MOVIES/ART

God Grew Tired of Us

This is, say, the sequel to “The Lost Boys of Sudan.” It’s the same story, but softer, less complex. It deals more with their presence in the US and now just recalling Sudan as well as experiencing culture shock and adjustment in the United States (they came as refugees). So they deal with American racism as they meet white people, African communities, etc. So it’s more of an immigrant experience that is told in this film. But it is as touching as the first.

Son of Man

Very interesting. It’s a modern day African recasting of the Jesus story. This one has no spiritual significance at all, and the Jesus-character is only a political savior with no spiritual – well religious significance (though you could argue that for Jesus as well). It’s not an emotional gut-wrenching story like many Jesus films or Easter films; this is rather a gritty, street version that’s scaled down but still interesting. It has the Mary and the visitation where she is told she will conceive the son of God; a King Herod character killing masses of babies (well genocide in this film; remember it’s modern Africa in a mythical country Judea); there is Judas, Satan, disciples. So check it out if you’re interested. Remember when I wrote about Carmen? YES. It’s the same team of people who created “U-Carmen eKhayelitsha” (Khayelitsha is a Cape Town township).

Apna Asmaan

Bollywood film (I talked about this in the South African section). Irfan Khan is in this one. I think you may have seen him in that Angelina Jolie movie where she plays a Persian-American journalist in Afghanistan whose husband is killed. It’s definitely more of the traditional Hollywood film dealing with tough subjects such as family expectations and parent-child relationships dealing with learning disabilities. A husband and wife must deal with learning disabilities of their only son who is a talented painter. And they are fixated more on what he could have been and what they wanted than what he is. You follow them as they seek remedies and experience guilt and perhaps shame. It’s an interesting story. They’re a middle class family.

Hopefully, next week, I’ll have reports on Othello and some township plays and maybe an Iranian film if I make it to the festival on Monday or Tuesday (it’s far away at the waterfront).

BUSH IN GHANA

Take care. And now, as a PS, I leave with an e-mail from a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) who hosted my students last summer (’07). Apparently Bush and Condi asked to meet informally with some PCV’s to hear their take on African development. This was during his African tour, if you remember that in the news.

Faithfulness,

Victor

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: So<@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 5:08 PM
Subject: Ever had lunch with George W. Bush?



I thought I'd start off this email the same way President Bush began
our lunch… with a little joke:

Once upon a time there was a scorpion who found himself on the wrong
side of the river. Convinced his future waited on the opposite bank,
he resolved to find a way across. It was a difficult job, nobody
wanted to take on a scorpion. Finally a crocodile, out of pity, agreed
to let the scorpion sit on his nose as he swam across the river… just
so long as the scorpion promised to behave. Halfway across the river,
the scorpion stung the crocodile's nose. The crocodile, sputtering as
he began to drown, asked, "What the hell did you do that for? You
screwed me, but you screwed yourself!" The scorpion answered, "Dude!
This is Africa."

At this point in time it is worth mentioning Mrs. Bush smiled so hard
her flawless makeup nearly cracked. (She has great pores, by the way…
ask Melinda. She sat by her.)

Actually, to be fair, the President merely asked Bob Geldof, celebrity
activist, to tell the joke. (Then he told him to keep quiet for the
rest of the meal.) Funny? Yes. Appropriate? Hmm… But this little
incident illustrates so perfectly why I love celebrity activists:
their ardent desire to convey at every moment heartfelt and genuine
sensitivity to the regions with which they profess a kinship. And it
adds so much respect and professionalism to an event when you show up
chewing gum and complaining about your hangover. Yes. Way to go Bono
and Company! Saving Africa one inappropriately (albeit hilariously)
placed joke at a time. (I think Geldof should tell that joke at his
next Live 8 gig.)

So as you have by now gathered, lunch was a more casual affair. An
incredibly high-pressured casual affair, but relaxed. I felt like the
power players present (The President, Condoleeza Rice and Mrs. Bush)
relished a chance to sit down to a fun lunch, and really get to know
us. And they genuinely cared to get to know us.

