Better together

It's always better to do work projects together.

Well, in island thinking, anyway.

And I get it. A lot of activities require some step that is just plain labor intensive. For example, the other day I was learning to make these lovely snacks:

Bhajias

I'd arranged with a friend who would teach me to make bhajias, I'd gathered a group of friends to all learn together, and our "teacher" had told me the things to have on hand:

  - small red beans

  - onion

  - garlic

  - eggs

  - spices

  - oil for frying

She told me to soak the beans the night before, so they'd cook well on the day of. The ladies all gathered, and 10 minutes after the appointed time I called our "teacher" to make sure she was on her way. She was, but she said we could get started before she got there.

"Take the skins off the beans" she said.

The skins... off the beans? I verified.

Yep, that's what she'd said. So we spent the next hour and a half peeling 1 pound of little red beans.

But islanders are used to doing things together. Many of their projects are time consuming, but accomplished as a group. Peeling beans, pounding leaves, shredding eggplant, grating coconut. And for the men there are projects like road grading and cement pouring, building houses and neighborhood cleanup. So many things require many hands, or even if they could be done by one person, they're more fun done as a group.

So we gather a group, we do the tedious work, and we enjoy the companionship and the joy of an accomplished task.