Manual Labor
I do not have a background in manual labor. I was not raised in a world where it was necessary, and I certainly never pursued it during my years of academic study. But here I have discovered deep value in seemingly simple tasks.
Physically, manual labor is draining. At the end of a day spent shoveling dirt or machete-ing a field, I collapse in my hammock with barely enough energy to get up and cook dinner. I try to listen to the news on the radio but my mind zones out, too tired to concentrate. I try to read and stay up until a respectable hour, but I’ve fallen asleep as early as 7:00pm. Physical exhaustion, however, is a very satisfying form of being tired. While working, endorphins kick in and I feel good about what I’m doing. I push myself and have seen personal progress as I clearly grow stronger. Mentally, the visible results of a solid day’s work are both gratifying and humbling. Later as I struggle to keep my eyes open, I smile thinking about whatever my hard work and sweat helped accomplish that day. I also wonder at how
the skills with which community members use simple tools and resources never
cease to impress me. I continually try
to learn from them to improve my own beginner’s techniques.
 |
| 3 work days = 5 raised beds |
 |
| 3 longer work days with more workers = a big fish tank |
Socially, manual labor is unimaginably important for my integration into the community and for the effectiveness of my bigger-picture work here. The guys sometimes laugh when I show up to help chopear a field with my shorter-than-average machete (I call it my machechito) and laugh more when I get on my knees to avoid hunching over so much due to my tallness as I work. But I laugh too and keep at it. As we work, we talk and joke and bond. Sometimes I stay quiet listening to the local gossip.
Did you hear Ceferino doesn’t want to work as president of the water committee anymore?
Or that Petra’s mom is sick, but thankfully the medical tour is coming this Thursday?
Oh and Melquiades never comes through on his PTA obligations, so someone needs to talk to him.
Sometimes I jump in and share my experience and opinion on whatever the topic. I’ve had to be careful to not sound too radical but stay true to my values when topics arise like birth control, homosexuality, religion, alcohol, etc.
People are always surprised that I only have one sister.
- “It’s more common in the US to have smaller families.”
- “But how do they stop having babies? Do all the women get operations?”
- “Some. Or the men can have minor procedures too. But other forms of birth control are more common. People use condoms and many women take pills.”
- “Oh yeah, I think I’ve heard of that.”
One grandmother recently confessed with embarrassment that a grandchild as old as six hadn’t been baptized yet.
- “Oh, well I’ve actually never been baptized.”
- “You haven’t?! They don’t do that in your country?”
- “Some people in my country do, sure, but not everyone. My family doesn’t.”
- “And you live like normal that way? Tranquila?”
- “Yep. Tranquila.”
 |
| Tamale-making is a great time for some gossip |
Aside from staying in the community loop and exchanging cultural differences, the benefits of manual labor continue. People here know that I care about the community and all its aspects, because I literally show that I do. No matter what the specific cause, if there is a community work day, and I can go, I go. I spend days cleaning gutters, constructing classrooms, cooking tamales, and mixing concrete. There is no question that I care about the progress of El Harino, and that I’m here to help. The best feeling is when I’ve heard community members explaining to outside visitors: “Oh that’s our Peace Corps Volunteer. She helps with everything.”
 |
| New 7th grade classroom |
 |
| Off to work on road and path maintenance |
And when it comes to the sustainable agriculture work that I am here to do, separating manual labor out would be impossible. Yes, the fish tanks, vegetable garden beds, and compost piles need to be owned in every sense of the word by community members. But what kind of message would it send if I gave talks on the benefits of these projects, but was unwilling to work on them myself? No way. I show them that if I can do it, they can do it, and if they want my help getting these started, I am more than happy to get my hands dirty with tasks as glamorous as shoveling horse poop and beyond. We work side by side under the hot sun (or pouring rain), we talk about community matters and the world outside, and we see the physical fruits of our labor, as we work toward the betterment of a beautiful community. At the end of the day, I collapse in my hammock, exhausted and happy and ready to do it again tomorrow.
 |
| Mixing compost full of horse and cow manure, leaves, ash, food scraps, etc. |
Garden Superstition
I already knew we had some problems with our school garden
project, run by a government agency. In
theory, fruits and veggies from this garden should supplement lunches for the
students. But this year the government
hasn’t consistently been providing lunch food like it did last year (rice and
beans). So garden goods only
occasionally get cooked into lunches when kids all bring a contribution from
home of either rice or root vegetables.
