Village life

As I got up at 5, my inner voice told me to go walk in the park, so I donned my sports outfit, jogged down 14 floors, and walked to the park, which is only 200 m away. It was still dark when I started brisk-walking the track, which is attractively laid out. And I realized that my village wakes up early, at least some of its citizens. Several early risers were already walking, stretching, jogging, some alone, and some couples enjoying togetherness, walking hand in hand.

It seemed like a daily routine, because a few cats who were observing the proceedings from the edge of the path did not move an inch when I walked by closely. I enjoyed my morning walk, and on returning to my apartment I decided to walk up the stairs in stead of taking the lift. On Saturday mornings, the park hosts a market, which I will make sure to visit next time.

Wassenaar, the village where I grew up does not have any high-rises like Salcedo, yet is not at all rural either. As a suburban abode of the Netherlands’ seat of government, it hosts lots of diplomatic residences and up-market though small shops, and I enjoyed many walks in its parks, and bicycle rides in the dunes close to the sea.

In contrast, the village of Celab Bu’ung where I am developing my Bali home is very rural, and lacks the amenities I have taken for granted in the towns where I have lived so far. Whatever comfort is needed, I will have to create in my own compound. And yet, it has abundant charms of a natural environment and beautiful people, and I look forward to explore and enjoy living there later on.

Yesterday, I listened to the mayor of one of Metro Manila’s cities explain how she turned it from a non-descript bedroom suburb into an award-winning liveable community for its 500,000 souls, featuring a river-front jogging park, broad sidewalks without vendors, a healthy public market, affordable low-income housing, wifi-enabled schools and public buildings, and more than 50 km of bicycle tracks with 30,000 users. It took the husband-and-wife mayoral team 15 years of vision and values, legislation, social marketing, and enforcement to achieve this, and she is brimming with more ideas.

Through these musings, I am discovering that village life is about living and connecting with the people around me, about making my place of residence into a home, and about contributing to the community that hosts me. All around me, there are people who want to make the world a better place, starting with life in their "village".

Photograph: Small offerings are part of daily community life in Bali.