How Much is Your Toilet Worth?

With my 2 year anniversary of being in country and my departure quickly approaching there are many things to reflect on. Changes throughout the country are sometimes noticeable. I can easily see how much my students have grown just by looking at my old photos. More roads have been paved and some new products have found their way into my town. But having spent so much time immersed in this lifestyle it’s easy to forget what once seemed abnormal to me.

I’d like to think there has been progress since I’ve arrived and it’s remarkable what changes are going on in other parts of the country. When it’s been unbearably hot this summer some locals have asked me why PC doesn’t buy me an air conditioner. Or why I don’t have a washing machine to make my life easier. I try to explain to them that I have to live like the people of my town so to better understand their lives. Most often I’m not sure that’s this really understood but…

I do feel that I can relate to people more when I’m not sitting around in a cushy lifestyle dishing out advice on how to live better. While they’re suffering without heat in the middle of winter or can’t find any decent fresh tomatoes because the crops were ruined, I also feel their pain because I go through it too.

A recent annoyance in my town has been the local government taking parts of people property. Before going on my last vacation to Georgia my landlord told me the governor wanted to take my back door steps (truthfully it's a ladder) and toilet. Now, in my head I’m thinking, what could they possibly want with the awkward space that is my outhouse toilet? It’s no more than 100 sq feet and is probably 500 ft away from my back steps. And what would I do without a toilet? What would I do without steps to go out my back door?

my neighbors's yards

I asked myself why all of a sudden my town wants to do something with this space and yet I still have no local ID (registration) card, which I submitted in April 2009 after they had been constantly hassling me. Nothing can be easy…2 months left and yet I might not have a place to squat down and relieve myself when nature calls, I think to myself.

After returning from my trip I noticed my neighbors had taken down their front walls and fences to their yard. On second glance I saw the people who live below me and removed their chicken coop and a nearby shed. In fact, everyone around me had lost part of their yards and were open enough for all the world to see. I admit I used to dislike the Soviet-style housing which blockades in people’s yards but it made sense for privacy and to house the animals. I checked to see that I still had a toilet and spoke with my landlord about who I needed to speak with. He informed me that the governor claimed he didn’t know I lived here and asked if there wasn’t anything he could do to make my stay more comfortable. Leave my toilet! I think to myself. I don’t want any special treatment-I just want my place to remain intact for the rest of my service.

The next day I went to the ex-comm’s office to speak to the head man and was told he wouldn’t return until the end of the week. So I spoke with another man and asked that he wait two months until after I leave to take away the toilet and steps. He asked where I lived and said they would leave it although I still check daily to see if it’s still there or not.

my toliet and [what's left of] my yard.

It turns out in order for any property to remain  the government wants money. People who have just installed a new shower/bathroom and months to years of salaries to pay for it have seen it all taken away. Those with chickens had to sell them because there’s no where to keep them. I question why this is deemed top priority when Z still has multiple water and gas problems. Fences are taken away instead of spending efforts to repair the holes in the floors of the schools. People in my town are living at and below the poverty level in—where does this man think the people will get the money to pay him off? I feel indignant at how difficult their lives are and this just adds another reason for people to struggle and be unhappy. Yet my time here is only temporary and I will leave this life. Those around me will most likely remain.

It’s frustrating that in some ways I see so much regression; life is getting tighter and more difficult for the nationals. If this is how things continue to go where will AZ be in 5, 10, 20+ years? A scary thought…

I never thought I’d come to love my outhouse squat toilet so much.