Between Two Rivers

The day starts early here. Really early. Depending on who you are, and what you do, you could be starting as early as 4:00am. It works though, because the day ends early too. The lifestyle out here is largely mandated by the sun. When the sun goes down, there’s very little to do. The house I’m living in does have electricity. Bare wires strung across walls and through gaps in the roofing provide a single, bare lightbulb that hangs from the ceiling of most rooms. It’s enough to let you see what you’re eating, or the person you’re talking too, but not much else. Apart from the lack of after hour’s activities to keep you busy, you’re also probably pretty exhausted. The sun here is intense. It saps your strength and energy in a very short amount of time. Most of the work here is also some form of manual labor. If you can help it, you really don’t want to be working when afternoon rolls around. Starting work early means you’re done early too and can retreat to the relative comfort of a hammock in the shade, or a bench next to the river.

In general, the stereotypical gender rolls apply here as they would have done in most of the western world 50+ years ago. The men do the breadwinning work, manual labor, and the women do the domestic work, which is also manual labor. They just generally don’t get paid for it. The women are up just as early as the men to make sure they’re fed and outfitted for a day of hard work. They have cleaning to do, animals to feed, food to prepare, fruits and vegetables to collect, and buy when they can’t, and they have laundry to do, probably in the river. Not to mention kids to feed and get to school and keep out of trouble. For the most part the men don’t participate in any of the domestic activities. It seems unfair, backwards, wrong even, to watch as the women here act as servants to the men, but it’s the way it is. And there isn’t much you can do about it either. Martha and her elderly parents are my hosts down here. It’s Martha’s land that we’re going to be using and her house that we’re building. She refuses to let me help with the domestic chores. I can wash dishes just as easily as she can, but she’s adamant. She insists on waiting on and taking care of me, and I think she takes great pride in doing so. She seems genuinely pleased in being able to serve, and I’m afraid to offend her by pushing the equality thing too hard. It isn’t easy for me though.

There’s so much culture here that’s on the verge of being lost. Martha’s is the last generation that really learned the traditions of their parents and ancestors. They’ve tried to teach their children, but the outside world has caught up too quickly for most of them to have much interest in what they may consider useless traditions. I’m excited to be down here and have the opportunity to help this amazing woman and together with Robert and Co. work on a project that’s going to make a difference. I’m also excited to document a little about the history of this area, its culture, traditions and people.