Teaching, Change and More Mango Madness

Plenty of mangoes left on the tree.
I foresee continued mango madness
 for at least 3 more weeks.

Change

I’ve finished training all 30 Bano users in Ipeti in how to use the composting toilet. One of the trainings was by far the most enjoyable for me. There is a young couple with 2 kids, who have just built a really nice new modern house – with the shower, sink and toilet unit just out the back door. They were living in a classic Kuna semi-open house on stilts and thatched roof with her father. The family has moved into the new house , but the old man refuses. He

This tiny (baby?) bat was only 1.5" long and spent
 the day resting out on the porch wall

is afraid to sleep in a bed and doesn’t like being “enclosed”. He’d rather stay in his old house and live as he is accustomed. He also refuses to use the new bano unit, preferring his sendero (path used for toilet at 2M intervals) into the jungle. They live right next to jungle, with no other houses nearby, so this works just fine. Nature can easily absorb a certain amount of animal waste. In fact, I prefer the sendero method to a pit latrine – any day.

This odd looking citrus fruit is growing in a far corner of the
Cottage yard. Using the Google photo ID function, it is
IDed as a "Japanese variegated kumquat". Another new taste.

Young Mom and Dad feel frustrated and slighted. They build a nice new house, get a spiffy new Bano unit and the grandfather won’t have any part of it. So, they ask the Gringo – Can’t you talk some sense into him?

Truth be told, I’m already on the old man’s side – no harm in using his sendero or sleeping like he wants. But, I go up in his house and sit with him and have a chat. Wonderful old guy, but his Spanish is worse

Remember those bamboo shoots that 

were 3 ft high a week ago?

They are now about 10 ft high - a foot a day. 

Not near the record of 38" in one day, 

but still impressive.

I'd still like to know about the distinctive 

green stripes.

than mine. He pulls out a pipe and we smoke some tobacco that he grows from seed he claims his grandfather got from a Spaniard. (My head was swimming for an hour after.) We talk about the weather and the heat and the river – anything but the house and Bano. After about 5 minutes of pleasantries, he stood up and said something I didn’t understand and then laughed loudly. So I laughed too and got up and left.

I told the kids to just let the old man be. Change is difficult for us older people, I said. He wants you to be happy in your nice new house, so let him be happy in his old house. Besides, he does come in to eat meals with you.

I think they bought it.

I just noticed that one of my neighbors 

down the street is raising pigeons. Nice and fat. 

I don’t think they are meant to carry messages. 

Do they taste like chicken or dove ??

Most folks do resist change, fearing that change might not be as good as the familiar status quo. For me, change is a welcome old friend. I’ve changed residences 33 times in 65 years. Indeed, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m not some sort of “change junkie”, needing a fix at irregular intervals. For me, change brings new sights and sounds and smells and people and feelings. All that came before is still a part of me. Nothing is lost. Only the imagination of what “might have been” had things stayed the same.

Hot peppers growing on the neighbor's fence.
Too bad I don't like the heat.

Teaching

I’ve always been good at learning. But teaching is another matter entirely. It has come to me slowly. Very slowly. And not easily or naturally. My latest teaching effort has been training the Bano users in how to use and maintain the composting toilets. When I started in the teaching game, I probably would have tried to have one mass meeting of all the users, show them a slick PowerPoint and call it a day. That might work, if my class was made up of US college students. But, it just wouldn’t cut the mustard in the 3^rd world.

These are plantain corms, ready to be planted. These bulbs
or corms are the only way to propagate plantains and bananas

To begin with, these folks are not professional students, like in the US. They do not like to go to “class” and sit and listen. And getting all of them in the same place at the same time ?? Well, good luck with that. And not everyone here can read. Most of the children can. But, the older folks never went to government schools in Spanish. Most can speak it, but few can read or write it.

So, I’ve made my approach more personal, graphic and engaging. I go house to house, family by family. I hand out an illustrated set of instructions, we inspect the Bano unit together, to make sure everything is right and then I demonstrate, using all the materials they will use, in real time, just how to use it. I also try to explain the reasons for each step without getting too technical. Then, I have them show me exactly how they will use the Bano, step by step – a very small bit of “muscle memory”, but important that they touch and feel all the parts. I speak slowly and clearly, since Spanish is a second language for most of these folks. And for me.

This process is  S L O W ,( especially when I chat with the folks or share a banana or mango), but seems to work well. I’ve had folks tell me that they were afraid to start using their toilets, but now feel very comfortable. The other interesting note is the issue of tissue (toilet paper). Folks who have been to visit houses with indoor flush toilets have seen a bucket or basket, in which one places the used TP. Sounds pretty gross, I know, but there was a reason – many older toilets in central and south America used a 2” drain line, with hard 90 degree corners instead of sweeps. A wad of TP, like I’ve seen some women (you know who you are) use can clog the pipe in seconds. I say “was a reason” since most of those lines have been replaced with 3” or 4” with sweeping corners, instead of hard 90s. The point is that the Ipeti folks thought that since they now had a sit-down toilet, they should collect the used TP in a bucket. They seem quite relieved when I explain that the TP is actually good for the compost system, so no need for the smelly bucket.