So, some interesting things happened today. The first of which was that my landlord
came over and planted bananas in my compound. He wouldn’t let me dig even after I told him that I am an
agriculture volunteer and it is my job to dig. I personally believe that he didn’t dig deep enough, or wide
enough. Although his digging
skills were no match to mine, he did add manure, dry leaves, and green leaves
to the hole before placing the banana suckers in it.
So, then later in the day I bought some notebooks for one of
my friends cause he doesn’t have any money. After I hand them to him he said “thank you very much my
n****er” I immediately turn to him
and very sternly and assertively tell him that the “n” word is not a good word
to use, and is extremely disrespectful.
I don’t think he understood.
This of course is not the first incident where I have been called the
“N” word. I tend to blame rap
music. It is all they listen to,
and because the word is used so often they assume that it is an appropriate
word to use in everyday language when talking with Americans. It makes me very uncomfortable. Even now I am not comfortable writing
it even though it is merely to explain a story that happened to me.
So, then I got into this huge argument about malaria. The guys I hang out with were convinced
that they were not able to get malaria because “the only people that malaria
are children under 5 and pregnant ladies”
It made me very upset to hear this, and to also hear that because they
thought this way, they refused to use mosquito nets. We made some phone calls to other volunteers that they
trusted, and then we were able to ask a doctor and she explained it all to
them. I did a great malaria
workshop without even trying.
So, then we were watching tv. It was some frenchy national geographic like thing on some
tribe in Rwanda. This was probably
the most interesting part of my afternoon. Watching an African tribe on a national geographic-like tv
show with other Africans. They
could not believe what they were seeing.
Every few minutes the whole house would be filled with laughter. It was interesting to see how different
Africa could really be. From one
part of the continent to the other, things are drastically different. They were aghast at the body cuttings being
done, and the huge lip discs and enormous earrings. Then they were all laughing whenever a naked man or woman
was shown. They were so interested
by the other culture, and it really hit me that there is so much diversity on
this continent. This family was
really freaking out at what was happening on the tv. The best was when the Rwandan tribe was putting on paint and
washing in a river. Everyone was
naked and washing each other.
Hilarity ensued at the house I was at.
In America we sometimes assume that all of Africa is in tribes
that have war paint, masks, and ceremonial cutting. I watched this television show with people that wanted to
hear the newest Akon album and wear American clothing. They were in utter shock at how other
people in Africa behave. In many
ways Africa is more like America than we assume, of course then you have half
clothed (or naked) men running around beating each other with sticks.
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