Creating a new way

Time banking is a new currency stepping away from money and back to community. Carly Thomas found out more about the latest group, Time Bank Manawatu.

It’s a funny old time we live in. We often talk more through words on a screen than we do face to face, and the internet has become our community. Individualism, consumerism, it’s a world filled with ism’s and a relentless march forward that has left some things in its wake. People, says Ghaayathri Pudukotta, have forgotten about people.

‘‘As more youngsters join the traditional work force, the importance of community, sharing time, building a strong family, caring for the planet is forgotten.’’

Pudukotta had just moved to Palmerston North from India last year when she met Andrea Mccrostie-horne. An idea hanging ripe drew them both in. Mccrostiehorne had heard about time banking, a form of trading where no money exchanges hands.

‘‘I had like a 10-minute conversation and I came away from that and thought, wow, I have to find out more. It’s been something I have been set on ever since. It’s a system where you are valued and you are contributing.’’

Pudukotta was interested in the idea of a time-banking community right there in her own home town. A community of people, offering the skills and time they have, banking it for a credit that, in turn, gains them a service. The things people can put forward, that they often don’t even think about, are vast: gardening, childcare, computer work, building, walking the dog – anything, really. Stripping wallpaper, cleaning out a pantry and giving someone a lift to the bus have been recent trades.

‘‘The first person who came to my mind was my mum – she is one of the most talented people I know – a nutritionist with amazing cooking skills, can make beautiful dresses, enjoys yoga and gardening and extremely organised, with a great eye for detail. Yet, she couldn’t contribute in the traditional economy, since she spent her time raising her child, taking care of the family and my grandparents. And it’s unfair that we as a society value money more than people.’’

Mccrostie-horne says people are always telling her they have nothing to offer, ‘‘but once you get people thinking about what they like to do it becomes clear they have heaps to offer’’.

What Pudukotta could offer was her corporate experience in marketing, operations and sales. To Mccrostie-horne she was the person, alongside a central core of

‘‘If we can turn things into one big wonderfully monstrous community where people know each other and they all help each other, that would be amazing.’’ Kyle Burmeister

two others, who really got Time Bank Manawatu going.

‘‘I say to people it was like when you light magnesium in a science class and it just lights up and you go ‘oh what happened?’ It was one of those moments. Things started to happen and straight away I saw time banking working. People with incredible skills were willing to share and trade them.’’

Pudukotta started a website and social media page and people began to come out of the woodwork. Kyle Burmeister was one of them, a self-professed seeker of another way of living and an IT whiz with skills to share.

‘‘The money economy is just a complete mess. People down at the bottom level can say ‘well, we’ll make it work if you’re not going to’. It’s the same core attitude that gets you anywhere. It can solve a lot of problems if you can get a bunch of people who are interested and have decided to do something.’’

Burmeister has experienced the power of people before. He built a straw bale house on the smell of an oily rag and the help of others. He has lived in a rural community where trade and sharing happen naturally and he believes it can happen in the city, too.

‘‘If we can turn things into one big wonderfully monstrous community where people know each other and they all help each other, that would be amazing. It’s kind of like time banking is a trick to make that happen somehow.’’

Core member Louisa Gaimster says there is a whole heap of benefits from time banking that might not be obvious, ‘‘like connecting with people that you would perhaps never have met’’.

‘‘There are people from lots of different countries. We welcome everybody – you just don’t know what people have to offer. Valuing people by the worth of their income is just not right, especially for marginalised people in the community. This values everybody.’’

Gaimster volunteers as well with Manawatu’s Volunteer Services, which supports Time Banking Manawatu. Norelle Ward is her manager and Ward says they see the group as complementary.

‘‘Our ethos is around connecting communities through volunteering but we can only refer people to organisations, so they have to go through a structure, whereas time banking is one to one. Communities are starting to realise that if they want to see change they need to make it.’’

Jane Evans, from Ashhurst and Pohangina community group Recap, is doing just that. With her group, she aims to build a more resilient, sustainable and diverse community and sees time banking as fitting in with this ethos.

‘‘I think people are totally crying out for community. Everyone’s realising that’s how we can fight. Some people are going into politics, some people are protesting – that’s great – and some people are falling back into community. It’s how we can make change and there are all sorts of people that are realising that. The more, the merrier, really.’’

Thirty countries use time banking and Time Bank Manawatu has brought the New Zealand tally of groups to 29. It’s not a new concept. Edgar Cahn founded it in the United States years ago and wrote a book about it, No More Throw-away People.

It’s re-imagining the world, says Burmeister, and for Pudukotta it’s a chance to create a new one. ‘‘One where we can do what we love doing and get rewarded, as opposed to working just for money. Although time banking can’t replace money, it can support in building a resilient community based on strong values of respect, honour, commitment, reciprocity and equality.’’