Getting stoned with Rastas and seeing the invisible

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The Rastafari movement is a monotheistic religion that began in Jamaica in the 1930's and is estimated to have around 800,000 followers worldwide. The movement is based on the belief that Haile Selassie I, emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974 is another incarnation of the Christian God (Jah) and that Selassie is the second coming of Jesus Christ on to the Earth. Proponents of the movement, called Rastas for short, believe that Jesus Christ was black, but that he has been depicted as being white in order for the white Christian movement to gain control and world dominion over all peoples. Most people know Rastas only as Ganja smoking, dread-locked, Bob Marley fans and until coming to Kenya, I had never actually met a Rastafari in person.

Joseph, our Kenyan friend, that I have mentioned in previous blogs is a Rasta and there are a few other followers in Moshi. After lunch one afternoon I headed to the open air second hand clothing markets with another friend Alex, whilst Jayde went back to Joseph's friends house with our German companion Andrea and a couple of other Rastas. I was gone for a good 2 hours before I made it back to meet up with the others. The house is occupied by a number of young guys and as such there is a constant stream of youth floating in and out of the place all day long. Alex and I came in through the back door and as soon as I stepped in to the house I was almost knocked off my feet by the wall of ganja smoke. It was easy enough to find everyone even though the house was a maze of rooms and corridors - we just had to let our ears guide us to the sounds of Marley and our noses guide us to the source of the smoke. And there we found them... a room full of Rastas, smoke, reggae and two Mzungus (white girls), Andrea sprawled out on the floor semi-conscious and Jay-dee sat on the edge of the bed, hugging her knees and rocking back and forth, red-eyed and smile from ear to ear! Stoned with Rastas in Tanzania. Nice!

It was the first time we had hung out with people our age in their house in Africa and it was great to actually get in and see how these guys live. All of these boys are quite well off, working in the safari industry, so the house was very comfortable for African standards. They had a huge stack of DVD's and one of the guys asked if we had seen a movie called Invisible Children. None of us had.

EVERYONE SHOULD DO THEMSELVES AND THE WORLD A FAVOUR AND WATCH THIS MOVIE.

It is a documentary, filmed by three young American guys that wanted to see if one story really could change the world. Their search for a story brings them to Northern Uganda, where over the last decade or so, the Lord's Resistance Army has reportedly abducted over 30,000 children to use as soldiers in their fight against the Ugandan government. Kids between the ages of 5-11 are generally targeted , as they are the easiest to brainwash and terrify. These children are taken in to the bush and trained to kill. They are indoctrinated by being forced to kill other abductees and even their own relatives... The documentary tells of the encounter with children that travel in to the towns at night because they are too afraid to stay in the village in fear of being taken by the LRA soldiers. The film is harrowing, but everyone should find the time and the strength to watch it. The film has evolved in to a charity organisation, the positive results of which are incredible and inspiring.

We recently travelled through Uganda to see the mountain gorillas (something I'm nagging Jayde to blog about), but were only in the southern regions, while most of the conflict exists in the north. I was most disturbed by the fact that I am here in East Africa and have recently travelled through Uganda but the media still remains completely tight-lipped about the terror still going on in this beautiful part of the world. I urge everyone to get down to the video store and find this movie. It seems the only way to spread the word and get people talking about the tragedies of northern Uganda.

My next blog will be enjoyable and light hearted I promise 😊

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