10/25和訳：お風呂に入ろう！～非電化工房＠オーストラリア

屋根の上に黒いパイプをとりつけ、すでにあった50リットルの給湯機につなげるだけで、あら不思議、夏の間中 給湯の電気がいらなくなりました。曇りや雨の日に"バックアップ"してくれるのはソーラーパネルです。全部で260ドル(約2万円以下)でした。

写真
１．黒いパイプ (コスト：100ｍのパイプ＆取付け合計178ドル)
２．パイプをまっすぐ伸ばす
３．給湯機につなげる(万が一爆発したとき停止させるための弁も付ける)
４．最大限に太陽光を得るためパイプを平らに巻く
５．それを屋根の上に乗せる
６．完成。わたしたちの屋根に太陽スパイラルが！

次回は、太陽光で温められた湯を保つため（魔法びんのように）、発砲スチロールで給湯器を断熱させるつもりです。

すごくシンプル！パチャが心地よくお風呂に入りました。 （翻訳：田尻可枝）

We're in hot water! - Atelier non-electric.

We put some black pipe on the roof, plumbed it through the existing 50 litre hot water system, and (hey presto), no need for electricity for hot water system over the summer. The system can still be 'boosted' by our solar panel electricity panels if it's a rainy/overcast day. It cost around $260 in total.

Photos:
1. black pipe - (material cost: $178 - for 100m pipe and fittings)
2. straightening it out
3. plumbing it into the hot water system (with valves to be able to shut it off in case of any burst pipe)
4. laying the pipe into a flattened spiral to get maximum sun
5. putting it on the roof
6. finished - we have a sun spiral on the roof!

I'll be insulating the existing hot water system (with roof insulation/styrofoam) next so that it acts like a hot water thermos to store the sun heated water. Pacha just took a lovely hot bath - so simple!

Holiday Fun

Pacha and Yani just finished their school holidays; circus school, surfing, auditioning for a TV show and just hanging out with friends at the beach...what a life!

10/10和訳：家族の平和をとりもどそう

これを読むどのご両親も、私が言わんとする事に心当たりがあるでしょう。それは、あなたのお子さんたちがお互いに喧嘩をしている時の落ち込んだ気持ちです。人前で、またはご家庭で、激しく言い争ったり、お互いの名前を大声で呼び合ったり、暴力をふるい合ったり・・・こんなことは、めったに起きることではないかもしれませんが、そうなった時は、平和的な解決法を見つけたり、自分自身のストレスによって彼らに対して自分を見失わないようにするという、最も難しい課題に直面します。（あぁ、特にあなたが一生を平和と癒しに注いで来た時には。）

ある朝、バス停まで歩いていると、ヤニが胸が悪くなるようなオナラをしながらくすくす笑い、「おっと！」と言いました。私がヤニに「あなたは昨日、凍ったお豆を好んで全部平らげてたでしょ？」と言うと、パチャが歌を歌うような甲高い声でからかいながら言いました。「はは。ヤニは今日一日中クラスでずっとおならばっかりしているおバカさんなんだわ。」私は立ち止まってパチャを見ると、なぜその様な事を言うのか尋ねました。聞いて心に傷が付くと分かっている事を、なぜ彼女は言ったのでしょうか。

パチャはきまりの悪そうにして、このような事をいいました。「えーと、私、学校ではあんな事言えないわ。たぶん、ヤニなら、弟だから、からかっても大丈夫だと思ったからよ。私が他の人からからかわれたら、それに対して何もできないもの。」

私たちは歩きながら、人と人との接し方や学校で誰が誰をからかっているのか、もう少し話を進めました。そしてパチャはヤニに、からかってくる人がいたらどう言い返せばいいかアドバイスをしました。（ヤニが「友達が、僕の息は土みたいな臭いがすると言ったよ」と言うと、パチャが「そしたらあなたは、その友達の息は牛のウンチみたいだと言い返せばいいんだわ」と言いました。そこで私は「違うよ、そんな事言ったら単にもっと良くない状況になるだけよ。その子の息はバラの花びらみたいだと言って、笑わせられるかも知れないのよ」と言いました）

今朝はバス停であるお母さんから、彼女の息子さんが以前親友だった友達からいじめを受けていることについてアドバイスを求められました。私ははっきりと、その友達は自分の周りにある葛藤を他の誰かのせいにすることで、自分のイライラを吐き出しているんだと答えました（特にその誰かは、自分が一緒にいて安心できる人だったりします）。そしておそらく、彼女は自分の息子さんにこの事を説明して、そういった感情はどこから湧いてくるのかよく知る手助けをするのが一番いいのではと言いました。

おそらくこれが、家族があることの大事な目的なのでしょう。世間との関わりをいったん休み、閉じ込められたストレスを吐き出せる安息の地を安全に提供しているという事です。だから、私達も大人としてたまには、傷つけるのは自分を許して次に進んでくれる大好きな人だけに限られる安全な場所で“道を外れる”事が必要なのかもしれません。

私には答えは分かりませんが、好ましく、尊敬できる、優しい振る舞いが最もいい例えなのではと思います。また同じバス停で話した他のお母さんは、パチャが学校でいつもヤニを探していて、手助けしていると教えてくれました（へえっ！）。

約一ヶ月前、友達が子どもを二人連れて家に来ました（思うに４歳と６歳の子でした）。ヤニは午後中ずっと彼らと一緒に遊んで、夜ベッドに入る時にこう言いました。「ママ、あの男の子達はすごく仲がよかったよ。何でも半分こして、喧嘩もしないし。この子たちと遊びたいな、ママ」。
（翻訳：小山邦子）

Striving for family peace...