I sat across from Dr. Rice and entertained her with stories of Wamfie.
"Well Dr. Rice, I haven't found communication to be too much of a
barrier. I mean my African mama, as she calls herself, doesn't speak a
word of English, well apart from 'Africa mama'… But she's big and
she's loud and I suspect you would understand her in any language! She
sends you here greetings!" (Luckily I remembered in time that tacking
on, 'she loves you because you are a black American!' may not be
appropriate.) She, Condoleeza Rice, is certainly an interesting lady.
She told me she can't wait to move, "anywhere west of the Mississippi"
and plans to go back to Stanford. Hearing her muse over public policy,
as related to Africa, was surreal. I actually agree with a lot of the
initiatives the Bush administration has put forward in Africa. His
PEPFAR (Presidential fund for Aids Relief) and Millennium Funds are
pretty unique forms of aid. The programs are essentially micro-finance
programs that allow for small business owners and farmers to apply for
grants and loans themselves, the government of Ghana simply monitors
the fund, they don't apply it to their own purposes. In my opinion
these funds direct the momentum that already exists in the minds of
small business owners who just may not have the resources to direct
the momentum independently.

I think we made a good impression on the President. (In a state dinner
later that night he said something along the line of, 'if anybody
wants to see our commitment to Ghana, they should look at our Peace
Corps Volunteers, and the compassion they show towards the villages
they live and work in.') At one point in the conversation he asked me
why I'd joined Peace Corps. I responded that my uncle had been in the
Foreign Service and, as a little girl, I'd watched him in awe wanting
to do the same kinds of things and that my parents always encouraged
me to engage in service to others… so Peace Corps was a natural step.
Then the president asked if I'd ever thought of joining the Foreign
Service myself because, "Condi makes one hell of a reference, and you
two have been talking up a storm!" Then Condi smiled and said,
"Sometimes they recognize my name down in the department of state."

We each got independent pictures with the President (and jewelry boxes
from Tiffanys). For our shot, President Bush pulled me close, called
me his Alaskan Gal and threw his arm around me. If you think that's
crazy, he took to calling Dixie (the 65 year old raging feminist in
our group) 'My little Dixie Chick.' He's got a way. And now, having
met him and thus being able to perfectly sum up his character with the
utmost authority, I am inclined to think he is a genuine in his ideas,
even if they don't turn out well. If he weren't the President I think
he'd be vastly popular. As it is, well… we have our differences. His
visit has made a huge impact in Ghana. All over the country people are
impressed. Just yesterday somebody informed me, "I support the
republican party because George Bush was the first president to ever
come to Ghana and show us he cares." I have also heard him described
as a man who, "very obviously cares about the world outside the US." I
won't offer any comments here… Is this getting awkward? Should I
throw in another inappropriate joke about development in Africa?

What did the Congo do for light before they had candles?
Electricity. (Oh that Geldof! What a card!)

On the home front: Wamfie is now convinced I am personal friends with
every famous person alive. Having lunch with the President the moment
he comes to Ghana does little to dissuade them from this fantasy. Text
messages from famous footballers, that I manufactured as a joke, don't
help much either. In my defense, I sent these messages long before I
was dining with the president and I thought it would be fairly obvious
to realize a text massage reading, "Dear Sophia: You are the prettiest
person in the world. Marry me. I love you. From: Essien the world
famous footballer." was a hoax… but now after this Bush thing, nobody
believes I was lying anymore. Oh well.

Love to you all,
So

UPDATE February 25, 2008

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That’s an actual flyer I got in the mail (and I see similar ones all the time). I am not allowed to write what the top half of the flyer said. I will only tell you the Title of that section: FOR MEN ONLY.

I had a young guy pray for me in a charismatic church. The problem is that charismatic people tend to pray for a long time. Normally this is ok, but it was combined with two other troubling habits when mixed together:

He had a SOS-Saliva Overproduction Syndrome.

And he stuttered.

So he would be praying for me and he would say,

“The Lord wants to to to to to to to to to to to to to---“

Now, at about this time with all the spraying, the wind was blowing through the room and you know how that can chill you when you are wet. Plus I wanted to dry off. So I try to think of words to help him.

“The Lord wants to to to to to to to to to to to to to to---“

“TAKE”

“Ta ta a ta TAKE you tacitly to town to to to to to to to to to to to to ---“

I’ve really got to stop this, I think. So I try to help out, again, thinking what would be good to say.

“Ta ta a ta TAKE you tacitly to town to to to to to to to to to to to to---“

“TOUCH”

“To Touch touch to touch all his People in the CiTy CenTre.”

This is NOT working. I wondered why I was so silly to think of words to finish his that began with nasty sounds like the sound from the letter ‘t.’ What I should have done was think of nice neutral sounds. Uh-huh. So the next time I try to think or a nice word that can remind me of my younger days at WaterWorld or SplashTown (water theme parks).

“Jeeeeesus wants to know YOU in the intimate places in yo yo yo yo your life. He wants to to to to to to to to to to to to---“

“GO”

“Trot. He wants you to trot to his throne room and take intimate time with him each each each each each each each each each each each” The ch’s were killing me. “each each each each ----“

“DAY”

“Time Each each Time. Time to talk, Time to be tacit, time to t. . . .”

