Monday, May 23, 2005
Nothing is wasted in Africa. You hear the fundis hammering along the side of the road while you are riding your bicycle. They are reshaping bits of scrap sheet metal or flattening sections of corrugated roofing for a second life as frying pans, lids, or other appliances. Yesterday’s cow patties have been turned into swiss cheese today by the dung beetles rolling away sections of this windfall for nourishment of their next generation. Hopelessly worn out clothes turn into soccer balls or floor mops. Plastic disposable cups or plates simply don’t exist here – I guess nobody has figured out how to reuse them.
I was thinking of this as I was reading on the patio this morning The puppies had spilled some of their food – cooked rice laced with ground peanuts, oil, and cooked tomato and banana. Within 15 minutes, the birds that have nested in eaves of the house were there, filling their beaks to take back to their young. Yesterday I bought some more rice, spilled some of it on the patio and swept it off the edge. Right away, the birds were there to claim the grains of rice, but also there were bunches of small ants busily carrying off the smaller and broken grains.
I was thinking of this as I was reading on the patio this morning The puppies had spilled some of their food – cooked rice laced with ground peanuts, oil, and cooked tomato and banana. Within 15 minutes, the birds that have nested in eaves of the house were there, filling their beaks to take back to their young. Yesterday I bought some more rice, spilled some of it on the patio and swept it off the edge. Right away, the birds were there to claim the grains of rice, but also there were bunches of small ants busily carrying off the smaller and broken grains.
