“As if it were today” | Tales from Muhanga 12
From the diary of Father Giovanni Piumatti during his time in Muhanga (North Kivu). Reflections still relevant today
Africa of reuse and recycling, against waste and disposability
Since I was born, I have followed closely behind my brother Lino from day one.
In my physical growth, I went through all his stages: stature, school, games, I collected (of course my parents did it for me) and used what he no longer needed, almost until the age of 14.
A needle, a pair of scissors and some thread, in the hands of Mother Catherine, who was not a seamstress, but who knew how to unravel, meant that I never lacked pants, shirts, and T-shirts, nor did I lack books and games.
She cut collars and shortened sleeves, and didn’t feel the need to go to a supermarket with every change in stature, and every year. I was born at the “Three Scalìn,” a tavern in Savigliano. I was able to drink wine very early, without having to beg for it; but my father Pierin, the innkeeper, I never saw him drunk, not even once.
When I was 6… 7 years old, I ate every day at the restaurant “le due bare ‘d fer”: since my family from innkeepers had now changed to restaurateurs.
All this is just to say that I did not lack the necessary food or even the wine. However, I learned to recover everything and not to throw anything away, and not a single morsel could be left on the plate. And I was happy.
33 years on, up to 76, (i.e., since I’ve been living in Africa) as for pants and T-shirts, I’ve had plenty, I’ve always chosen from hundreds of them, in different colors and patterns; even … torn, if I really wanted them, fashionably.
You have no idea how many fit in a container, as packaging; ask Marina, Lia and Lino, Fabrizio and Alma, Maurino, Rinaldo and Piera, Matteo, Don Aldo…
45 years without buying a piece of clothing, except in very rare cases when someone absolutely wanted to give me a new gift.
Even for food I had no particular problem (well, the wine…yes! This is where the innkeeper’s son was tried; however, one can live without it).
In normal Africa there is no starvation! Of land and fields there are; not for nothing is it here that rich countries come to impose their plantations, even for their animals; the Sahara desert and the Sahel are special and very limited cases.
Normal Africa: that is, the one without the presence of Western weapons, without the presence of multinational corporations.
In my life I have had everything I needed to live well, and more.
I do not say this to make a boast or even to reproach or accuse anyone; it is a simple observation I can make today as I take a calm look at my life.
Doing this reading, from here, sitting in Muhanga’s courtyard, makes me feel less estranged.
There is a little bit of Africa in this whole journey, in fact a lot of Africa.
Simple and dignified use and recovery…, which is the opposite of throwaway and waste.
Africa that uses in moderation, does not waste and lives. Yes, because Africa is no longer (but has it ever been?) the blackberry beggar who waits for our handouts to live: this image that many still like, but which is false, should finally be erased from our heads.
And this should be taught in schools and preached in churches. This image persists only because it suits those who run a world economy for their own use and consumption.
(Father John Piumatti, August 15, 2016)
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Source and image
- G. Piumatti, Muhanga. Parole e storie d’Africa, p. 410-411