What’s Your Chullu?

The Uros peoples use the Totora (or Chullu) reed for everything. From eating the roots, to burning it as cooking fuel, to using it as medicine, and even as an herb for tea. They make entire boats out of it. They, quite literally, build their lives on it (hello floating islands).

As I list off all of these unbelievable (and yet somehow so simple and sustainable) things, I find myself wondering, is there anything in my life that I use that much? That I rely on so frequently, in so many different ways? What’s my Chullu? Quite sadly, it’s probably my phone.

As the Uros can eat the Totora, I can use my phone to order groceries to my door, or to have food delivered from a restaurant. As they treat their illnesses and cure their hangovers, I look up the symptoms of my illnesses and remedies for them. While they spend days building boats by hand, I use my phone to find directions on how to make/build something, or I find a company that will deliver it already built. The Uros peoples use the Totora as a way to stay connected to the land and their spirituality, and I use videocall to stay connected with my distant loved-ones.

The difference is, though, that I don’t know where my phone comes from. I don’t fully understand how it works or what it’s made of. I have no real connection to the phone itself, only what it can do for me. I’m not saying that that’s a bad thing, but is it really what I want to build my life on?