My first week of orientation in Johannesburg South Africa was INCREDIBLE! The group I am with is amazing and this is going to be an incredible semester. There are a million things I could tell you about our 10 days here. Including a Homestay in the Soweto Township, speakers from the ANC, Afrikaners league, and a man who spend time as a political prisoner with Nelson Mandela on Robbin Island. But instead I’d like to go into detail about an experience I had on my homestay.
On the last day of my homestay I was privileged enough to get the chance to attend an African funeral. It was like nothing else I have ever experienced. When we first arrived to the house there were people everywhere. It was like the entire community came out and then some. They piled into the streets and then the casket came out of the house in a procession. It was a very simple casket with makeshift handles on the sides and carried by 4 men in the finest suits they could afford. The coffin was placed on a table outside the house and the singing began. A few short speeches were made ( the whole thing is in Malawian by the way) and then there is a dialogue between the preacher and the woman who was leading the singing. It seemed like they were having a debate back and forth on what the fate of the dead man was which I hope came to a happy ending. Then the men lift up the coffin again and put in on the back of a cow-drawn cart. And a procession starts. But this is not just walking, it’s like dancing. Its this stomping/marching movement that keeps time with the ongoing songs and chants. Once we clear the neighborhood and get to the street the coffin is put in the back of a car. Everyone else gets in a huge bus. This is when the funeral really gets rolling! This bus is like a block party; no joke. The ride to the graveyard is a whirlwind of sound and music and noise. They sing these amazingly powerful songs and chants and they hit the ceilings and windows while stomping there feet. NO ONE SITS. The songs are beautifully complex layers of overlap and the beats created are unique and somehow fit with the overall sound. Ironically we were so loud we probably woke the dead. Part of me wishes that I knew what they were saying, but the rest of me is glad I didn’t. We get to the site and not only do the songs and dance continue, but the get louder and even more passionate. Everyone gathers around the grave that his family had dug earlier. A prayer is said and then it is quiet. This is a time to just start singing any song you want and everyone with going in to sing and dance with you. Only the family sits. What struck me the most was the grief and power behind their song and dance. It was heart wrenching and hopeful at the same time. Some just collapsed in grief. During all this the coffin is lowered into the ground. Once it is, the family that can stand put the first shovel full over the coffin. Once they relinquish the shovels there is an eruption of movement. All the men come forward, be they 9 or 90, and pick up the spades. With no regards for their fines suits or white shoes, they wade into the dirt and begin to lay a final blanket over their departed friend. Some of the older men get tired and the teenagers relieve them. All the while the women are dancing and singing around the grave. The men fill in the hole with vigor and relieve each other as they get tired. Then the songs begin to slow as the grave reaches completion. They stopped and three women begin to sing a beautifully somber song while two men sculpted with their hands the mound of his grave with such tenderness that I was moved to tears. So softly as if they didn’t want to wake him. Flowers were placed on the fresh grave. Then a very elderly man from the family comes to the front and thanks everyone for coming then invites us all back to his house. And the funeral is over.
But it is Malawian tradition to invite everyone back and have a party to celebrate the lives of those still living. There are mounds of food and ginger beer everywhere. Malawians are a very hospitable people. Therefore it was apparently a big deal that I was there. They took me in the house and washed my hands and feet and fed me. It was the only time in Joburg that I felt truly safe and welcome. And not because I was white.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Conclusions
SORRY
I am just awful at this whole blog thing. But I thought I’d write some closing remarks seeing as how my work in Namibia for the summer has already come to a close. Looking back I’ve decided to approach this in a very un-Crowley-Buck-child way (omit David of course) and approach the expense of my time in Namibia in as a business venture. Therefore, the following is an incident report detailing different pros and cons of my time and its overall value in the greater long-term efficiency, significance, and preparedness of my pre-professional time in the world. (I know right?). Lets investigate shall we?