And on it went. It actually was short, but I gave up trying to think of words. I was amazed at his mind’s ability to reject suggestions that didn’t use enough saliva and to immediately come up with synonyms or similar words that overused globs of saliva that seemed to have been formed for me, waiting for me before my birth. It was like he was inspired by God to spit on me. I’m sure it didn’t happen like that, but my imagination runs away with me.

UPDATE

Hey!

I’m back in Cape Town, and I have forgotten what it was like. I had become accustomed to the US, again, so quickly, like second nature. Because of having to run to the wedding straight from the airport, I actually had to drive immediately going from a left-side-of-road/right-side-of-car/stick-shift to a right-side-of-road/left-side-of-car/automatic immediately. I made the switch ok. I just made sure to concentrate.

I have been officially invited to speak at an HIV/AIDS rally in the Limpopo Province 5-6 hours north of Johannesburg. It’s a rural area where kids only know about being a teacher or a nurse because those are the only jobs they see (there is a clinic and a school). My job in the day-long event is to speak about healthy choices. This will be in June. So it’s exciting. I’m also re-engaging in the HIV/AIDS research. No collaborations have turned up (no one seems interested in letting me in). So at the 6-month point, I’m trekking out on my own. We will see what happens. In other service news, I need some help. Maybe you can help me.

It’s always strange when I realize how a lot of stuff is US-centric. So I’m at this children’s ministry conference this weekend (Feb 29 – March 1). And I was reading one of the books for sale about dealing with kids. The entire first chapter was dedicated to kids in the US and their issues. This kind of thing happens a lot here (remember the video we saw at the computing conference talking about advancing technology for the sake of the USA!). The woman speaker tonight (a children’s pastor) said how she is not one of those missionaries who gets money thrown at her from America or American churches. I thought that was funny. She is also the first person in South Africa to say anything good about Nigeria; she said it has the 3^rd largest Sunday School (perhaps within her church group/affiliation). It was nice to hear and underscores the Christian explosion going out from that country.

I received a not-so-good e-mail from the head of an organization I’m about to endorse. So it’s somewhat strange. Regardless of his e-mail, I do need your help. I had to think about this before sending it because, in all honesty, this is not a long-term or root solution. But at the same time that we seek to right wrongs and injustices and inequalities in our world by addressing root issues we still have to deal with the present-day symptoms. That’s why I currently support BOGO.

BOGO

BOGO stands for buy-one-give-one. There is a BOGO solar flashlight program that provides the given flashlight to villages, schools, and sites in the developing world. These flashlights can be in regions with either no electricity or inconsistent electricity where people must use candles which can be dangerous. The flashlights aid in doing homework at night (literacy), walking home at night (safety), preventing fires and burns from candles (safety), giving a portion of a family’s income back to use on food/education/water/transportation//health/housing/business (elimination of poverty), keeping people from destructive choices at night to lead longer healthier lives (health), and replacing kerosene lamps and eliminating the need to destructively dispose batteries (environment) in developing countries.

When a person buys a BOGO solar flashlight, she receives one and chooses which non-profit organization (school, faith-based group, NGO, etc.) through which the other should be sent. This group was brought to my attention and I was asked to be a distributor here in Southern Africa. In order for me to do this, I need a US-based non-profit to be the partner that a purchaser chooses. When a partner has received 500 orders, SunNight Solar ships the flashlights from China to the location of the distributor/affiliate (that would be me) to then send out.

Alternatively, a group can just fundraise and purchase flashlights directly for their overseas project in a developing country without waiting for flashlight purchasers to send the 2^nd-give-one flashlight to their organization. So I’m looking for two things. So right now, the only eligible potential I have may take a very long time to decide to do it and eventually may not decide to do it. So

1. If you are connected to a non-profit (faith based or not) and want to join the program sending your flashlights to me in South Africa, please let me know. Your group can also directly raise money for flashlights instead of waiting for purchasers to choose your group.

2. If you want to just fundraise to buy flashlights to send me (your group can be profit in this case), please feel free to join in. And let me know!

AFRICA

Bush did an African tour last week. He even stopped in Ghana and met with Peace Corps volunteers, one of whom was a host for my students’ Ghana trip in the summer of ’07. I wonder how it went. She did think it hilarious that Bush would take advice from a bunch of twenty-somethings on development issues include water, health, and sanitation in Africa. Jeannie (the transformation anthropologist Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar here in Cape Town) thinks there should be a Peace Corps for experienced people. Good idea, Jeannie.