Otherwise, what happens to the garden products? Good question. The secondary idea is to sell within the
community. The funds will be used to
keep the project, which also includes raising chickens for consumption, going
in the future when the government agency leaves.
 |
Lunch for the kids featuring chicken cared for by their
parents, herbs from the garden, and a mini-salad (aka spoonful of cucumber)
|
But this business is not running so smoothly. They put me in charge of holding the funds,
which isn’t good, since I won’t always be here and should have limited
responsibility in ongoing projects like this.
The PTA treasurer has been helping to sell things and then gives me the
money, but the prices aren’t fixed and people bug her at all hours of the day
to go to the garden. The government
agency wants us to record what is harvested, but that hasn’t been happening
(people here are not at all used to the idea of keeping records), and in the
meantime plenty of goods have been going missing without payment to either the
treasurer or myself. Quite a mess.
And to top it off, I recently was informed of a whole new
issue plaguing the garden. As I
conversed with three neighbors, I could hardly believe what I was hearing …
- Martina: “It’s a shame the cooks harvest and immediately
cook those vegetables for school lunches.
The plants are clearly suffering.”
- Me: “What do you mean?”
- Martina: “People are harvesting and immediately cooking
instead of waiting and the plants are getting sick.”
- Me: “I’m confused.
You mean people wait too long after harvesting and the fruit goes bad?”
- Martina: “No. People cook the fruit immediately and that
makes the plant get sick.”
- Me: “I don’t understand.”
- Marilis: “Yeah it happens.
When you cook vegetables right away the plant they came from heats up
and gets sick.
- Me: “I don’t think I believe that. The best thing in the world is getting to
cook with fresh goods without having to worry about them going bad or without
having to use chemicals to preserve them longer. Anyway, how can something that’s already been
detached still affect the mother plant?”
- Martina: “It’s true.
Some people don’t believe it, but yes, it’s true.”
- Melquiades: “The plants could also be getting sick because
of the people who harvest them.”
- Martina: “Yes, it could also be because of that.”
- Me: “How do you mean?”
- Melquiades: “When people have been bitten by a spider or
snake or stung by a scorpion, they shouldn’t harvest.”
- Marilis: “Oh yes.
Ricardo once was bit by a snake and then he harvested one of his
oranges. His whole orange tree got sick
and died.”
- Me: “Is that so …”
- Martina: “Those poisons are very strong. People like that who harvest products are
killing the school garden plants.”
- Me: “Right …”
This is not the first time I’ve heard people here share
superstitious beliefs. But this is the
first time I’ve wanted to both laugh and cry about it. The idea that the act of cooking freshly
harvested veggies can damage the mother plant is ludicrous to me and
detrimental to one of the main benefits of having a garden. But I could tell by the tone of the
conversation that I will not change anyone’s mind about it, and better to not
show disrespect towards their beliefs.
Sigh. I personally have not
noticed the garden plants getting unusually sick beyond the normal minor insect
and fungus problems.
Moving forward, we are trying out some new systems like only
selling garden products one or two days a week, writing down what’s harvested
in a more standardized notebook, and (more or less) fixing some prices. I also heard discussion of harvesting a day
in advance of cooking for the kids so that the mother plants will not “heat up
and get sick.” As far as I’m concerned,
I’m happy to help them get organized to keep this project going as they see fit,
even if certain parts may seem to me a bit silly.
 |
The outside agency stood us up yet again, but we worked on
the school garden anyway
|
 |
Attempting to get the school garden better organized with
set pricing, a schedule for selling, and a reminder to keep records.
|
Kids Say the
Darndest Things
Been saving some of these up for a while:
- A six-year-old grabs my sunglasses and puts them on upside
down and says, “Look, now I’m a gringa.”
- Every once in a while a kid asks me, “Until what grade did
you study?”
“All of them,” I say, “plus university.” I get a look of wonder in return.
- “Why is your hair yellow?”
- “Your hands are dirty.”
So are theirs, but on darker skin it’s harder to see.
- “Look, Lila’s sweating!”
“Yes, it’s hot and I’m working.”
- When I brought my gringa friend Ashley to visit I heard,
“Here comes Lila with another Lila!”
- Trying to teach kids they can eat the whole orange instead
of sucking out the juice and throwing the rest of the nutritious fruit to the
ground, one three-year-old told me proudly, “Lila look! I swallowed the trash!”
