In America, everything, every tiny little tool or machine, is designed to make life more efficient, and hence "easier." I'm sure you recognize that big machines like dishwashers and washing machines and dryers save a lot of time, and there are useful utilities such as running water (and it's clean for drinking, too!) and electricity (which saves an incredible amount of time cooking, heats water, and of course provides an opportunity for time well used after dark). But you've also got little amenities that make life so much more efficient. For example, a potato peeler. Ever thought about how much easier something as simple as a potato peeler can make your life? Well, after cutting and peeling all my veggies with a dull 70 cent knife for two months (everything must be peeled due to possible contamination of skins by dirty water), I've learned to appreciate such things. Even such a thing as a kitchen counter is a safi amenity, as I do everything from cutting veggies to scrubbing clothes until my fingers bleed and washing dishes with a dirty rag on the ground of my courtyard, seated on a broken plastic stool.
Life is just tough here, for everyone. All time is spent on everyday tasks: washing, cooking, farming, and taking care of the kids (though usually older ones are responsible for taking care of the younger ones- I've seen barefoot four year olds carrying two year olds tied to their backs by a piece of cloth). It takes all day just to survive.
And I wonder, what if Tanzania had all those amenities? Would they have more time to think and progress and provide jobs besides farming (or in some areas, attempting to cultivate dry, nutrient- poor dirt in the hopes of feeding your family and making enough extra for soap and buckets and matches)? Or is it the innovative, optimistic, opportunistic minds of America that make such things happen?
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Liv,
As I was reading your thoughts on the potato peeler, I thought back to last night when I sat by the bed of an elderly man at the hospital. He hadn't had visitors all day and was talkative, so I asked him about his experiences during the Great Depression. I don't know how much information you're getting in Tanzania on the state of the economy here, but everyone is stressed about it. I know it's bad and though it's not greatly effecting me (cardiac nurses get more business in stressful times due to heart attacks induced by stress, poor diets, over drinking, etc.), my roommate, a college graduate, has been looking for work for 9 months and so far only has an 8-hour a week job that pays only slightly more than minimum wage. Anyway, to get to how this connects to your potato peeler: I asked my elderly patient about his Great Depression experiences and he told me how Roosevelt created jobs and people would do anything for work and having a quarter made you rich. He said that for three years his family farmed and made everything they needed to survive and didn't earn one penny during that time. Then he said he thinks that though we're in a depression now and though people still have money and can buy groceries, we're actually worse off now than people were then because our society has evolved so that we cold never live in a Depression where you don't earn one penny for three years. It would be impossible for everyone to grow their own food for three years. So we're in a lot more danger now than we were then. So, though we have potato peelers, washing machines and computers all over the place, if we crash as hard as they did in 1929, you'll be the rich one living over in Tanzania. I don't think this'll happen of course, but I think as hard as it might be sometimes and as much as you might want to inspire change, you've been given a chance to see the blessings of simplicity and to escape the fear of poverty that is driving people into depression here. Not long ago, a man killed his wife and children because he lost his job. That's depressing. It makes me see how wonderful Tanzanians are when a widow with AIDS, who has a lot more burden for survival, takes in the orphaned kids from the village. Tanzanians have a strength and resiliency that I wish we had more of here. So, while I've been to TZ and agree with you that it'd be wonderful to inspire some change, enjoy your simplicity if you can and when you get desperate for a potato peeler, I'll send you one.
Miss you!
Katie
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