To Have A Village, We Need To Be An Active Villager.
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
Three personal stories about community and collectivism.
by Zhou Fang, Intersectional Group.
We hear a lot of “It takes a village” in different contexts. “It takes a village to feed people.” “It takes a village to raise a child.” “It takes a village to cure a patient.” “It takes a village to complete a project.” etc. What we often don’t think about is: “Who lives in a village? What does this village actually do?” Today I am sharing three personal stories about the village and villagers: to have a village, we need to be an active villager.
Story One: Henry’s Annual Holiday.
Henry is my dog and he has a lot of friends. His friends’ owners are my neighbors and friends. Every year, I go home in China to celebrate the Lunar New Year with my family, and I try to travel in Asia while I am on that side of the world. This creates a fun problem: I am gone for about 4 weeks at a time and my dog needs someone to take care of him. As much as I’d like to support local businesses, I can’t afford a month-long stay at a pet hotel. So what do I do? Ask for help from the village. A few years ago, I created a system (aka, a spreadsheet, lol) that allows folks to “sign up” to be Henry’s host. For example, if I am gone from January 30 to February 28, I would send the spreadsheet to a few families for them to pick the dates they are available to host Henry. So that every family hosts him for a few days at a time. Not every family would be available and sometimes one family ends up hosting him twice. How does Henry go from one family to another? On the spreadsheet, every family leaves their contact information and their notes about pick-up and drop-off. The hosts coordinate with each other for the transfers. What do I do? I make sure that everyone has Henry's care instructions, everything he needs from food to toys, from baby wipes to hair brush. I also include emergency contact on the spreadsheet, such as his vet, the hospital, and a couple of friends who volunteer to be an emergency contact. And of course, my contact and itinerary information is included, as well.
The result? Henry gets to have a holiday while I have mine. His friends get to have a friend around for a few days. My gracious and generous friends, aka his loving hosts, send me photos and videos of the dogs playing, eating, and sleeping together.
You may think, “oh that’s a lot of work” “I don’t have that many names to call” “I don’t want to trouble/bother people”. The “I don’t want to trouble/bother people” is perhaps the most “non-villager” way of thinking. Because it also indicates that “I don’t want people to trouble/bother me, either”.
To have a village, we need to be a villager. Which means that we need to be willing and happy to give to and receive care and help from neighbors, friends, and family. Henry doesn’t have friends because he’s cute (well, he is kinda), he has friends because he makes friends. The same rule applies to humans: in order to have a village, we need to be a participating villager.
When I am in Portland, you can often find me hosting someone’s dogs, too.
If you'd like to try the "pet goes on holiday" method, here is a template:
Story Two: Cats in the Mountain.
When we were traveling in Taipei last month, my boyfriend took me hiking. The cool thing about this hike is that it’s right by a residential area, where the locals go hiking regularly. A challenging hike, also a fun hike, where we needed to be on all-fours from time to time. To our surprise and delight, we saw three cats “hiking” with us, seemingly unafraid of people. Two of them were even friendly and said hi. Then we saw cat food along the way, and heard the local hikers talking about the cats. It is clear that these cats are residents of the mountain and the locals feed them regularly. They even have their own names. It is safe to say that these cats consider themselves owners of the mountain and they have a group of good people caring for them.
A village that truly cares is a village that's worth being in.
Story Three: Dragon in the Village. A Real Village.
During the Lunar New Year, we visited a village near Guilin (my hometown) that’s called “Dragon Meeting Village” (Yùlóng Cūn in Mandarin). The name comes from the river where the village’s livelihood depends: Dragon Meeting River (Yùlóng Hé in Mandarin). Because of this beautiful river, along with the karst-mountains and village-charm, Yùlóng Cūn, the whole village, became an economic example for "specialized and localized economy” in the region.
One particular event during the holiday is called “Golden Dragon Raft Tour” (Jīn Lóng Xún Yóu in Mandarin), where up to 77 bamboo rafts are connected, led by a “dragon raft”, cruising down the river and generating prosperity for the year. Each raft is steered by a skilled villager, coordinating with each other to keep the “dragon” steady and in formation. Being one of the tourists on one of the rafts was a fascinating experience. It seemed so hard to propel a giant dragon made by 77 bamboo rafts while keeping it dragon-like. Yet, the whole operation was smooth and none of the rafts broke off or even made a mistake. All raft operators are villagers from Yùlóng Cūn. Many of them and their families likely have other jobs such as agriculture, running a restaurant, a hotel, or at some local offices.
Together, the villagers at Yùlóng Cūn keep the Dragon well and alive.
Final Thoughts: Being A Villager Requires Action.
When we say “It takes a village”, we acknowledge that it takes real work and effort to make something happen. What is lacking, usually, is the action of being in a village and acting like a villager. We talk about the importance of community and interconnectedness, yet, when it comes to “what do we do now?”, many of us become quiet.
There is no real hope without action. Hope is carried out and carried on by action. We can’t manifest our way out of scarcity, isolation, and loneliness. To achieve real abundance, we need to act like we mean it when we say “it takes a village”.
Now, go be an active villager.
Your fellow villager,
Zhou Fang / 方舟
