Earliest Memories #10: Scavenger

Supposedly, this man along with a few other people in the town where I used to live when I was younger, paid people for scavenged materials such as metal, paper and bottles that could be plastic or glass. It was in fact the father of one of my classmates in grade school. At the time, I did not really think what the man did to those "trash" that were brought to him. But it's clear that there was money to make by acquiring such items and it makes me think now how appropriately he actually paid people for the things they've brought him. But it's not that important now. All I can remember is that I too have been to a scavenging run around town in search of anything that was metal, glass, plastic or newspaper. He would weigh the other materials and just measure the height of the newspaper scavenged. Thinking now, it wasn't exactly the best way of going about it, but it worked for everyone and nobody had any objections with the way things were handled. After all, you need money and it's better than nothing. So the kids scavenged and made some quick pesos by doing so. Not a lot, but I suppose enough to keep doing such an act.

(I wasn't going around naked like this, but we did check garbage for materials.)

It was a nice afternoon. Not too hot, not too humid. Sunny, but you can feel the nice breeze in the air. And it was one of those afternoons where I'd be alone in the house while my grand mother took a nap and my grand father would be either doing the same with a Western pocket book in his hands or face, or busy in the farm. I got bored and so I decided to go around town looking for other children to play with.
I don't remember exactly how I managed to find this group of children. But somehow, they didn't mind me being with them and was totally okay with me just following them around while they went around town digging through places for what I noticed were bottles, pieces of glass, newspaper, pieces of metal and stuff. I asked them what they were gonna do with them and they looked at me like I was crazy or something. They said that this man (who I actually knew since he was the father of one of my classmates) paid for those materials. Then it occurred to me... My grand father, once owned trucks, hand tractors and threshers, had an abundant supply of anything metal laying around the house. Like seriously lots of just metal parts from tractors and jeeps, in good condition or rusting already. But those things were from a time way before my mother brought me in the province. So they were already there and was quite a sight to see for me.

We continued walking around town and the kids seemed to be having not a lot of luck scavenging for things. I mean, I did not really expect them to go with an excellent run. But it was almost disheartening how much time was spent searching for items but in the end, yielded very little harvest. It was kinda fun to me because I got to sort of venture out of my "norm" in terms of the areas I frequent in town. I was able to see some parts of it that I've never been before. I helped a little bit looking and picking up objects for them. But in reality, I was not interested at all in the money. I was lucky enough that if I asked for some cash, I'd be given what I asked for most of the time. Not that I asked for a lot since I was just a kid. But I did have the idea that time that if I ever wanted to do such a thing, I have an abundant supply of heavy metal just there at home for the taking. But yes, it was almost fun to me going around the town to scavenge with these kids I didn't even really know. We went to lots of places like pig farms, grassy areas by a river, under a bridge, etc. Wish I could've recorded such an event because I would really like to view that specific memory again. If only technology allowed that, huh? Would've been nice.

Looking back now, it's kinda overwhelming how I can just get out of the house at that age and disappear without anyone in the house knowing. But that is just the way of life in some parts of the country. I was lucky enough that nothing bad ever happened to me during all those years I've spent at home. The worst thing that really ever happened to me there was get hit by a slingshot on the back. Why and how it happened is a story for another day.