Village Life Still Counts!

19 February 2007

A village person's world view is fundamentally different from the urban person's understanding of how the world works. And the villager's world view has been created in large part by actually living on top of one's resource base. We in town, on the other hand, for the most part try to live on top of another resource base--money. That's why our most important 'garden' is either Westpac, ANZ or NBSI. For it is from this 'garden' that we draw our daily sustenance of food, shelter, power, drink, etc. The ATM, for instance, is our favorite 'garden tool' and in some ways our only tool.

Villagers, on the other hand, draw their daily food sustenance, water, shelter, recreation, etc. from a resource base which they actually own and for the most part, control. They live their lives atop of their own resource base. We in Honiara need to feed the ATM with our bi-weekly cheques from our work patterns before we are able to withdraw money out of the system. Villagers--making up more than 84% of Solomons people--radically differ from their urban cousin in their view of how the world works and is the basic reason why much rural development over the past 30 years hasn't worked as well as it should have.

Much rural development has been driven by urban people, many from overseas but not a few of our own leaders, whose agenda, consciously or unconsciously, is to convert the villager to become pale imitations of themselves. Would this fact be at the bottom of villagers fierce reluctance and unwillingness to part with their most precious resource, their land?

Last Saturday's very public signing in Auki of the Aluta Basin landowners giving permission for land surveys to begin for an oil palm plantation will be watched with great interest by Malaita people and the rest of the islanders as well. I am convinced that the present work--identifying the real landowners, seeking their permission for the survey process to begin and bringing them on board in such a public way, as important as it is, will be the easy part. Without a constant, continuous and consistent awareness and education reachout to the villagers of that area, then the project is apt to flounder. As said above, the village person's world view on the meaning of land is quite different from the modern world's understanding of it.

Yes, village and urban lives have been growing closer over the years. But not as quickly as had been predicted by the experts for years now. When I first came ashore in Honiara in 1958, the town boasted 2,300 people, about the same number of those who currently sell vegetables, fruit, fish, etc. on a busy Saturday morning at Central Market. Over the past fifty years, then, even though Honiara and the provincial towns have seen dramatic increases in population, the percentage of people opting for the urban life has been modest.

The 1976 Census, for instance, showed the Solomons with a 12% urban population. Now more than 30 years later, the urban population still remains modestly low, no more than 16%. In other words, the Solomons urban population has no doubt grown but at a much lower rate than had been predicted in the mid 1970s. Many thought that Solomons people would be abandoning village life and heading for the lights and delights of urban life. Honiara alone would be attracting many more thousands than it actually has. Why hasn't this urban drift prediction--true for many developing countries worldwide--come to pass in our own country?

Few will argue that village life is the easier one compared to town dwelling. Most Honiara citizens know quite well that village living is physically demanding and time consuming for life's simplest of tasks. A cup of instant coffee, for example, can easily take 25 minutes or longer to collect fire wood, bring in water, cook and finally serve. Yet, each December Honiara noticeably thins out when so many of us head for our home village knowing full well that most have no running water, few boast of toilet or shower facilities and the typical meal is bland.

Yet, as ship owners delightfully tell you, their ships departing Honiara in the early weeks of December are filled to overflowing. Police are at full alert monitoring these ships from actually sinking at the wharfs with so many passengers in full flight from town returning to village life.

What is it then that continues to attract so many of us back to village life even if only for a few short weeks? It certainly can't be the ease of travel! Spending 12, 18 and 24 hours or more on a crowded slow ship with few amenities puts off the bravest of travelers. The ticket cost to travel on these 'cattle barges' goes up yearly, yet still they leave town and head for their village.

Some say that returning to village life, even for a short period, is a way of recharging their internal batteries for the rest of the year of town living. I would go a step further! Returning to village life is a re-confirmation of the Melanesian world view: they do not own the land but the land owns them!

J. Roughan
19 February 2007
Honiara

Track 1 AND Track 2!

5 February 2007

Let's call Track 1, the government sponsored. It's the one that grabs all the attention, gets newspaper front page coverage and everyone talks about it. Massive amounts of money--almost a billion dollars this time--thousands of workers (called Public Servants) and tons on plans are focused on making Track 1 work.

This week, in fact, Track 1 remains high on the nation's agenda. Parliament currently sits to debate the 2007 Budget. Literally millions of dollars are at stake. Ministries of Education, Health and the other 18 ministries will get Parliament's official OK to spend millions and millions of dollars to accomplish their work of educating our kids, keeping our smallest, oldest and ordinary citizens well and healthy and keep the rest of the nation ticking over by working the justice system, etc. etc.

But Track 1 tells only 1/2 our national story. As important to the well being of country, there is a Track 2 at work taking on more and more national life and is coming on strong. Track 2 work is about what happens outside of government, outsides of political life and mostly outside the flow of government finance. Some call Track 2 the private sector!

Often Track 2 takes place in broad daylight, gets on with its dreams and makes big differences to peoples lives but quietly with little fanfare and fuss. Take the example of the Boy Scouts who recently rented AMY's fast food outlet located near Westpac Bank. The place is alive with customers from before 8:00 in the morning to well after 7:00 in the evening. At least 30 young people, boy and girl youths, wearing bright yellow T-shirts, smiling all the time, serve you your favorite fast food.

Here's a Track 2 enterprise getting on with it, making a difference in the city's life with hardly an adult in sight. But this is but one example which is beginning to root all over the place. Sophia Chottu, over the past two years, has organized more than 50 workers to take up fruit picking jobs in New Zealand. She's back at it again this year with more than a 100 Solomon Islanders making serious plans to show how villagers can take on the world and make good money doing it overseas.

Track 2 people are found all over the place. They see an opening and before anyone realizes it they have plans to make a profitable go at a new work. No waiting around for a government grant or political directives but simply these entrepreneurs put on their thinking caps and get on with making money for themselves and for others. For instance, some Solomon Islanders are supplying leading fast food places with tasty and nutrious backed goods, cakes and pastries. Others make the sale of flowers, floral arrangements and garden shrubs their favorite income generating method.

The bulk of our people, obviously, are not sitting down bemoaning their fate. Women, especially our garden wealth makers, bring the Honiara Market alive six days a week. First time visitors to these isles are introduced to the Honiara Market and come away from a brief visit with true appreciation of how much and the variety of food Solomons women produce. Just the daily selection of banana types, cabbage varieties and fruits--pineapple, mango, pawpaw, lemons, etc.--on a constant and continuous basis is an indication of women's wealth production techniques. All of these wealth producers are Track 2 people getting on with life drawing from their own substance with hardly a nod from the Track 1 people.

Of course both Track 1 and Track 2 are bound up with each other. Both are needed by the other to make the Solomons hum as before. Track 1 is about foundations. Getting and keeping peace is foundational. Without a solid justice system--policing, courts and prisons--all other levels go up in smoke. But quality education, well stocked health sites, reliable transport and improved communication links are the serious business of Track 1's work. No one else--business houses, churches, non state actors--rarely want to take on Track 1's work.

Yet without this sort of foundation work rooting and growing, Track 2 work just wont make it. I haven't mentioned bigger enterprises--John Volrath's biodiesel out at Ranadi, Colin Dyer's Virgin Oil production in 18 village groups, etc.--which are also in Track 2. With these and Solomon Islanders entrepreneurs working together, then Track 1 has a solid future as well.

J. Roughan
5 February 2007
Honiara