How hungry must you be to go shopping in a rubbish bin, eating the detritus of passers by. It's a question that has haunted me this past month since I drove through the little town of Fish hoek, with my camera poised to take photos of bins for a new project on waste management. Four of the dustbins along a one kilometre stretch of main road had men scrounging inside for food, cigarette stompies or whatever else they could find. Two were obviously homeless but the other two looked fairly normal. I have the photographs. I look at them and think "you are just the tip of the iceberg, the few who are visible". The others are invisible at home, too tired or stranded by the high transport costs to travel from township areas to business areas. Some are choosing between food and rent. Some have no choice and just fall off the edge, and once you fall off the societal edge of bank accounts, montly payments, credible references, a home, kids going to school etc., its almost impossible to claw your way back. How can you get a job if you can't wash or clean your clothes. In South Africa the plethora of older white pensioners standing on street corners or walking through traffic with placards saying "please help me" underscores how severe the situation is. Similarly, the row of young strong black men sitting along the pavements or sidewalks in all the areas asking for work, any work for any money, underscores how few jobs there are and the pointlessness of trying. If I had to choose between my family starving or crime, and I had no other options, I would choose crime so how can I blame those who have to make that choice, even though it affects me.
Last week my neighbour hobbled across the road, and said there had been a man at my front door whilst I was around the back. He took a photo. A young black man in blue overalls and a bright yellow shirt is striding across our front garden. When I look inside my house, my wallet is gone, as is my partners mobile phone. Gone. Two days ago I look up from my computer, and there is a man at the glass doors looking in - he had crept around the back of the house and not through the main gate which is now locked. I am alone and scared. Thank God the glass doors, usually open were locked. I shouted and he went away. My partner chased him. This is the fourth time someone has come when the owner from the upstairs part of the house has gone out with her big dogs. So it means someone or a few people are watching us. Ready to pounce. Now I am scared and I get nightmares of aggressive men, known as "dark man dreams" that can be a wake-up call, a warning that something has gone wrong in the outer world - metaphysical or physical, planetary or just for me. We need to pay attention or something will be taken from me or from us.
The situation is likely to get worse, far worse with the upcoming uncertainties revolving around the climate change patterns that see an overall rise in temperature of at least 2 degrees if we are committed to changing our behavour fundamentally or 6 degrees if we continue along our current path. You know the saying: "If you keep doing what you are doing, you'll arrive where you are headed", and thats a very scary place - more hurricanes, more droughts, more tsunamis, more displaced, more poverty, more hunger, more crime, more of all the things we don't want.
Another measure of wealth talks about social capital, about our social worlds of people that we can help and people who can help us. We talk about the concept of Ubuntu "I am because we are" and what this means for our everyday lives. Its not just about networking but building social and economic ties that don't depend on the price of oil. It's about building relationships within and between social networks. The community exchange system (see www.ces.org.za) is a way of building social capital. The transition towns talk about building local economies and local livelihoods. We need this to build our resilience in the face of rising global crises and uncertainty. The importance of resilience is something I am learning to truly understand - the ability to cope with adversity and stress. It is understood as a process rather than a trait, and something we all need to develop.