Striving for family peace...

Every parent who reads this will know what I mean; that sinking feeling when your children are fighting each other. In public, or in private – arguing, calling each other names, even physically harming each other…it may not happen very often, but is among the hardest challenges of all when it does; to find a peaceful resolution and to not ‘lose it’ with them in your own frustration. (My gosh, especially when you’ve dedicated your life to peace and healing!)

On our morning walk to the bus stop Yani giggled as he let out a squicky fart; ‘whoops’, he said. I said; ‘oh-oh - you really loved eating all those frozen peas yesterday didn’t you?’ and then Pacha piped up in a sing-song teasy voice: ‘ha-ha, Yani’s going to fart all day in cla-ass’. I stopped and looked at Pacha and asked where that comment came from; what made her say something she knew would be hurtful?

She looked embarrassed and said something like this; ‘well I can’t say anything like that at school, I guess it feels safe to tease Yani, cos he’s my brother. When I get teased by people I can’t really do anything about it.’

We talked some more as we walked along about the way people treat each other and who teases whom at school. Pacha gave advice to Yani about what he should say back to someone who teases him (Yani: ‘he said my breath smelled like earth’ Pacha: ‘well you should say that his breath smells like cow poo’ and I said, ‘no, that’s only going to make the situation worse, maybe you could make him laugh and say that his breath smells like rose petals’).

This morning a mother at the bus stop asked for advice about her son who was being bullied by someone who used to be his best friend. I said for sure he is just letting out his frustrations, transferring the blame for the conflict around him on someone else (especially someone he feels ‘safe’ with) and maybe it’s best to try to explain this to her son to help him realise where the emotions might be coming from.

Maybe that’s one of the main purposes of families, safely providing a haven for releasing the pent up frustration with the rest of our interactions with the world. I guess that’s why, as adults, we also need to ‘off–load’ from time to time, in a safe place where ongoing harm is limited to the people we love who will forgive us and move on…

I don’t know what the answers are, but good, respectful, kind behaviour is the best example of all. At the same bus-stop morning conversation another mother said that her son said that Pacha is always looking out for and helping Yani at school. (whew!)

And about a month ago I had a visit from a friend who brought along her two sons (4 and 6 years old I think). Yani was playing with them all afternoon and when I put him to sleep he said: ‘Mum, those boys were so nice to each other, they shared everything and they didn’t fight...I like playing with those boys Mummy…’.

Thunder rumbles while the sun shines...

 

 

October 1, 2011

Today the weather reflects my feeling.

There is the sound of thunder in the distance, but the sun is shining and fluffy white clouds scatter the light in constantly changing patterns.

I imagine the courageous people in Wall Street (and Bolivia and Greece and Ecuador and so many, many places in the world) standing up for justice and freedom and the protection of the planet. I visualise the courageous people of Japan seeking and speaking about the truth of the nuclear disaster and calling for change. I see African mothers carrying their children in a desperate search for food.

I can hear thunder, but I take the chance in enjoying the beauty of the moment – the last chance of unbridled joy before running to take cover…Pacha and I chanced the risk of the storm this morning and went riding in the forest together (see photo)…it was the right decision.

It has already been 2 weeks since the Living the Good Life festival in Iluka (photo included is of some recycled fashion parade entrants). It was a beautiful weekend and everything went smoothly, thanks to wonderful people who came in and gave their time, energy and talents to share with the community who participated. Organising the event was exhausting and it takes time to recover, yet being so ‘busy’ was a kind of satisfying distraction. Now the challenge is to convince myself that it was all worthwhile and an effective way to shift minds and hearts to a more happy, healthy and sustainable way of life.

I learnt so much more about the resistance most people have to change and to new ideas. Do you remember the story from last year about the cautious reaction from the PTA (P and C committee) about using banana leaves instead of disposable plates for healthy vegetarian snacks? Well, this year I tried to encourage other Iluka community groups to raise money for their causes by selling this kind of food – but none of them took up the offer. (In the end it we ourselves did it, raising over $600 for the school food gardens by selling healthy vegetarian food.) Recently I heard that the idea of using banana leaves to serve food was one of the reasons why…All we can do is continue, with good heart, with truth and enthusiasm and with love – whatever happens at least we know we are full of good intent.

So now it’s time to reflect, re-energise and refocus on the most effective, sustainable and joyful ways to be of service. It’s time to give some more attention to Pacha and Yani - we’ve been singing, dancing, surfing and playing the guitar together, talking and sharing about the important things in life, engaging and interacting with the beautiful nature around us. One of our chickens (Olivia) has gone ‘clucky’ so we’ve put some fertilised eggs under her and Pacha and Yani (and their friends) can help nurture and observe the full circle of life.

The thunder has passed by for now, we live in the moment and are ready for when it returns another day…