As my birthday approaches, I find it hard to control my love for birthdays! My time in Benin has taught me that I really do love a good celebration, a jovial gathering of people! I love the good spirits, tasty food, laughter, tears and communal silences that come with a celebration.
For birthday celebrations I enjoy the that a group of people, whether in the same place or not, are celebrating an individual. In my mind, birthdays are a time when we stop and acknowledge another's inherit uniqueness, and our thankfulness for the commencement and continuation of a life. Quite simply, a birthday celebration is beautiful in it's celebration of life, and the joy it brings us.
I think I'll expand on this post later, but I have to do some work!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
An African Kindness
While Peace Corps advises against being out after eight pm, I often am. In my village I feel like I have more reasons to trust than distrust the people.
That said... I was out riding my bike yesterday evening. I started around twilight, but that soon spilled over into the night. I was just playing around on some new roads the county has made in order to encourage development and further urbanization of our region.
I ended up on the main road that eventually hits Kalalé. When I was about five Kilometers out I decide to turn back. First a couple of friends who were passing on a motorcycle stopped and asked me what I was doing so far out at this hour. I explained how I love exercising in the privacy of the night, a time when I don't have to be seen and thus people won't feel so obliged to stop me as I do so.
Soon after they keep heading into town, someone else comes up behind me on their motorcycle and says keep going, and proceeds to trail me so that I have a stronger light and an escort the last four kilometers or so into town. I asked who it was when the person decided to accompany me, and it turned out to be a friendly acquaintance. I insisted that i felt safe and liked the night, feeling bad that he had to slowly follow me. But i found that i felt deeply comforted by his patience and kindness in choosing to quietly accompany me. He tried not to get to close, and smiled gently when I tried to tell him to go ahead. It was as if he understood that i desired privacy, but he still wanted me to enjoy it safely. To respect the quietness of the night and yet gently insist on looking after me, AND enjoying the time with me- I believe this is indeed a great kindness.
That said... I was out riding my bike yesterday evening. I started around twilight, but that soon spilled over into the night. I was just playing around on some new roads the county has made in order to encourage development and further urbanization of our region.
I ended up on the main road that eventually hits Kalalé. When I was about five Kilometers out I decide to turn back. First a couple of friends who were passing on a motorcycle stopped and asked me what I was doing so far out at this hour. I explained how I love exercising in the privacy of the night, a time when I don't have to be seen and thus people won't feel so obliged to stop me as I do so.
Soon after they keep heading into town, someone else comes up behind me on their motorcycle and says keep going, and proceeds to trail me so that I have a stronger light and an escort the last four kilometers or so into town. I asked who it was when the person decided to accompany me, and it turned out to be a friendly acquaintance. I insisted that i felt safe and liked the night, feeling bad that he had to slowly follow me. But i found that i felt deeply comforted by his patience and kindness in choosing to quietly accompany me. He tried not to get to close, and smiled gently when I tried to tell him to go ahead. It was as if he understood that i desired privacy, but he still wanted me to enjoy it safely. To respect the quietness of the night and yet gently insist on looking after me, AND enjoying the time with me- I believe this is indeed a great kindness.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
No, sir, not Junk!
"Junk! Junk!
No, sir, not Junk!
Junk! Junk!
No, ma'am, not Junk!
Bricabracs, brickbats
Knitting needles, Knick- knacks!
Kickshaws! Curios!
Camisoles! Cameos!
But... Junk!
Junk!
No, sir, not... Junk!"
~Excerpt from "Dandelion Wine," by Ray Bradbury
Recently, as I was reading some Bradbury, I ran across this dreamy little chant. While the story it comes from is supposed to take place in a locale that seems like late 19th or early 20th century America, it reminded me of modern day West Africa. The chant recalls the realities of a place so poor it can not afford to be wasteful. Soap bottles, and mayo jars; inter-tubes, tomato paste cans, school notebooks, and pesticide containers- all useful to a common African. Pages are torn out of school childrens' notebooks, and used by merchants as a wax paper of sorts for handling locally made cakes; while mayo jars, if collected, are valuable enough to be resold to those wishing to reuse them for homemade peanut butter, nuts and bolts, or other foods and odds and ends. Tomato paste cans become a serving place for the natives' traditional soap; while the well-loved, modern motorcycles' pierced inter-tubes are cut into long, stretchy cords, that used to strap a load of goods together for transport. We say the United States loves efficiency, and I think this is true, but I think here, in this land of people struggling to survive, and if possible develop, I experience a different type of efficiency. The people here are slow to act as if they think just any old thing is "junk," or trash. Africans would consider a Western landfill a good second hand hardware stores of sort. Here it is part of everyday life to reuse resources of many sorts, even though not all possible resources are reused.
