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Published: April 19th 2007
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It has been quite some time since I've written on this blog, and I think all of you are due an update on my whereabouts and adventures. I can't really remember the last time I wrote, so I'm not sure where to start! I think this may be long, so i'll try to divide it into chucks for you to read at your leisure.
Please, if you read nothing else, read the last section on Uganda ( Boda! Boda!):
Professional Procrastination: My thesis is coming along at a remarkably slow rate, due mostly to my inability to get anything done during the month of march. I blame it on the plethora of movies and events happening around Durban, and the ever nap-inducing humid heat of this city. Either way, post-the events I will describe below, I am back and in the game. My plan is to start the fieldwork in the next week or two ( once I find a translator, fieldworker, FUNDING-all those little things they don't mention until you're too far in to back out) I'm actually quite excited for my investigative experience.
Lessons on Ubuntu: Several weeks ago I had a horrific day of misadventures
Marloth Park
My temporary home that can only be described as all the negative karma i've accumulated over the past 23 1/2 years surfacing in one 24-hour period. After a terrifying experience of navagating my car through downtown Durban during construction, street name changes ( oh yes, they've decided to rename practically every street in Durban with some ridiculously impossible to pronounce Zulu name like Cimbatquske or something-lord help the tourists) and my general fear of driving a stick shift, I arrived downtown, late for a meeting and it promptly began to downpour. In fact, downpour may be an understatement. Drenched in a matter if 5 seconds, I sought shelter under the awning of a yacht club and was pondering how to get across the street and to my meeting without drowning when a woman from the office behind me asked if I would like to use her umbrella. Entirely unsolicited, she offered her umbrella to me, told me to take it whereever I needed it, and just make sure I was back to return it before 4pm. In a city where you can get mugged for your shoes, this woman's kind trust was a wonderful uplifter to my day, and very much the essence
Marloth Park
The infamous fire pit/lioness scene of what you can unexpectedly find in South Africa at all the right times.
Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh My!: Ever in need of a practically free vacation, I jumped in a rental car with several friends 2 weeks ago and headed up to stay in a South African Rotarian's vacation home outside of Kruger Nat'l Park, in a place called Marloth Park. Marloth Park exists as an almost hybrid between the "bush"and civilization, where people and homes abound, but are carefully hidden behind a labyrinth of trees and bushes, and zebra, giraffe, warthog, and kudu roam freely. Yes, thats correct, we had zebra roaming through our backyard. The house we stayed in was built quite along time ago, of bricks and mortar, by the hands of the current owner and his family. It has no electricity, no modern amenities, but all the charm and relaxation in the world. Reading through the old visitors journals we found one particularly exciting story of previous guests, 3 years ago,who were eating and talking by the fire when a kudu came galloping by. Caught in an instant of uncertainty about what was going on, the guests froze as a lioness stepped
Kruger
Elephants on parade out of the dark and ran after the kudu, chasing down the night's meal. After the fact, they found out that several lions had escaped from kruger, into Marloth, and were seen by multiple residents before tracked down and returned. Ah, life in the bush. We were, in fact, lucky enough to see several lions on our journey through Kruger, and to ward off several seeming elephant attacks. We found one lioness ( along with about half of the people in Kruger) wandering sluggishly down the road. A look at her under belly revealed an enormous gash that left her insides somewhat seeping out. Unable to hunt, she was slowly dying/starving, and seemed to be walking down the road in a delusion, unaware that she was passing right by our car window. It was a phenomenal sight to see, but also a sad reality of survival of the fittest.
Boda! Boda!: After the brief sojourn to Kruger, I headed up to Uganda for 8 days, at the expense of the African Institute of Community Driven Development, to attend a conference they were holding, in exchange for writing a report on the conference. I definitely got the better end of
Kruger
Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the sick lioness on my camera, so you'll have to make due with a rhino instead. the deal. The conference brought community based workers from Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, and Lesotho together in a colorful meshing of background and ideas, and it was fascinating to hear about all their different experiences. I was also able to spend some time visiting ( and shopping!) in Kampala, and took a boat ride out on Lake Victoria. I also ( mother, forgive me) took a ride on a Boda! Boda!, the local motorcyles that everyone there uses to get around. The name stems from the reign of Amin, when the borders were shut between Uganda and Kenya, and the only transport that could slip through was motorcycles, whose drivers would yell "border, border" to attract those interested in crossing, advance 30 years and now we have "boda, boda's" all over the place.
By far the highlight of the trip was my second to last day. I was given the opportunity to travel 2 hours north of Kampala, into the rural area of Luwero. Luwero was ground zero of the civil war which took place in the 80's in Uganda. Hundreds died monthly, and the entire area was ravaged. Luwero, along with much of the country, looks like its infrastructure
Uganda
Budding entrepreneurs! hasn't been touched for at least 40 years. I was asked to go and interview several Community Based Workers engaging in a Forestry Project, trying to spread the importance of saving Uganda's forests, and the symbiosis that could exist between man and tree, if only people took the time to consider. What I found was truly an instant of pure inspiration. In the midst of rural poverty, scarce resources, and virtually no agency, 40 men and women had gathered to create a community organization dedicated to growing trees and raising bees. Only 3 years in they were already turning a substantial profit, and incredibly curious and motivated to learn how to do more. They had set goals of each member having saved 500,000 Ugandan shillings within 3 years, and created a group savings fund that could help new members to join the process, even if the lacked the initial capital. As we drove through the area, and saw numerous small tree plantations connected to the proud eyes of each man and woman sitting with me in the vehicle, I was completely and totally dumbstruck, at a loss of words to convey to these people that it was not their privledge
Uganda
Boda,Bodas! to have me see their work, but mine to receive the inspiration and lessons they had to offer. All of this sounds terribly idealistic and poetic, but it was really a life-altering moment for me, and perhaps the first time I really truly felt and understood the feeling of promise, opportunity, change that Africa has to offer, the knowledge that in 5 years things might be totally different, yet values still the same. I am intent on returning to Uganda someday.
Okay, I think thats all for now. Sorry for the length but quite a bit to catch up on, I miss all of you very much and think of you often. Please stay in touch!
As a side-note, I am currently trying to find a source of small start-up capital for the organization I mentioned above, so that they can acquire a few more acres of land and thereby qualify for gov't small agriculture assistance. If anyone is aware of organizations or funding opportunities for small enterprise or forestry, please let me know!
MUCH love,
Lauren
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