The Peace Prize (Nobel) went to Wangari Maathai in 2004 for her tree planting efforts across the country that both helped the environment and gave women jobs. Guess where she is from and in which country she did this? That’s right. Kenya. So it’s very ironic that a place that gave birth to Peace Prize work and a Peace Prize worker can now be a place of such unrest. Truthfully, the seeds of this unrest had already been planted. Historians would say that’s obvious as nothing is independent.

Well, it is nice that Annan was finally able to “broker” a peace “deal.” Well after a month of negotiations, they stalled again on some issues, so he suspended them. Some took this as a tactic. . .that worked. Two days after the suspension (on the 26^th), Kikwete (new head of African Union, president of Tanzania) helped them reach an agreement: Odinga would be made prime minister of Kenya (a new position) and Kibaki would remain president. Cabinet posts will be shared, and they’ll try to give some of the presidential powers to the prime minister as they retool the constitution.

In honesty, I’m not sure if this will work or not, but I know that some Zim people still don’t see this as fair. And in all honesty, it isn’t a full rectification. What was expected was a re-vote. So who knows what this will bring. Will the prime minister really play an equal role as the president? Does this only satisfy Odinga and not his tribesman? Does Odinga even care about his tribesman now that he has this post? We will see. Time will tell.

Time told with Kibaki. You remember me naming the different African leaders who have led countries for far too long and connected that to the global perspective on the Bushes and Clintons explicating why Obama was preferred from that viewpoint? Well, remember, that Kibaki took over Kenya after just such another long-reigning president. All of the opposition people formed together a “rainbow” coalition (I think it was called rainbow) and they democratically chose Kibaki to be the new leadership that would not lead in that same dictator-for-life style. And now, time has shown him to be just like the predecessor he was chosen to contrast. Strange isn’t it?

ELECTIONS

Elections are everywhere. I don’t remember a time when there were so many elections, inaugurations or leaders in their first year. From Cyprus to Argentina, from Nicaragua to Russia, from Georgia to South Africa, from Zimbabwe to Thailand, from Peru to France, from Pakistan to South Korea, elections and new administrations are everywhere. And you thought it was just exciting in the US. Actually, because of the US, elections are exciting everywhere.

Not only has there been in the US such a renewed interest of just the primary election process, there is a HUGE interest outside the US in the US primary election process. So you’ve managed to excite the whole world. People here know about a radio host that hyped the crowd by bashing Obama and using the word Hussein at last four times before McCain came to speak, and how McCain apologized for that and said he was not about that (I’m assuming name bashing), and finally how the radio host came out the next day in full support of Hillary Clinton because of McCain’s comments after he hyped and introduced McCain (wow).

People here discuss how undemocratic the Democratic party is (I haven’t heard anything about Republicans). They have said that if Hillary Clinton wins the primary election simply because of superdelegates which lean in her favor though she was not popularly elected, it is a sad day for American democracy. I tried t explain that the presidency is what we claim to be democratic—not the party nomination process. That is up to the party to decide how it is done. But they wouldn’t hear it. In fact they said countries running in blatant contrast to democracy will point at the US and say, “Well, look at the US they don’t even elect presidential nominees fairly in party primary elections!” Strange that people would even know the detailed process, but that’s what I’ve heard. I was asked to sign a petition by Americans sent to the DNC or DNP asking them to allow the public to decide where superdelegates vote. So it’s an interesting stage we are in.

I hear good and bad things about the candidates. People are most excited about Clinton and Obama. I’ve heard bad things (in the news) and good things. People talk about his dark eyes and his distance while others praise him. Here is something from the Asian Times. The writer doesn’t seem to like Obama and has given the most scathing description I have heard/read/seen so far.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/JB26Aa02.html

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JA29Dj06.html

This is a more even-tempered, probably honest story on his economics.

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10766642

Here is the latest music video (see what I meant in an earlier update about

being a rock star) from Obama. Notice the number of prominent Latinos.

I think somebody is trying to win the Texas primary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBk32JsV9l8

I’m excited to see what happens this Tuesday and to move forward to the actual main presidential election. I wonder if Nader is running, again. Actually I think he is.

And I think the Nader effect will be taking effect in Zimbabwe (when a split in one side [having multiple people that match with your choice] decreases the number each (on the split side) receives and causes the other person [opposite party or side] to win.

