Ban the use of ‘evito’ and ‘cowboys’

Letters, Normal

LIVING in beautiful Oro for the last five years has helped me to understand the culture.
The Oro people have a very rich culture, especially when it comes to doing “pondo” which refers to feasting, singing and dancing.
However, there is some use of terminologies that has imbedded into the mindset of the Oro people which is seriously affecting the town of Popondetta and the delivery of goods and services to the people.
I want to point out two of those commonly used terms in Popondetta and Oro province.
These terms, I believe are having a detrimental effect on the livelihood of the people.
They are “evito” and “cowboy country”.
 “Evito” means “come back tomorrow”. 
When you walk into any government office in Popondetta, the common term you hear is “evito”.
It is a practice in Popondetta that has become an everyday vocabulary. 
It is not positive because it does not deliver goods and services to the people of Oro. 
“Evito” is a disease and should not be used at all.
“Cowboy country” refers to an outlawed land area where people carry out illegal activities.
It should also be banned. 
A common illegal activity taking place everyday is PMV trucks overloaded with passengers that either come into town or heading out.
People can be seen sitting on the rooftop, standing at the sides of PMV trucks, etc. 
This is an outlawed activity.
The second common sight is the “don’t care” attitude. 
It is very common to see people throwing rubbish, chewing betelnut and spitting red juice anywhere they like.
It is just like cowboys doing whatever they want to do so.
When we stop using “cowboys”, I believe the people will eventually stop acting like cowboys.
If we want to see Oro progress, we have to ban the use of these two terms.
That will change our mindset to be more positive in our attitude towards all aspects of life. 
We will then see more growth and prosperity.

 

Joe Simbiken
Popondetta