One of the reasons I got a bit of a giggle out of the new item was that it shows how much power musicians have, for good or other. A PVC pipe here, a PVC pipe there and whole villages are affected. It's not as if they can say that "taking one little piece of pipe won't make much difference" because of the nature of water, which needs complete pipe system with no gaps. I wonder how the musicians feel when they want a drink of water at home. Do they see the connection (joke!) between their own actions and the consequences for themselves or others?

If the musicians weren't playing for tourists would they prefer bamboo pipes? Is it an economic necessity to use PVC because it is not a question of quality of sound but a question of making money to live on. Or is the musical quality better with PVC than bamboo?

Interesting ethical and analytical questions.

And Bee-dubya-ell, that's what I thought too. Why doesn't the government just give out free PVC pipes? But then again, are they imported from elsewhere and are they really expensive? But then you could work something out, surely. But the other thing is that there has been some serious violence happening in the Solomon Islands recently, so maybe life is very hard there and there may not be as much sense of community and governing for the communal good - in the way that we perceive it, and in fact in the way that we probably take it for granted.

Okay, I just did a Google and this is the first page I looked at. The picture is not at all pretty.

CIA World Factbook

"Ethnic violence, government malfeasance, and endemic crime have undermined stability and civil society. In June 2003, Prime Minister Sir Allen KEMAKEZA sought the assistance of Australia in reestablishing law and order; the following month, an Australian-led multinational force arrived to restore peace and disarm ethnic militias."

(Note: there was a white missionary family killed and the father was beheaded, I think. Recently an Australian police man, sent over from here, was killed.)

"Government type: parliamentary democracy tending toward anarchy"

"Legal system: English common law, which is widely disregarded"

"Economy - overview: The bulk of the population depends on agriculture, fishing, and forestry for at least part of their livelihood. Most manufactured goods and petroleum products must be imported. The islands are rich in undeveloped mineral resources such as lead, zinc, nickel, and gold. However, severe ethnic violence, the closing of key business enterprises, and an empty government treasury have led to serious economic disarray, indeed near collapse. Tanker deliveries of crucial fuel supplies (including those for electrical generation) have become sporadic due to the government's inability to pay and attacks against ships. Telecommunications are threatened by the nonpayment of bills and by the lack of technical and maintenance staff many of whom have left the country. The disintegration of law and order left the economy in tatters by mid-2003, and on 24 July 2003 more than 2000 Australian soldiers entered the Solomon Islands to restore order and to facilitate the restoration of basic services."

Makes you want to count your blessings, doesn't it?

Helen