Sumatra – Corn and Litter

We volunteered to help bring in the corn (maize) because Ibu was worried about more damage by boar and she asked if we were serious about helping? Of course we were. Anyway the next day with Ibu and a neighbour (related in some fashion I think) we went to pick corn. We were shown what to do. I have never picked corn when it is going into the seed phase, the women used a huge metal needle to score the top of the sheath. Then the layers were pulled back to check the corn. Nearly all were caterpillar and ant (sometimes ants nests) damaged in some way but that did not matter as long as there was corn on the cob. We worked till lunch time and went up to Pea Farm for our break. Pea Farms one labourer had been helping us too his name is  Amangburo and he is so shy.

We got back to the corn and soon it was all collected and laid out to dry.

Tatjana couldn’t sit still after lunch and went litter picking while I tried to photograph butterflies and watched Black Eagle and Brahminy kites doing ‘dog fights’ in the air.

When we headed home we all picked litter along the trail until the bag was full to busting.

This island all sounds idyllic but, there is a dirty reality. Much like Nepal and Northern India there is no infrastructure for dealing with the waste. What appears to be slightly different here is the consumption of stuff is far less. However there is an issue and many locals completely disregard the plastic, I even saw a woman clean her path of weeds but leave the litter!

Ibu and her family are very conscious of the litter and pick the stuff themselves. Then what to do with it? Buring, which is also inherently bad, but that is the only option.

Another day we went to clean up the locality and as we got closer to one of the villages and the trail up to Pea Farm, Ibu went to get the children who were not in school to help clean up and hoped to have some impact on their behaviour. One boy was really good at collecting litter and another who just pointed it out to us, Ibu quickly told him to get it himself.

Afterwards we took the children to the little shop to get buns and then watched to see what they did with the wrappers and quickly jumped on those who just discarded them and made them put them on the plastic pile. Ibu was explaining to them to tell their parents and if they didn’t listen to flick thier earlobes!

The lake also has issues with pollutants and litter,  the water quality where we were staying is not too bad but we pulled litter from it, old clothes and a very dangerous fishing net. Tajana is definitely a litter warrior!

That rather neatly brings me to Brain, no not Brian but Brain. He’s twenty odd years old and one time he came to swim and Ibu told me he had said he wanted to learn English. So at the end of their swim I went over to talk to him, he went very shy and his younger friend spoke for him. I told him I would wait on the verandah and to come and chat to me when he was dry, his friend said he would. Well he marched right past me and away with his cronies, Tatjana told me how to say ‘see you later’ so I yelled it after him.

After that he became the but of our jokes ‘Brain’ but today he is vindicated as he went swimming and when Ibu pointed out the snagged net he and his friend went to clear it and then they told the fisherman to sort out his nets!