Nights that I got sick: 14
Amount of times I had to eat meat straight from the carcass with my pocket knife: 7
Times someone got my name right: 4
Number of German swearwords I now know: 5
Times I got mugged: 3
Number of kids I fell in love with: 23
Namibian handshakes received: 14
Number of times I was attacked by guard geese: EVERYDAY
Tears: 5
Times I got the local dancing right: 0
Times I tried: 20 +
Caught the flu: 1
Languages attempted: 5
Not ending this list like a MasterCard commercial…..priceless.
With all this accounted for I can sincerely say that these were some of the most exhilarating weeks of my life. Everything just feels different in my life. And I don’t even know if I made a dent! Things just move differently in Africa. Its like time goes by the beat of your heart and the pace of the sun more than dials and ticks. Its moments not minutes. It is more likely that you’ll see a smile looking at you one the street than ahead bowed or someone on a cell phone. You’re more likely to be confronted with good company and a sincere curiosity in a person when you‘re asked how your day was or why you’re smiling, then the usual polite indifference. I think I learned more patience and compassion from my class than I think any other opportunity life has given me for it.
It has not been ‘all-fantastic’ though. And seeing as how the two countries I have found myself in lately have no thought for Human Rights added to the fact that the path I’ve chosen to pursue will be a frustrating and lonely one. And that’s the trick of Human Rights. There are no quick fixes. It’s a lifetime of trying to change ideology, not policy. All I could hope for is the knowledge that it is possible that somewhere along the line I could have helped plant the seeds of change or set something in motion. Or that I just didn’t make things worse. We never know the ripple effect of our actions right? Oh well! If nothing else I’m blessed with the opportunity to have spent time in such an amazing country as Namibia. With its noble past and promising future, I’m happy to have had a chance to have been a part of it. Well, onto Doha!
I am just awful at this whole blog thing. But I thought I’d write some closing remarks seeing as how my work in Namibia for the summer has already come to a close. Looking back I’ve decided to approach this in a very un-Crowley-Buck-child way (omit David of course) and approach the expense of my time in Namibia in as a business venture. Therefore, the following is an incident report detailing different pros and cons of my time and its overall value in the greater long-term efficiency, significance, and preparedness of my pre-professional time in the world. (I know right?). Lets investigate shall we?
Nights that I got sick: 14
Amount of times I had to eat meat straight from the carcass with my pocket knife: 7
Times someone got my name right: 4
Number of German swearwords I now know: 5
Times I got mugged: 3
Number of kids I fell in love with: 23
Namibian handshakes received: 14
Number of times I was attacked by guard geese: EVERYDAY
Tears: 5
Times I got the local dancing right: 0
Times I tried: 20 +
Caught the flu: 1
Languages attempted: 5
Not ending this list like a MasterCard commercial…..priceless.
With all this accounted for I can sincerely say that these were some of the most exhilarating weeks of my life. Everything just feels different in my life. And I don’t even know if I made a dent! Things just move differently in Africa. Its like time goes by the beat of your heart and the pace of the sun more than dials and ticks. Its moments not minutes. It is more likely that you’ll see a smile looking at you one the street than ahead bowed or someone on a cell phone. You’re more likely to be confronted with good company and a sincere curiosity in a person when you‘re asked how your day was or why you’re smiling, then the usual polite indifference. I think I learned more patience and compassion from my class than I think any other opportunity life has given me for it.
It has not been ‘all-fantastic’ though. And seeing as how the two countries I have found myself in lately have no thought for Human Rights added to the fact that the path I’ve chosen to pursue will be a frustrating and lonely one. And that’s the trick of Human Rights. There are no quick fixes. It’s a lifetime of trying to change ideology, not policy. All I could hope for is the knowledge that it is possible that somewhere along the line I could have helped plant the seeds of change or set something in motion. Or that I just didn’t make things worse. We never know the ripple effect of our actions right? Oh well! If nothing else I’m blessed with the opportunity to have spent time in such an amazing country as Namibia. With its noble past and promising future, I’m happy to have had a chance to have been a part of it. Well, onto Doha!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
A New Pair of Shoes
Things are pretty consistent for me right now as far as my days go. But I do make this entry with an example of why I love working with kids and two stories to tie you over. 1st, the end of the month is a very interesting time in Namibia, and 2nd monkeys only eat wrapped food.
