Pit Raider

When I was teaching in the UK, my students (well, my year 7 and 8 boys) had this phrase that they used. “Bin Raider”. It wasn’t a complimentary phrase and was aimed at another student who was rummaging through the classroom bin…usually because the aforementioned boys had thrown this student’s pencil in the bin, or the student had mistakenly thrown their homework in the bin instead of the scrap paper. It was a bit of teasing that usually ensured that no one spent too long with their hands in the bin. I have to admit it though… in the past 5 months, I have become a bin raider…or more accurately, a pit raider.

Zambia, or Kabwe at least, doesn’t have a rubbish collection service. Instead, all our rubbish is taken to the back of the property, dumped in a pit and periodically burned. Maybe not the most environmentally friendly process, but it does ensure less rubbish lies around. Recently I’ve, well, I’ve taken to raiding the pits.

Now, before you get concerned that I’m not getting enough to eat or that I’m living on the streets, let me say I’m fine. More than fine. I just have a new perspective on what’s useful and what’s rubbish. One man’s trash they say…

I’ve come to realise that people throw away some interesting things. Maybe my view has changed now that I can’t access materials as easily as I would have in Australia, but my brain is starting to tick differently and see potential in rubbish. Broken pieces of tiles are the perfect ‘hot pot’ place-mats. Melt a bit of wax on the bottom to give them small feet and they are ready to go. And speaking of wax and candles, glass bottles make perfect candle holders! The bottle tops from the glass bottles can be covered in chitengi material and sewn together to make earrings, pot holders, coasters and even counters for my maths class. I collect the cardboard from all the cereal boxes (thanks to the American family living next door who go through a lot of cereal!) to create other teaching resources, and I’ve cut coke bottles in half to make pot plants for my growing herb garden. Tins and plastic jars get washed up and become storage containers for cutlery, sugar, beans, popcorn and water.

Old tomato crates become cupboards when stacked on top of each other and I’m working on a clothes line from some scrap pieces of down pipe – currently I’m hanging my clothes over the pool cleaner, using bits of string to hang the socks and undies. I found an old basketball hoop and so I bought a bit of rope and it’s now hanging up at one end of my pool. My pool is now a fairly nice basketball court! I found some strong, yellow grass, stripped it down and tied the pieces together to form a decorative wall for my herb garden. Wait until you see pictures of the mosquito net frame I’m building!

I’ve been filming a new promotional video for the college and I had the problem that the microphone on my camera is not great for audio…but my phone is. A quick trip to the pit later I had an old piece of pipe and some rubber from a truck tire and voila! Homemade boom mic.

All in all, I love it. The challenge of taking something that others call rubbish and useless and turning it into something beautiful and useful. My eyes are changing, and seeing things from a different light in the DIY world also reminds me of the way God often sees us. Broken, ugly in our sin, feeling worthless and thrown away, God redeems us, makes us beautiful and gives us purpose and a place as his children.