Happy scavengers

When I was in junior high school, I liked the writer Sanmao. I remember she said that she was willing to be a scavenger, and found some dusty treasures in the garbage discarded by everyone, such as a pot of flowers and plants abandoned by others, or a car tire used as a sofa.

I was a little surprised at that time, because in my cognition, scavenging was really not a fun job. The scavengers I saw in daily life always appeared in a poor, messy and even miserable image.

Peng Bo, whom I met in Shuigui Kangfu Village, luoding city, was the first person I met who really found pleasure in scavenging.

There are still six recovered people living in Shuigui Hospital. On the first day when the water was expensive, all the other five people saw it, except for one Pumbaa, who came to the door of his house full of waste products. Other old people said that he went out to pick up rubbish and was basically not in the village during the day.

it was not until the next morning that we saw him squatting at the door for breakfast that we were able to get in touch with him. Only then did we find out that the pile of waste we saw yesterday was actually his daily necessities: boiling kettle, rice cooker, plug-in and all kinds of disassembled electrical appliances.

Pumbaa has a small goatee on his chin, and looks slim and energetic. When you speak, your voice is loud and your speech speed is fast, which makes you look crisp and determined.

He fell ill and was admitted to hospital when he was young. In his early years, he made a living by collecting pig manure, and later he changed to scavenging. Originally, I guessed that his choice of scavenging might be forced by life, but in the conversation, I learned that in fact, his savings over the past few decades were enough for him to have no worries in his later years, but he was just "idle". Later, after his right foot was amputated and his prosthesis was fitted, he still drove a tricycle out every day. When he mentioned his work, Pumbaa's tone was somewhat proud and cheerful.

"I can go out by this bike, and I can travel around the whole luoding city in one day, just like Confucius traveled around the world!" "

I was a little surprised to notice that he was wearing a gold ring on the ring finger of his right hand. I wondered if he had ever been married. When asked, he said, "I picked it up. I thought it looked good, so I put it on."

Then I observed that he was wearing various plastic bracelets and hair ropes on his wrists, which was a bit funny. Ask again, still the same answer.

So I found that the person in front of me is a little naive and doesn't match his age. He actually likes these things that only children are interested in.

When we were talking, it happened that the village head brought him a New Year pendant from the church, a big red golden rooster. He liked it very much and was delighted. He held it in his hand for a long time before hanging it on the door.

when collecting waste products, Peng Bo will leave some books for himself, especially those in the fields of culture, history and medicine. Seeing that we were also interested, he also dug out a book "Deciphering the Feng Shui of Celebrity Ancestral Graves" and a book "Luoding Scenic Spots" from the room full of things, and explained them to us with great interest.

In fact, he has only been in primary school for a few years, but he is very studious. He regards going to church for mass and singing hymns as an opportunity to learn, so he knows a lot of words. A little knowledge of some words does not prevent him from using them flexibly.

The geographical location of the village is a little special, just at the pass of a nearby village and a main road, so Peng Bo sometimes does some simple bicycle repair work. He writes eight words on his door with chalk: "Car dealership Wan Li" and "laser repair".

I asked, "What is laser repair?"

He: "Laser is high-tech!"

me: "Do you need any high technology to mend a tire?"

he (firmly): "Of course!"

I couldn't help laughing and didn't really tell him what laser means.

In addition to repairing cars, Peng Bo taught himself many skills, such as repairing electrical appliances, simple medical injection care, and cutting hair for two villagers with serious disabilities in the village. There is no doubt that if he had never been hospitalized and left disabled, his ability and diligence would have enabled him to live a good life.

We originally wanted to interview him, but found that he was not an ideal interviewee. He is not good at words and his description of life is too simple. Memory is not clear, sometimes inconsistent. Moreover, I often can't hear his Zhaoqing dialect clearly. But he has a special personality charm, which makes me want to know him.

when amputees use non-electric wheelchairs instead of walking, they sometimes choose to move backwards. I saw such a scene for the first time in Si 'an Rehabilitation Village in Dongguan. A few of us stood on the roadside of the shady path and saw a wheelchair sliding slowly in the distance. The old man in the wheelchair sat with his back forward and kept pushing back with his only leg to make himself move forward. He looked up when he passed us and rowed past us without saying a word. I was shocked inside, which was mixed with mixed feelings of shock, sadness and sympathy.

But the same action, Pumbaa did not make people feel sad, but was very happy. His intact leg is very strong, and he pushes back to the ground with rhythm. The wheelchair moves as fast as roller skating, which makes people laugh.

(The following pictures may make some people feel uncomfortable)

One day, Peng Bo went out to pick up rubbish, and was delayed for some time because of a flat tire repair of a tricycle. When Peng Bo returned to the village, it was completely dark.

Aware of the movement in front of his house, Xiao Chen and I were moved by the wind and ran to squat down beside him to watch him busy.

At that time, most of the old people had fallen asleep, and the village was dark, except for a faint yellow light in front of his house, which reflected a messy pile of things on the ground.

He took out two pieces of bread from the house and put them into the boiling water in the rice cooker together with the chicken he bought. Then he sat on a short bench at the door and poured a bowl of shochu for five yuan a catty.

After dinner with relish, he began to collect firewood and boil water for a bath, and we also helped. Although it is cold at night, it feels warm when the fire is burning. Because the stove is on a pile of bricks in the yard, and Pumbaa is in a wheelchair and has to bend down to make a fire. It seems a little hard, but he still chats with us cheerfully.

I suddenly feel that this situation seems to have some correspondence with his fate. ?

Before contacting Pumbaa, I thought maybe we would meet a silent old man. Because his label is not only a scavenger, a leper, a disabled person with one leg-because of the sequelae of leprosy, but also a lonely old man without companion and children. These identities add up enough to remind people of words like "bitterness in old age".

but he didn't become a closed and pessimistic person because of these.

it's hard for me to define him with words like "open-minded" or "tough". This kind of words is based on the fact that a subject knows his misfortune very well and thinks it is unfortunate, but uncle scavenger, I think he is "big-hearted", or he has a kind of insensitive to misfortune. It seems that he doesn't care about the cramped living environment and his disability. To put it bluntly, he doesn't feel "miserable" at all. What is even more rare is that he has a kind of vitality. He likes some beautiful gadgets, feels sincerely close to knowledge and beauty, maintains the most simple enthusiasm for life, and makes his own life prosperous, simple and happy.

He also made me reflect that we shouldn't use labels to define a person's life state before we really get in touch with him. Some labels, such as "disabled" and "widowed", may be related to their lifestyle, but they may not necessarily determine their living conditions, let alone judge their hearts.

We often make mistakes of course, which is why we need to fight against our prejudices all the time.

When we left, we wanted to take a photo with Uncle Scavenger. He accepted generously, pouted in front of the camera and proudly compared with "Yeah".

text/picture: collecting wind