Kwenda na Jifunza

I may not have mentioned this before, but one of the major reasons that I chose to come to Tanzania instead of somewhere in Western Africa is that it is almost the closest I could get to the East side of the Democratic Republic of Congo. A lot of my interest in Africa grew out of my interest in the civil war that is happening there. Being so much closer to it, I am realizing that it can be ignored whether there is an ocean between you and it or not. You need to seek out the information and education that you want to get about something. I came here knowing that when I come home I have a responsibility to share what I have learned with the people back home, and I’m slowly trying to figure out what the best way to do that will be.
I can start by suggesting that everyone reading this be proactive in educating themselves about certain conflicts that don’t get covered in the media. They don’t get covered because our major news sources are backed by something like six major corporations and that is it. This of course means that the information is inevitably filtered by what is in the interest of those corporations (I’m not necessarily trying to bash those corporations – yet – I’m just saying that obviously if you are paying for something you are going to want to have a say in what happens with it). The conflict in Congo is one such conflict that gets little to no coverage in American or European media.
The war happening in DRC right now is the worst war since WWII. More than 5 million people have died, and systematic rape is one of the primary methods. The country is blessed with some of the greatest natural resources in the world, but because of that, everyone wants some of it. The major resource that is being exploited is something that is in our cell phones and can only be found in DRC (a little in Australia, but only a very little). The corporations that make the cell phones, and in fact the people that buy cells phones (us), depend on the instability of the region to get cheap access to the mineral. That is only a very brief run-down of only on aspect of the conflict (it’s very complicated), but my point is that we are all interconnected. We all play a role in what is happening there and need to be aware of it. This website gives some good background information: http://www.globalissues.org/article/87/the-democratic-republic-of-congo
On a lighter note, yesterday was pretty much amazing. I went back to the Maasai girl’s school that I went to last week, and this time I brought Alainna, Melendy, Rose, and Sara. We got a tour when we got there and then Kate (the lady giving us the tour) brought us into the classroom and had the girls sing some songs they had been working on. I pretty much started crying. These girls are so wonderful and the sing so loudly (music is so different from the States here).
I can’t help the gnawing doubt that I have about how good it is for young girls to see white people coming in and “helping” them and then leaving. Like, there are plenty of teachers here, what role am I trying to play? But I also feel like this is a place where I can learn and they can learn and we can all just have fun together. We played outside after they sang. There are 84-ish of them and only two soccer balls, so we ended up breaking up into smaller groups and basically broke out into song. We started by teaching them something like the hokey-pokey, which was fun but … why would they need to learn the hokey-pokey? So I asked them if they could teach us something. Oh shit, it was crazy. They were singing these beautiful songs and doing these dance moves I can’t describe…it was awesome. And they taught me some! I got a lot of high-fives because I think I could almost do it. It was sweet because really, their dancing is what I try and get everyone to do with me at school. They make a circle and people go in and out and it’s so fun. Basically, I’m in love. If I can find a way to video or record the singing and dancing without feeling like I’m exploiting their welcome, I will. I’m going to try and spend as much time there as possible and get really good at Kiswahili and maybe learn some Maasai.
I hope everything is going well at home…I guess spring break is right around now? Be safe and make the most of everything! I miss you all, but as one of my favorite quotes by Tennessee Williams says, “Time is the longest distance between two places,” and I will be home in 11 weeks!
Love,
Sarah