And Then Something Extrordinary Happened...

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These past few weeks have been interesting, to say the least. Much has happened, much has changed.
When I left off, we were about to board a dhow from Mombasa to Zanzibar. That journey, slated to take ~16 hours, took closer to 40. It was incredible, and dhow is my new favourite means of transport. My most vivid memory of the trip was sitting out over the front of the ship, legs dangling over the cargo below, with 4 of sailors. We sat for hours - in a motionless silence- from sunset to stars to the first shades of light before the sun hits the horizon. The ocean has this way of numbing the mere human into a trance and holding one captive with memories, thoughts and ideas.
Anyhow, we arrived at the Zanzibar sea port under the cover of darkness without a Tanzanian visa, or American Dollars to purchase a Tanzanian visa. In the darkened back room of the immigration office, one of the sailors bargained our way into the country with an 'estimated exchange rate' on the Kenyan shilling. It was hardly a shining moment as a traveller, but the whole experience was quite hilarious.

Its the off- season, so Meg and I managed to score our own bungalow on the beach at Paje for quite cheap. Our first day, Meg and I randomly wandered into a random house in the village by the beach. It was the house of Chris and Ally, two local artists, who we ended up spending the rest of our stint in Zanzibar with. We painted, we danced, we stared at the stars... it was relaxing and much needed time to process all of the 'global- perspective' that was so overwhelming from before. (I painted a canvas of 2 Masai warriors, up for silent auction at the first SEED fundraiser, i think my mum is my only hope for a bid..)

And then... and then something extrordinary happened. I can't say what, but I have to mention it because it changed the course of the rest of the trip.

From Zanzibar, we made a random executive decision to take a detour and head to Bagamoyo, where Ally grew up and went to art college. Bagamoyo is a small fishing town, just outside of Dar Es Salaam that houses the ridiculously chill College of Arts in East Africa. It was 3 days of dancing, biking, swimming, connecting and philosophizing which all culminated in a Beach Fire that changed my life. It was me Meg and Ally and about 15 guys from the college, we sang, we danced, drank the godforsaken local brew... it was a feeling of 'letting go' that we all need to do more of. (The best song was this song about a beach fire, why not sing about a beach fire? we all need to sing about the randomly cool things in life more often).

I picked up this random book before I left, the CBC Massey Lectures from 1986 by Doris Lessing. The lectures were cool, but its the title that Meg and I have found the most relevant. It was called "The Prisons We Choose to Live Inside". Its incredible - the things we are capable of convincing ourselves of. I was writing a paper for a class before I left - apparently, according to this interesting evolutionary biologist named Robert Trivers, the human mind is especially geared towards self- deception. (This is why i think we are so prone to becoming addicted to consumption, we so easily disconnect from our nature, ' the prisons we choose to live inside') Its interesting to ponder.

Ive been doing a lot of thinking about 'rights of passage'. In Masai culture, boys of a certain age are sent out into the bush to fend for themselves for a period of three months. The journey is supposed to mark one's 'right of passage' into adulthood. I guess life is, esentially, one big right of passage. But we grow in spurts. There are times in our lives that we grow, change, develop, and learn so quickly that its overwhelming, intoxicating even.
Life, dude. It blows my mind.

As for learning - I find myself doing more 'unlearning' than actual learning. Primarily, its rediscovering the joys of sharing that I once knew as a child. (Sharing food is particularly fun and not done quite enough in our land, we should work on this.) Meg and I have begun to learn from each others strenghs more: she's teaching me to regain my sense of wonder and im teaching her wonderful-ness that is prioritizing people.

I came to Africa to do the impossible: to understand poverty from the outside and find myself. I feel really small....I have so much to learn, it scares me. (in a good way)
We have just arrived in Lusaka - after a 2 day train ride from Dar- about to meet Angela anc check out our placement at the orphanage.

Look forward to my 1- bowl foodsharing party upon my return.
Till next time -beck

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Comments

[eileen]

u inspire me becko
now u got me questioning my 'prison' miss u keep on sharing--- need more of u