04 June 2008

The House of a Friend

My wireless at MaP still isn't working. But tonight I am sleeping over at the house of my student "host", whose house I stayed at a week ago and who I am going to Ghanzi this weekend. Which conviently has wireless.
Tonight I tried a Botswanan meal called "samp". It is made of corn and beans and occasionally vegetables, spices, and meat. Obviously mine had no meat; it wasn't bad, but tasted EXACTLY the same as food that I'd had in Peru when the villagers in front of whose houses we were building a community.
Not much happened today; I had a marimba class during the class day, and marimbas as an SPE. In the SPE, our teacher taught us a song he'd written yesterday - one of two hundred which he has written (including at least four different parts with variations in each part) and memorized. He is truly a genius, with a fair dose of eccentricity which always seems to accompany such musical talent.
Such good tunes...they really stick in your head!

The House of Khan (Tuesday 3 June)

"I'm impulsive. I'm sorry." "It's okay. That's what I love about you."
Bee-bomp.
The sound of happily watching an incredibly lovely movie (despite the seeming mushiness from the lines demonstrated above) being interrupted by my laptop telling me that its charger had been unplugged.
Except…it hadn't.
The electricity went out. Earlier than usual, at about 5:10. Usually it goes out at 6:30 or so – but hey, maybe it will come on again earlier. Either that or there's a serious shortage somewhere.
The Green Cup Challenge would love this.

Luckily I had enough power to finish my movie. It was absolutely brilliant. Title: "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Watch it if you can find it. The shooting is wonderful, and the plotline is original and incredible. Don't be put off by the actors – it is not Hollywood.

Today I had lunch at my English teacher's house, with her and her two children – three and five years younger than me, although you'd never guess by looking at them! I had a great time, and the food was definitely better than the cafeteria! Some nice rice, a good pasta dish, and roti (Indian bread – kind of like a wheat naan) – and I even got to take some back to the boarding house for dinner tonight…although the return of power so that I can use the microwave might be nice. But everything should be okay at room temp too…Or maybe I'll just go to dinner and have it for breakfast tomorrow.
My teacher's house is incredibly beautiful. A lovely tiled, elegant roof rising above a sophisticated stucco exterior opened into a pristine interior with lovely couches and a beautifully set table.

We had cold weather and rain, so badminton was cancelled. Hence, I watched my movie (borrowed from a kind staff member) instead. And enjoyed it immensely.

01 June 2008

Bob the Boss

On Tuesday, a poet from Zimbabwe, Innocent Batsani Ncube, came to speak at our school meeting. He elegantly delivered the following poem on the current political system in Zimbabwe. Although Western press may have lessened their reports on the issue, the election is still causing a lot of strife, and preparations for the 23 June run-off are worrying as they come amidst an air of violence. (You all should know who "Bob the Boss" is in real life...) The deliverance of the poem by Mr. Ncube was incredible.


Bob the Boss

By Innocent Batsani Ncube

B.O.B
I am the ‘bhoza’ of Zimbabwe
I am the bomb
Born of Bona
I am Bob the boss
My people love me
Whether they like it or know it

I am the first and best secretary
Unbeaten in eight major elections
Whether Blair or Brown calls them
Feja feja or feya feya
I am Bob the boss

The commander in chief
The commissar in chief
The secretary in chief
The liberator in chief
The war vet in chief
The intellectual in chief
The warrior in chief
The minister in chief
The governor in chief
The president in chief
Yes, I am Bob
The boss in chief

Triumph after triumph
Since 1980
I came, I saw, I conquered
In Mozambique,
There was Samora Machel
Then came Chissano
Then Guebuza,
I am still Bob the boss!

In Namibia there were the boers
Then came Nujoma
Then came Pohamba
In Zambia, there was Kaunda
Then came Chiluba
Then Mwanawasa
I am still Bob the man!

In South Africa there was Botha
Then came de Klerk
Then Madiba
Then Thabo Mbeki
I am still the boss

In Botswana
There was Khama
Then came Masire
Then Mogae
Now Khama
I am still……

In Malawi there was Banda
Then came Muluzi
Then came
WaMutharika
I am still….

In Tanzania there was Nyerere
Then came Mwinyi
Then came Mukapa
Then came Kikwete
I am still……

The Mois have gone
The Jerry Rawlings have gone
The Abachas,Babangidas
Obasanjos , Eyademas have gone
The Mobutus have died
The Kabilas have gone!
I am still around
As Bob the boss!

Margaret Thatcher came
John Major left
Ronald Reagan was there
George Bush snr left
Bill Clinton left
Dubya found me around
Tony Blair resigned
Gordon Brown has arrived
Who am I ?

I formed SADCC
I was there when we removed the other C
OAU I joined
AU I joined
The Commonwealth I joined, chaired and left
27 UN General Assemblies
I have addressed
Butros Butros Ghali I saw
Kofi Annan I saw
Ban ki-Moon I have seen
I am Bob the boss

My ideology is the ideology
Bobocracy is the name of the game
Bobism the sine qua non

I died for this country
I am Bob the boss
2008 is Bob’s year
One president, one people
One party, one ideology
I am Bob the boss

My people love me
Whether they like it or know it
I am the main man

I am Bob the boss in chief!!!

If You Give a Girl a Shoe...

(Above) Cynthia, of Cynthia's Child Care and Counselling Centre Trust, gives a new pair of shoes to an orphan girl. Both are HIV positive.

I have a project.
The very kind new librarian has introduced me to her friend, who runs Cynthia's Child Care and Counselling Centre Trust, a non-profit in memory of her sister who died of tuberculosis and AIDS. Cynthia was an incredible woman who won "Miss Stigma-Free", a beauty pageant for women living with HIV, and was going to be a keynote speaker at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto a few years ago. Her story is included in Stephanie Nolen's book 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa. Now, the new librarian and I are helping this woman with her non-profit. This is the woman we were going to go to a meeting with last night; however, we got to her house too late and were unable to go to the meeting, since it would have been a long way away and the people coming had walked there and needed to walk home before dark. Hopefully, we will be able to attend the rescheduled meeting in a couple of weeks.
This morning the woman from Alumni/Developement, the librarian, and I went out for brunch at a South African chain restaurant, News Cafe. The food was great, but we were a bit disturbed by the sugar packets; the white sugar had a photograph of a pale, Caucasian woman, and the brown sugar had a photo of a dark-skinned African model.