Peddling

Peddling is a mode of trade that is as old as mankind no doubt. The origin of the word may be hidden in the entymology of our Greek, Latin and who knows what heritage. But in our current corner of the world, the English word might easily be mis-spelled by the novice with a single 'd' given that the bicycle, and therefore literal "pedaling" are so universally associated with the trade. It is actually such a delight at times to see the adaptability of the bicycle to the mobile worker and salesman.

      

This fellow for example, makes us wonder how "Fred" and friends ever survive in a city where these are available in every neighborhood. And with this in mind, we do wish to admit that after capturing two and trapping two of the small rodents in our apartment, there have been no more direct sightings, although a few calling cards warn us that the clan may be inclined to be more "clan-destine" in their operations! And it's really only been a few hours since the last capture. We might start a lottery on how long it will be to the next one.

Several mornings a week, we will pass women adorned in the traditional conical non-la (literally "leaf-hat") heading down one of the main boulevards with their bicycles fully stocked with feather dusters, straw mats and so forth, usually quite uniformly arranged, as though countless ages before them have designed the perfect lay-out for display and relative amounts of product mix required to please their customers.

More seasonally, flower-sellers stand by their bicycles with arrangements or bunches of lillies, lotus, orchids, gladiolus, chrysanthemum and roses to adorn family altars or office rooms. I've been interested to note that these are often discaarded while still (to my eye) near their prime, though this may be a function of our neighborhood of business houses, and upper class larger dwellings. 

Fruit vendors are a bit more random,

       

depending on the crop of the season, but large wire baskets, and broad trays of woven reeds display pomelo, limes, madarins, and other citrus, as well as other fruits. 

For those without the means of a bicycle, hand-carried trays of small items- hair clips, lighters, key-chains, and playing cards are often plied to those relaxing at a sidewalk refreshment station. And this morning, I saw a pair of pack-back carrying boys toting nice shoes between lunch spots to tempt the patrons. 

      

Somewhere hidden beneath this array of colorful temptations to the childhood imagination is a two wheeled bicylce and it's rider. Wide-angle mirrors required! Besides conventional produce sales, toys and household supplies, we've been interested to observe what kind of scale this trade operates on in these low-overhead situations. One of the best bargains in this country is the availability of crisp baggettes, a fine heritage of the French colonial period. The mass-marketer of VN and other parts of SE Asia is "Big C" which has one of it's larger outlets a 15 minute walk from our home. Among their discount offerings are fantastic, fresh from the oven baggettes in various sizes, but the most popular is the 400g size running the length at around 36 inches, which on today's sales tape were offered at 5,500 VND, or just under 25 cents. So it probably shouldn't surprise me that whenever we go to buiy them there are often a number of other retailers in line literally filling their carts with loaves to resell along the roadway or marketplaces within a radius of the center. Even considering their markup of something on the order of 50-75% they have to turn a lot of volume to cover living expenses.

                                  

I'll conclude this peddling post with a short comment about what constitutes a bicycle here, and therefore is able to avoid license fees and the obligation to wear a helmet, though it is still a good idea. Looking at this line-up of four vehicles, it might be rather hard to detect which two fall under the definition of "bicycle."

        

My finger in the photo hides the clue of one, which actually does retain "pedals" in the event the battery exhaustion, but the fourth cycle looks more like a lean Vespa-style motorbike, without any pedals and a large battery to power it through it's range of 60-80 km. Most are lead-acid driven, but some run on higher efficiency batteries. Given the number of small engines running this city, we are supportive of efforts to go a little "greener."     

While we are neither "pedal-ers" nor "peddlers" there are some who might sometimes think of our search for new members and our teaching as a sort of sales pitch we seek to make to as many potential customers as possible. But our experience with what we are doing is anything but "transactional" in nature. It is highly relational, meaning that the interactions we have are establishing relationships, friendships and brotherhood, often deep beyond words, fulfilling as only love-based experiences can be. When we return home tired and worn, it is not from the depth of physical exertion, but from the emotional exhaustion of having drawn out our hearts to the extreme to nurture, soothe, comfort, instruct and love others. And yet that emotional or spiritual fatigue is immensely motivating and validating. After a recent day in which our hours were spent comforting and counseling with a wife who was at the end of her emotional rope (and hence leaking tears of sorrow and frustration) with a marriage in which the walls and barriers were high and thick, meeting with leaders who were also anxious about the stability of the branch seemingly held together with baling wire in some areas, and flimsy wet noodles in others but who were nevertheless determined to never let it fail, and then teaching our class to a mix of grandmothers, mothers, future fathers, and aging maids, followed by another period of comforting individually those who were struggling with a child, or the (not helpful) angry response of a spouse to a confused and scared child who was retreating into his own escape zone, we returned home with a sigh of fatigue, but incredibly humbling awe that God had put us here in a position to minister to these very needs. The challenge to "pedal" his bike, to pass along his balm, and to love his children in all their joys and hurts as He does, is great, but also greatly satisfying beyond words.

One further joyful moment that deserves mention was being part of the joy and exhileration as young NQT opened his mission call this afternoon. The combination of anticipation, eagerness, excitement, fear, and elation as the suspense was pushed aside to read of his call to the Cambodia Phnom Penh mission was sweet. But far sweeter was the powerful hug we shared as this commonality of effort and purpose was celebrated and contemplated.