Lets begin with the latter shall we? Yes! It is now a confirmed fact: Namibian monkey’s will not eat your food unless it is wrapped, but they also will not leave you alone until they get said wrapped treat. So one might assume that it would be quite a pickle one would find themselves in if they were relatively trapped in a cab with 4 monkeys that don’t seem to want to let you leave.
SIDE NOTE: One expression you should get used to if you ever feel like trying to rationalize what goes on here is, “It’s Africa.” You would be surprised how many problems that phrase answers quite nicely.
Anyway. I was in a cab a good way into the desert when we caught 4 monkey’s attention when we came to a stop. I personally advised honking the horn to scare them off but apparently that just angers them…no thank you. So the driver asks me if I have any food. No I didn’t because it is a good rule of thumb in Africa to only carry just what you need. Well apparently that’s grounds for the cabbie to get angry with me and decide to double my cab fair. As if I should have anticipated the possibility of a couple of monkey’s barring our passage into town and should have packed accordingly. But hey, it’s Africa! So the cabbie goes into his glove compartment and throws out a sandwich and a granola bar that hasn’t been opened yet. One monkey goes to investigate and throws the sandwich back at the window of the car, then it proceeds to open the granola bar and divide it amongst each of its companions to eat on the hood of the car and then leave. Apparently, monkeys have learned in Namibia not to take any food from a person that is not wrapped, much like kids on Halloween. Unfortunately, Namibians used to poison food and give it to them as a way of killing them. But the monkey’s learned quick. They know we have food but they know to only take it if it’s wrapped. And I can’t teach my mom how to upload pictures on the computer! (just kidding Mom, truth hurts).
My second, less fun story is more of a warning. That is: beware of the city at the end of the month. The end of the month is when everyone that works in Windhoek gets paid. Unfortunately, this has many negative effects. First, 90% of businesses close down. Because most workers get paid, they don’t show up for work for the next 4 or 5 days. Instead they all go to the bar. This has the negative consequence of nighttime becoming a lot more dangerous. The end of the month also means a big increase in muggings because those that would steal from you know that everyone has money now and are a lot more bold. Therefore you should take a cab everywhere and even during the day, it’s a lot safer. Finally, the end of the month is very dangerous for our kids at HISA. Those who are abused are in more danger because drinking increases tenfold for the first week of the new month. For me this is a ridiculously frustrating time. The lack of work ethic and duty is enough to baffle me for the rest of the month. It is not rare to see someone carrying a plasma TV or satellite into their home around this time. A home where his or her kids aren’t fed or there is no running water or food. But there’s a new TV or they have a flashy new cell phone. It’s Africa. But that frustration brings me to my final point in this blog: the resilience, kindness, and potential for the future in Namibian children. Twice a week I work with a youth group ages 9 to 16. I mostly just work on their English and reading skills with them. Last Monday I played a game with them I thought up to help improve their English. The idea of the game was to never answer my questions with a Yes or No. For instance, my questions were ones like: How are you? Do you like fruit? Are you in the same school as last year? May I ask you a silly question?
I would go like that till they got one wrong and then they would stop. It turned into this big competition between the boys and the girls and was really successful. But what stood out in my mind way the type of answers I would get for one of my questions. What would you do with one million dollars? Only three students made it that far in the questioning but their responses astounded me. One boy, Joseph (16) said he would buy everyone in the class a new pair of shoes. Sunday, an 11 year-old girl, said she would buy food for a month for her family. And Mbdele (14) said he would buy everyone he knew a winter coat. Not typical answers for pre-teens huh? But it filled me with such a sense of hope. There needs are so simple and selfless. Maybe if we can just continue to care for one another, and teach the generations below us what truly matters, maybe 15 years from now at the end of the month, we’ll see shoes and coats being brought home to family’s and not cell phones and TV’s.
