I stepped out of my room and stayed outside listening to the sound on my car stereo but mosquitoes were everywhere. I decided to burn dried grass on my backyard to drive away the mosquitoes whispering in my ears. When I took a page of an old newspaper to light a coconut husk and the dried grass, I saw the leader of the coalition of guest workers group on the front page of the newspaper. It caught my attention because the lady on the picture was holding a placard stating “Costumers Use Candle.”
It was I who handed the placard to the people who were protesting in front of CUC’s offices in Dandan. I dropped by on her invitation to show my support for what they were fighting for and left the place after 30 minutes for another appointment.
I thought a lot of individuals would participate, locals and foreign workers, because everyone on island was affected with what they were fighting for, but sad to say only a few showed up. Why?
A lot of us talking about the high cost of power rate, gasoline and prices of commodities but we don’t act on how we can be of help. We choose to just talk and talk without action.
The next night, I decided to buy candles. One small box had six candles for $1.
I know that the power outage will continue for a couple of months or maybe even a year, so I thought of something to help me save my hard earned money. I remember the coconut husk that I burned, the one that I used in cooking taro leaves for “laing.” Everyone knows that coconut produces oil. Oil can be use in an improvised lamp or lampara, as we call it back home.
I tried to make one lampara using a 50g empty glass of Nescafe half-filled with coconut oil, a piece of used flip-flop as floater inside the glass, a piece of cloth protruding inside a quarter of an inch diameter of metal tube.
Putting all together and lighting it, it produces the same amount of fire for every piece of candle.
If I use one candle a night, then that will be one box a week or $4 a month.
Using improvised lampara will not cost you a penny a night. You don’t have to buy coconut oil; because coconut is all over the island. You don’t have to spend a penny in producing coconut oil because you can do it by yourself without cooking it or you can use used cooking oil. No amount of bad smell will come out from the burning lampara and it is also smokeless.
CUC is now “Costumers Use Coconut” which also complies with the renewable energy program of the government. Coconut oil is so easy to produce without cooking it and used cooking oil is in every household’s kitchen. Try using lampara, it is safe, it saves money and helps protect the environment.
CARLITO J. MARQUEZ
Puerto Rico, Saipan
