If I’d gone to Africa to help those ‘worse off than myself’, I’d have missed so much. Absorb the Culture however you can. Take years over that. Then…
….. you may become of some use to the people of that culture, if that’s what they, and you, so choose.
The Lodge where I came to ‘volunteer’ in their ‘social program’ was the reason I first came here. I soon found friendliness was a universal mask to hide distrust of white people. Probably engendered by the Director who treated her staff in an utterly dictatorial manner; the staff expected other white people to report everything back to her. They put up with the shouting and demeaning behaviour because jobs are impossible to find so even the pittance they get paid makes it worthwhile to them.
But over the years I’ve just been myself and slowly got accepted. Friendships, like with Isaac Kazembe, who sadly died a few years ago. A reprobate, highly intelligent man, provoker of the colonial power (Britain), fighter, and in later life elder of the Church. We grew from antagonistic respect to loving each other as brothers.
Here’s some stories, some descriptions, some very cool events that I’ve been privileged to be a part of as slowly friendships grew and I became accepted for what I am. And then from there, getting ideas of how to make our life run a bit easier, seeing if they resonated with those friends.
You can see a list of stories
and general interest articles
by selecting the category ‘Culture and Projects’ from
the menu at the top of the page.
Ulingana 