Post-a Rica: Trip in Review (The White City)

Liberia was the closest city to the Earth campus. It is also known as the White City because the ground on which it is built is all volcanic tuff (or limestone, depending on whom I asked). In Liberia's less developed days, most of this white rocky dirt was exposed, and when the wind blew, everything got coated in a fine white dust. There are some areas outside of Liberia where this ground is still visible.

On one of our days at Earth, we took a trip to one of the communities students were working with, a squatter's village on the outskirts of Liberia. It was surreal to drive through the paved streets of the city, turn a corner in a residential area, and suddenly be in a dusty, blindingly white landscape.

We spent the morning helping out with an Earth project, building a garden for the community. The people mostly make their living from scavenging the nearby dump for sell-able goods. The hope was that they could begin to grow greens and vegetables for sale as well.

There were only a few sources of water in the area--7 hose spigots scattered throughout the neighborhood--so we started off the work by filling the water barrel of the man who lived in the house in front of the garden. First we filled a carload of plastic jugs, then brought the jugs up to the house. Like many of the materials the man used, the jugs were scavenged from the dump. Below is a picture of Jacob filling the barrel with one of the jugs. After we were done filling the barrel, one of the students pointed out that the writing on the jug says (in Spanish): Danger, Toxic, Floor Cleaner. She said that it's pretty common, that scavenging from the dump often means reusing jugs that used to hold nasty chemicals or collecting leaking batteries.

Part of the hope with the project was that the garden would provide a safer and more reliable way for people to sustain themselves. Below is a picture of the growing beds that we helped setup. The beds had to be level to keep the water from just pooling on one side. At first we were just doing it by eye, but then Patricia broke out the iPhone level.

Below is one of the coolest versions of the Topsy Turvy I have ever seen. They would cut the legs off of jeans, stuff the legs with dirt, hang the resulting sausage off of a nearby tree, then plant tomatoes in holes cut into the denim.

What was left over after all these jean planters were made? The largest collection of Jorts I have ever seen.