Remember that Zimbabwe is another African country where the leaders has been leading for ever (we’re going on 28 years now). And, now, Makoni has decided to run after which he was kicked out of his own party, the ruling ZANU-PF. But Tsvangirai, head of the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) who has challenged Mugabe for the past 9 or so years is still running. So now there are two opposition candidates which is bothersome to me because it decreases the chances of either winning (not to mention corruption). Supposedly, Makoni has the favor of the ruling elites, but no one has given him any public backing so it’s hard to tell. He is courting them, though. Tsvangirai is the only guy doing the grass roots campaign where you go to places and speak on a stump to the guys on the street. Makoni isn’t even engaging in it. He just makes announcements and has meetings in swanky hotels with elites. So it’s a bit strange.

The most formidable task though is the natural and normal corruption involved in Mugabe’s elections. According to the Economist, one party official said “We used to laugh at Nigeria over corruption. Not anymore.” That comment made me laugh.

So some people think Makoni was planted by the ruling party to prevent Tsvangirai from winning. Some ZANU-PF people really dislike him since he broke off from them. Either way, some think he will hardly have a chance as the vote may be decided in the rural areas where ZANU-PF has its strongest support. Makoni’s people will be combing the polling stations to prevent all the tricks the ruling party uses to keep Mugabe in power. Sadly, none of the reforms Thabo Mbeki helped to oversee will take place before the elections (media and voting reforms including a new constitution). So the media and radio are still not independent. And tricks like having too few ballot papers may still get past some of Makoni’s polling agents who are looking out for ruling party tricks. The election’s next month, and this is about as exciting as it gets in Zim (and really all of Africa, as well; everyone wants to see him [Mugabe] go). The nice thing is that there has been no pre-election violence by the ruling party against opposition candidates, so that most seats are up for contest by the opposition party.

SOUTH AFRICA

Sometimes I think this is a God-forsaken country. Then after remembering who I am, I pick my faith back up from the floor and keep walking. As I walk I see a dualistic country, the only developing country I know that has strong campaigns to fight drunk driving, diabetes, obesity, cancer, rape at the same time as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and TB (actually I haven’t even seen any malaria campaigns). So people are still dying here, but it’s just under the guise of civility. You don’t know it or realize it. It’s almost nicer in more blatantly violent places because at least you know there are issues. Here it seems hidden under peace and only illuminated through the black light of statistics.

There are still race issues here. Though we had a group of white people who left around ’94 with all the changes that were happening, we still have white people here now who have turned somewhat racist or don’t like the non-whites or blacks. They say they are lazy and are not good workers. The problem is that even after 14 years, this huge majority of the population is still undertrained and undereducated. So it’s hard to criticize someone for doing a bad job if they were never taught to do it. And so there is a growing disgruntlement in certain white circles with the situation in the country. They don’t like what’s happening with Selebi (Police commissioner accused of corruption) and Zuma (ANC head and probably next president brought up on corruption charges). And they think the country is not going to heaven in a picnic basket.

Here in South Africa, though, it’s sometimes hard for me to decide what to tell you because honestly there is so much going on in this country. There’s so much that sometimes I miss much because I’ve gotten used to the level of craze here in politics and society.

I came back to the US, and lo and behold, the pledge that I told you about was being hotly contested in parliament. It seemed strange with all the other issues facing the country, but there it was. Some members accused the pledge as being useless indoctrination without actually changing the students. Because the pledge mentions that we will not forget about our past (and past wrongs of society) that it is meant to make the whites feel guilty. The problem with that is that everyone must say it. And so the debate rages.

And thinking back, another point facing the country that was not addressed in the State of the Nation address was the scorpions (our FBI). They have been highly effective in fighting crime (I’ve heard an 80% success rate, but I have no idea what that means), but they are not liked by the ANC (the ruling party and the liberating party). This is partly because the ANC is very corrupt. At least half of its leaders are being investigated or have been indicted (I saw a newspaper article where they listed 30 different guys with pictures and crimes). And because they are targeted or the Scorpions have gone after them I think (from what I understand) they are being targeted by the ANC who wants them disbanded (let me say by SOME members of the ANC). Half of the group formed to urge and encourage the disbanding of the Scorpions consists of people who have been brought up on charges by them. So it’s a bit of a mess right now. Another argument against them is that they use “unconventional” means. I believe this might be true, though back when they were formed no one had problems with it.

We still have race issues here, like I’ve said before. Here’s an article about white students at a school that convinced black female workers to participate in a fear factor where they unknowingly drank urine. In the video of this event, the Afrikaans students said this is what they think of integration!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/02/27/saf.racist.video/index.html#cnnSTCText

It’s a bit shocking. Over in the US Bush is trying to get the Supreme Court to drop charges against companies that were being charged with doing business with apartheid companies.