Thanks for reading. I’ll try not to take so long between future posts. And I am very close to figuring out how to put up a slide show of pictures!
Lets begin with the latter shall we? Yes! It is now a confirmed fact: Namibian monkey’s will not eat your food unless it is wrapped, but they also will not leave you alone until they get said wrapped treat. So one might assume that it would be quite a pickle one would find themselves in if they were relatively trapped in a cab with 4 monkeys that don’t seem to want to let you leave.
SIDE NOTE: One expression you should get used to if you ever feel like trying to rationalize what goes on here is, “It’s Africa.” You would be surprised how many problems that phrase answers quite nicely.
Anyway. I was in a cab a good way into the desert when we caught 4 monkey’s attention when we came to a stop. I personally advised honking the horn to scare them off but apparently that just angers them…no thank you. So the driver asks me if I have any food. No I didn’t because it is a good rule of thumb in Africa to only carry just what you need. Well apparently that’s grounds for the cabbie to get angry with me and decide to double my cab fair. As if I should have anticipated the possibility of a couple of monkey’s barring our passage into town and should have packed accordingly. But hey, it’s Africa! So the cabbie goes into his glove compartment and throws out a sandwich and a granola bar that hasn’t been opened yet. One monkey goes to investigate and throws the sandwich back at the window of the car, then it proceeds to open the granola bar and divide it amongst each of its companions to eat on the hood of the car and then leave. Apparently, monkeys have learned in Namibia not to take any food from a person that is not wrapped, much like kids on Halloween. Unfortunately, Namibians used to poison food and give it to them as a way of killing them. But the monkey’s learned quick. They know we have food but they know to only take it if it’s wrapped. And I can’t teach my mom how to upload pictures on the computer! (just kidding Mom, truth hurts).
My second, less fun story is more of a warning. That is: beware of the city at the end of the month. The end of the month is when everyone that works in Windhoek gets paid. Unfortunately, this has many negative effects. First, 90% of businesses close down. Because most workers get paid, they don’t show up for work for the next 4 or 5 days. Instead they all go to the bar. This has the negative consequence of nighttime becoming a lot more dangerous. The end of the month also means a big increase in muggings because those that would steal from you know that everyone has money now and are a lot more bold. Therefore you should take a cab everywhere and even during the day, it’s a lot safer. Finally, the end of the month is very dangerous for our kids at HISA. Those who are abused are in more danger because drinking increases tenfold for the first week of the new month. For me this is a ridiculously frustrating time. The lack of work ethic and duty is enough to baffle me for the rest of the month. It is not rare to see someone carrying a plasma TV or satellite into their home around this time. A home where his or her kids aren’t fed or there is no running water or food. But there’s a new TV or they have a flashy new cell phone. It’s Africa. But that frustration brings me to my final point in this blog: the resilience, kindness, and potential for the future in Namibian children. Twice a week I work with a youth group ages 9 to 16. I mostly just work on their English and reading skills with them. Last Monday I played a game with them I thought up to help improve their English. The idea of the game was to never answer my questions with a Yes or No. For instance, my questions were ones like: How are you? Do you like fruit? Are you in the same school as last year? May I ask you a silly question?
I would go like that till they got one wrong and then they would stop. It turned into this big competition between the boys and the girls and was really successful. But what stood out in my mind way the type of answers I would get for one of my questions. What would you do with one million dollars? Only three students made it that far in the questioning but their responses astounded me. One boy, Joseph (16) said he would buy everyone in the class a new pair of shoes. Sunday, an 11 year-old girl, said she would buy food for a month for her family. And Mbdele (14) said he would buy everyone he knew a winter coat. Not typical answers for pre-teens huh? But it filled me with such a sense of hope. There needs are so simple and selfless. Maybe if we can just continue to care for one another, and teach the generations below us what truly matters, maybe 15 years from now at the end of the month, we’ll see shoes and coats being brought home to family’s and not cell phones and TV’s.
Thanks for reading. I’ll try not to take so long between future posts. And I am very close to figuring out how to put up a slide show of pictures!
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