Sunday, March 24, 2013

TIA = This is Africa

Yesterday was the big anniversary celebration.  It was fascinating.  I want to post many pictures and I have a bunch, but the internet is not reliable at all right now.  It takes forever.  I will keep trying.  You can see the clothes they had made for us.  Every single person in attendance was wearing an outfit made with this fabric. It was stunning.  There were many dignitaries in attendance including a chief, education ministers and former headmasters of the school.  



Phil Siegrist, my partner in the program, is from Lancaster, PA

We were introduced as "a couple of white individuals."  They did say our names later.  They event was supposed to begin at 9:00 but actually started around 10:00.  It lasted for 6 hours and was outside in the 90 degree heat.  The Africans handle all of this much better than me!  It was a beautiful display of African culture.  There were dancers and drummers and there was a speech from the chief who spoke while a man with a staff stood next to him and someone else held an umbrella over his head.  I have photos that I will keep trying to publish, but the whole thing was amazing and wonderful to be part of.

We went to church today.  It was to begin at 9:00 but actually got going around 9:30.  They had us come to the front and extend greetings from our home churches in Christian fellowship.  

I am learning to be flexible and about African time.  Daily we hear this phrase from our host teacher, "There has been a change in program."  But that is okay, time just isn't as important here.  That is all part of the experience and I will take the advice of Susanna from IREX who told us back in D.C. to just say "TIA"  for "This is Africa,"  and not worry about it.  So to my non-working hairdryer, the spotty internet and to learning to get ready to go when your driver shows up to pick you up, but not before.... to all of you I say... TIA!

2 comments:

  1. Your mentioning of being introduced as "a couple of white individuals" struck a chord in me. As a son in a military family I've moved to and live in many remote places. In many of the places I grew up in (in and outside of the U.S.) I was the only African American. And if there were an African American female, people would try to pair us up. My question to you is; how did you feel being a minority in a strange culture? My experiences as an adult in Sweden, Russia and etc., I felt more as an outsider based on nationality opposed to race; how do you feel in Africa?

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  2. In the urban areas I didn't feel as unique. In this small town, rural area it was a bit different because they actually hadn't met many (maybe any) white people personally, but it didn't bother me. It was just a little awkward at times. Some of them were surprised to find out that it wasn't "strange" for us to see black people and that the other teacher's school here in the states is majority Black & Hispanic.

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