Suburbs

I think we might finish the surveys today, after the team worked above and beyond what was expected of them and did 10 days’ work in 6. We are finishing in an outlying district of Nanning, south of the river. It is only 25 minutes away by taxi but based on the reactions of the local team you’d think was in a remote and hostile place. Apparently you don’t go south of the river unless you have to.

The volunteers left to collect their surveys for the day and I went to take some pictures of this lady selling vegetables from baskets. She didn’t seem to mind (even when I politely declined her offer of a bunch of onions) but I used to work on a market stall and I know how annoying it can be when people want to take pictures without buying anything. All of her customers were women. In fact almost all of the people here are women buying vegetables, taking children to ballet, running errands or exercising. I asked where the men were and one guy I work with said ‘men work hard all week, they need a special reason to go outside on a Saturday morning’. Which I assume means that women don’t do anything all week.