I admire the creative reuse of resources by the people of Benin, West Africa. I believe that wealthier nations can indeed take a page or two from the books of less developed nations. I believe that traditions that come from an understanding of humankind's connection to the natural world can help us to be more efficient and conservative in our use and reuse of resources. I say this because I realize it is not just poverty that drives locals to save things, and make treasures from what Western people might call junk; no, no, it is a way of life that has been passed down through many generations of West Africans. They seem to understand that if one conserves the world's energy, then you help to conserve your own energy in the future. The idea that all things take our energy comes from a people that draw water from a well, thus understand using water recklessly will means more work tomorrow. While the Beninese are at times very wasteful in some respects, I believe that they may be able to offer part of a new, but ancient way and example on how to conserve the earth's resources. I believe that to live well in the future it'd do us good to continue to research more efficient technologies and such, but I think it'd do us well to embrace helpful traditions and ways of life that can be found in our world's large cultural heritage. Yes, I've taken a page from postmodern philosopher - there is a need to move forward as a world community, but we can not totally abandon our community's traditions.
No, sir, not Junk!
Junk! Junk!
No, ma'am, not Junk!
Bricabracs, brickbats
Knitting needles, Knick- knacks!
Kickshaws! Curios!
Camisoles! Cameos!
But... Junk!
Junk!
No, sir, not... Junk!"
~Excerpt from "Dandelion Wine," by Ray Bradbury
Recently, as I was reading some Bradbury, I ran across this dreamy little chant. While the story it comes from is supposed to take place in a locale that seems like late 19th or early 20th century America, it reminded me of modern day West Africa. The chant recalls the realities of a place so poor it can not afford to be wasteful. Soap bottles, and mayo jars; inter-tubes, tomato paste cans, school notebooks, and pesticide containers- all useful to a common African. Pages are torn out of school childrens' notebooks, and used by merchants as a wax paper of sorts for handling locally made cakes; while mayo jars, if collected, are valuable enough to be resold to those wishing to reuse them for homemade peanut butter, nuts and bolts, or other foods and odds and ends. Tomato paste cans become a serving place for the natives' traditional soap; while the well-loved, modern motorcycles' pierced inter-tubes are cut into long, stretchy cords, that used to strap a load of goods together for transport. We say the United States loves efficiency, and I think this is true, but I think here, in this land of people struggling to survive, and if possible develop, I experience a different type of efficiency. The people here are slow to act as if they think just any old thing is "junk," or trash. Africans would consider a Western landfill a good second hand hardware stores of sort. Here it is part of everyday life to reuse resources of many sorts, even though not all possible resources are reused.
I admire the creative reuse of resources by the people of Benin, West Africa. I believe that wealthier nations can indeed take a page or two from the books of less developed nations. I believe that traditions that come from an understanding of humankind's connection to the natural world can help us to be more efficient and conservative in our use and reuse of resources. I say this because I realize it is not just poverty that drives locals to save things, and make treasures from what Western people might call junk; no, no, it is a way of life that has been passed down through many generations of West Africans. They seem to understand that if one conserves the world's energy, then you help to conserve your own energy in the future. The idea that all things take our energy comes from a people that draw water from a well, thus understand using water recklessly will means more work tomorrow. While the Beninese are at times very wasteful in some respects, I believe that they may be able to offer part of a new, but ancient way and example on how to conserve the earth's resources. I believe that to live well in the future it'd do us good to continue to research more efficient technologies and such, but I think it'd do us well to embrace helpful traditions and ways of life that can be found in our world's large cultural heritage. Yes, I've taken a page from postmodern philosopher - there is a need to move forward as a world community, but we can not totally abandon our community's traditions.
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