Day 14 & 15: Village life

Day 14

We had the opportunity to hang with Manni and Sammy. SEDS do these bio-gas projects where households, if they are willing, can have for free a bio-gas unit, that will supply free gas to their households to use for cooking. All that is needed is cow manure, thats it. The methane produced by the manure is enough to provide gas for the household; lowering costs, time and energy having to go collect firewood. How amazing is that? So we got to hang out with Manni who coordinated it all and Sammy who installed it all. The highlight was just going into the villages and experiencing first hand, life as a farmer. Wow what an experience! the sights, the smells, the feelings of life in these areas are truly an incredible experience. Everywhere we went they would offer us chairs to sit on, while everyone else just stood (even the elderly, even though so many times we offered them our seats). The culture of hospitality. we even tried hot buffalo milk (delicious), as well as buttermilk and berries - which we unfortunately couldnt eat/drink because our stomachs had not accustomed to their hygiene. The dirtiness really hits you, animals and faeces are present everywhere, in addition to the open sewerage drains. Yet, the way of life hits you too; the collectiveness of the villages - people would come from all over the block to see what these bio-gas units are and what they do. Speaking of collectivism, in one village Manni gathered 5-7 women together spontaneously and she said you ask any question and she’d translate. Talk about putting us on the spot, but we got to experience and hear the life of being a woman in the village; the difficulties, yet the progress that has been made within the past 10 years, and the help SEDS has provided in women’s rights and advocacy for a better life.

Day 15: Sat 1st Aug

It was an easy day today. Would you believe it, kids go to school for half a day on saturdays lol. They just study all the time! Ronny (our supervisor at our time in SEDS) asked us to help sort out the storage cupboards. Here laid all these second hand clothing, as well as mountain of school books and bags for the children who come to SEDS school. You might think it was menial but it was actually fun; sorting out the clothes we got to see all these varieties of indian clothing. So all in all a good day. Met Rohith (Manil and Rajen’s son) who actually studied at Griffith university. It was good to get to know him. at night i got beaten twice in chess, and then the boys who live here on campus beat me too. dang. But we played jenga as well, and all my times playing jenga at school activity program has really come in handy.