures stay within a narrow range and precipitation is of one kind only. After all this time I was excited to have found a scientific explanation for what local weather we do have. Sort of. Weather here seems to be driven by two main things: the Intertropical convergence zone and Tropical waves.

The Intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is basically a band of clouds and thunderstorms that circles the globe near the equator. It is where the trade winds of the Northern and Southern hemispheres meet. It moves north and south with the seasons. (Red represents July, blue January, though obviously not this year!)

Tropical waves are the bottom edges of elongated high pressure ridges that move across the oceans from east to west. The bottom edges get kind of ragged and unstable and tend to produce a lot of rain and it is thought that they can also be instrumental in producing hurricanes and typhoons.

So what happens when a Tropical Wave meets up with the ITCZ? Well, I think we are finding out! We had a lot of rain last week and I once again realized the disadvantages of small umbrellas. The heavy rain continues this week. The other night it poured all night long after having poured all evening. There was flooding in many parts of the city, which isn't unusual but this time they even cancelled school in some areas! Our new neighbor found out what we meant by the flooding garage under his place. Thankfully his little sedan still started this morning.

More on rice crisis

According to the local paper the Secretary of Tourism said :

...the issue is not the shortage of supply but the unexplained steep increase in the prices of commercial rice. The prices of rice increased by as much as [36 cents] in some parts of [the area] in a span of two weeks from [$0.77 - $1.14] amidst assurance from government agencies that there is more than ample supply to last the lean months of July to September. "It is the speculation in the prices of rice that is driving its prices up, it is the same thing with oil," he said. "The government is very suspicious on the reason behind the increase of the prices of rice," he added.

Yeah, so are we.

Rice Crisis

Apparently all the talk about a rice crisis has produced one, at least locally. In the last week the already high pice of rice increased another 25%. Yesterday at the market the best rice was selling for $1.15/kilo, up from about $0.95 last week. The price of the government subsidized rice was selling for $0.41- 0.72/kilo. This government rice is a mix of various kinds of old stock, so the cheaper stuff is old and tends to be yellowed, broken, and dirty. It is also likely to have a high mold content. In the last few days there have been huge lines of people waiting to buy up to the daily limit of 2 kilos.

This is incredibly high for poorer families, especially when the minimum wage for a full time “official” laborer is $3.18 per day. That is, if he is a full time “official” worker working for a larger company. A great number of people earn less than that because they are considered “temporary” or they work on a comission or they work for a smaller business. This comes at a time when people are also scrambling for extra money to buy school supplies and uniforms. One 15 year old who was going to finally get the opportunity to start high school this year – most kids start at age 12 - was just told by her mom that she may have to get a job instead to try to help the family instead of going to school. Yes, legally 15 year olds can’t work. But the reality is that they can and do. They are hired for extremely low wages as house helpers, they help in home-based eateries, and in the back rooms of other small businesses.

It is not only rice. The price of gasoline has been going up and recently resulted in higher fares for public transportation. It also results in higher prices for everything else. Already the shops and markets seem a bit quieter as people are using more of their money for rice and transportation and less for other stuff.

Yesterday we found out in the news that the unusally high prices of rice are only in this region of the country. The city council had an emergency meeting and decided to check out rumors of rice hoarding. Officials have reportedly begun checking out local rice sellers and large millers. It is a crime to hoard rice in this city. The city council has also asked that more government subsidized rice be allotted to this area. They also asked the public to leave the subsidized rice for the poor. (Yeah, like other people aren’t also feeling the pinch.) They also talked about trying to increase rice production in the area.

We shall see. If the price doesn’t come down soon we may end up with major problems here. The poor simply cannot afford it.

Dripping

It’s that time of year when the humidity gets so high it just falls out of the sky as rain. Last month I was attending an evening funeral service. It was outdoors and the sun had already set but it was still incredibly hot. Everybody was wet with perspiration just sitting there doing nothing. Suddenly in the middle of the service it seemed that the air saturation hit 100% and condensed into rain. It was like the sky just suddenly dropped all its moisture in the form of an exceedingly hard downpour. No thunder, no lightening, no wind, no warning. Wham! And soon it was over.

The same thing has been happening here this week. Last night for example, I was standing outside watching the cat eat. Doing nothing. Just standing there. Perspiration was just welling up and running in rivers down my face, neck, arms, back, everywhere. Not too long afterwards the sky opened up and dumped an incredibly torrential downpour. Again, no thunder, no lightning, no wind, no sprinkling, no warning. Wham! It didn’t last more than 10-15 minutes but it was an incredible amount of water.

I sometimes wonder what would happen if you bathed in an antiperspirant? Would your body blow like a volcano because the sweat couldn’t come out??? It sure would be interesting to try it and see. Maybe one of these days I will – some time when I am sure the water won’t go off in case I need an emergency bath!

And that brings up another thing. Days like these do make me wonder about this common sports drink sold around Asia, like, uh, exactly what is in it????? Is this even appetizing???? Maybe you enjoy it better if you don't speak English????