Learning about life from Africa

Okay, that last post is not entirely true. That’s not all I’m doing.

When I walk, I am usually walking to the BeadforLife office, where I am volunteering (the photo is of the Acholi beaders dancing). BFL is a “poverty eradication” organization, working with displaced, HIV positive women. Simply put, the women make paper beads, BFL buys the beads from them, and then sells the beads in the US. The money comes back and is used for community development; the women are now getting a village! You can read on the BFL Web site how this all happens – it is amazing.

I’m helping the group with some writing projects, and anything else they want me to do. And in return I am getting to know the women of Africa! If I didn’t have this connection to the local women, I might as well be in Kansas.

I have visited the mud-hut compounds where the women live, am learning how to talk to them so I don’t sound so darned American, have helped buy the beads. I am beginning to hear their stories and understand what they have been through. (A lot -- more than I could ever stand.) And, more importantly, I’m learning what their hopes are, how they think.

These women are teaching me something about Africa, and maybe about why people say you take some of Africa with you when you leave. Africa is about the fabric of life, the whole of it. Babies are sick, and die. Spouses regularly disappear. And die. You are hungry. There are co-wives. You can’t afford AIDS treatment for yourself – or your child.

What do you do? You go on, because that is what life is. The women dance and sing in their bright dresses and beautiful beads – and go on. Torkin Wakefield, who started BeadforLife, says: “The poor don’t sit around feeling sorry for themselves.” And our new friend Jennifer says the only other alternative is to go mad.

From what I’ve seen, this has made them see life differently. They see it as a story that includes good times and bad, and that is what is expected. (We, on the other hand, think life owes us something; we DO feel sorry for ourselves.)

These people have to rely on their wits every single day. If your boat breaks down, you’d better fix it. If you don’t have water, you’d better put the jerry can on your head and go get it. The crocodile has three babies on his back, they are so cute. They will all be eaten by some other animal in the next week. It’s just how it is. The fabric of life.