DIY solutions to poverty offer hope for us all
WHAT happened to strong leadership? All over the world countries now seem to be led by dithering wimps who seem so afraid of offending “minorities” among their people, that they do nothing and allow the country to slide gradually into chaos. Even in the world’s great powerhouse, America, the president seems unable to change things for the good.
I am sometimes cheered, however, by stories of ordinary – often very poor – people ignoring the soppy politicians and simply getting on with the business of living. There are many stories, for example, of grandmothers in the townships looking after whole houses full of orphans and somehow scratching the money together to feed and clothe them. Sometimes they receive no support from official sources because they didn’t fill in the correct forms. Maybe hungry children seemed more important to them than complicated forms.
These are the people who are the real heroes of society. I heard a good story from Detroit in America, once the prosperous centre of the US car manufacturing industry, now fallen into decay, joblessness and poverty. A group of women decided to change their neighbourhood. They didn’t run to the government and make “demands”. They simply got together to see how they could make life better.
They started a project called Detroit Soup. Once a month they make pots of soup and invite everybody along for a meal. There’s a door fee of about $5 (R59) and this is put into a fund for the day.
Four people with ideas about improving the community are invited to speak about their projects. No waffling! They’re given just four minutes each to speak.
After that everybody sits down for the meal and discusses the various projects.
Finally a vote is taken and the winning project is given all the door money in the collection box as start-up cash for the project.
A typical project was proposed by an out-of-work carpenter who said there were no seats at the city’s bus stops and elderly people often had to stand for long periods waiting for their bus. With his cash he started making benches at bus stops, and added the refinement of a bookshelf under each seat so books and magazines could be left there for people to read or take away.
There’s been a spin-off too. People have seen his benches and commissioned similar ones for their gardens. A new world has opened for him.
I’ve read stories about people digging wells in rural areas to enable access to fresh water. There are people working to teach others how to grow vegetables, using household waste and “grey water” to fertilise and irrigate the gardens.
The important thing about these projects is that they are undertaken by ordinary folk. They didn’t run to the government and say: “You must give us…”. They got off their backsides and did something.
Sometimes we can see hope for the human race.
Last laugh
Two caterpillars were sunning themselves in the garden when a beautiful butterfly swooped into view overhead. It did some graceful pirouettes, settled on a flower, then launched into a graceful aerial dance.
The one caterpillar turned to the other and said: “I’ll tell you something: you’ll never get me up in one of those contraptions.”
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