Whose Job Is It?

A two day training for human rights monitors, investigators and activists in mediation and negotiation skills turned up some really interesting material, but the most interesting of all had nothing to do with the training. After each meal (delicious!) each person clears and washes their own plate – takes it into the sink area, dumps any bits left into a bucket, then washes under the tap, using a plastic scrubby with soap, leaves plate in the drying rack. After lunch on the second day I came to the sinks – 4 of them – and found them all filled almost to overflowing with dirty water. For a moment I thought there must be something wrong with the drains, but then reached into the first one with my already food-covered right hand and found that the drain was merely stopped with little neem leaves (like bay leaves but smaller) that were in something we'd had for lunch. In a second I’d cleared the drain, the sink emptied, and my plate was done. I then did the same to the other three sinks. As this was happening, quite a few of the others saw me and a couple commented “social service”, with the perpetual big smiles. I thought nothing of it (except a vague feeling that others were rather passive to have left the problem unattended) until the end of the day, when they were giving “feedback” - heaping praise and thanks. One woman said how great I was, even to have shown them that such an important person could have cleaned the sinks! She had learned that they must be prepared to address ANY problem!! [applause] Then I remembered something I’d read about the hierarchical society of India: cleaning is for cleaning people [low caste people] and higher-ups will not clean anything, to such an extent that if something is spilled in the office in the morning it will be left, walked through, dirt spread everywhere, for the cleaners to deal with in the evening when they arrive. Likewise this group of social activists, strugglers for equality, were ready to have the sinks overflow rather than clean. My example impressed them beyond imagining. Here I was the most important person in the place – Madam – and I had cleaned!