“Where we come from music is our food.”
So Friday night I went to a concert with Michelle at the International School. We met up with some friends of hers for some pizza before we went. All in all there were about 12 of us, all mzungus working for various international aid organizations, but not all American. There were a few Swedish and Canadian folks in the mix. Some of them were CDC grantees working on submitting reports to me…ha! There was also a guy that worked for UNICEF. (I include this tidbit for my fellow Model UN nerds.)
We enjoyed some pizza beer and sat outside to enjoy the nice weather. It reminded me a lot of being graduate school. I was surrounded by folks all with the same interests and with pretty much an equal candor, which was nice. I got into a discussion with the UNICEF guy about the effectiveness of international aid programs and reporting requirements. It felt like I was defending my master’s thesis. Oh it’s so nice to use my brain!! And it was a great discussion especially considering the perspectives were of those that were seeing and living it. Thankfully, he agreed with most of what I said in my thesis, which makes me feel like that 90 page paper wasn’t for naught. Later someone asked me how I liked Zambia and I mentioned the lack of stress in working here. She said: “Welcome to life here! Why do you think we all stay?!” Nice. Go Africa.
We left for the concert at around 8. This artist is a favorite of Michelle’s so she was pretty excited to get there on time. Unfortunately the main act didn’t go on until about 10:30, so we stayed outside talking to other folks. I met a guy from the US who started a foundation to give peanut butter sandwiches and milk to those standing in line for health care. What a cool concept. He makes a good point that people stand in line for hours just to see someone with no food or water. These are people that don’t have much means for food as it is and probably walked a great distance just to get to the clinic. It’s nice that he saw a need a filled it. I’m inspired by his initiative.
So the concert finally started. We saw Oscar Tuku, a Zimbabwean musician that’s pretty famous around these parts. He’s credited with starting a new genre of music. Click HERE to learn more about him and download some free music. During the show he started talking to the crowd about the purpose of music in African culture and said (paraphrased): “Where we come from music is our food. We use it for all things to celebrate joy, to wipe away sorrow and to resolve conflict.” Awesome. Ever the music lover, I’ve always enjoyed how much music is infused into the life of African culture. And I really like the metaphor of music being just as important and sustaining as food. In a continent that chronically deals with hunger, famine and food security, think about how powerful that statement is.
It was a great show, but due to the hot weather during the Friday afternoon quest, I was beat before he even took the stage. I wish I had pictures of my own to share but I purposefully left most things in the car for safety. Which, as it turns out, was a good call since there were some pick-pocketers working the crowd during the show. The crowd was about half white aid workers and half locals. A source of amusement was some VERY drunk Peace Corps Volunteers. I’m sure my RPCV friends reading this don’t know what in the world I’m talking about. ;)
So Friday night I went to a concert with Michelle at the International School. We met up with some friends of hers for some pizza before we went. All in all there were about 12 of us, all mzungus working for various international aid organizations, but not all American. There were a few Swedish and Canadian folks in the mix. Some of them were CDC grantees working on submitting reports to me…ha! There was also a guy that worked for UNICEF. (I include this tidbit for my fellow Model UN nerds.)
We enjoyed some pizza beer and sat outside to enjoy the nice weather. It reminded me a lot of being graduate school. I was surrounded by folks all with the same interests and with pretty much an equal candor, which was nice. I got into a discussion with the UNICEF guy about the effectiveness of international aid programs and reporting requirements. It felt like I was defending my master’s thesis. Oh it’s so nice to use my brain!! And it was a great discussion especially considering the perspectives were of those that were seeing and living it. Thankfully, he agreed with most of what I said in my thesis, which makes me feel like that 90 page paper wasn’t for naught. Later someone asked me how I liked Zambia and I mentioned the lack of stress in working here. She said: “Welcome to life here! Why do you think we all stay?!” Nice. Go Africa.
We left for the concert at around 8. This artist is a favorite of Michelle’s so she was pretty excited to get there on time. Unfortunately the main act didn’t go on until about 10:30, so we stayed outside talking to other folks. I met a guy from the US who started a foundation to give peanut butter sandwiches and milk to those standing in line for health care. What a cool concept. He makes a good point that people stand in line for hours just to see someone with no food or water. These are people that don’t have much means for food as it is and probably walked a great distance just to get to the clinic. It’s nice that he saw a need a filled it. I’m inspired by his initiative.
So the concert finally started. We saw Oscar Tuku, a Zimbabwean musician that’s pretty famous around these parts. He’s credited with starting a new genre of music. Click HERE to learn more about him and download some free music. During the show he started talking to the crowd about the purpose of music in African culture and said (paraphrased): “Where we come from music is our food. We use it for all things to celebrate joy, to wipe away sorrow and to resolve conflict.” Awesome. Ever the music lover, I’ve always enjoyed how much music is infused into the life of African culture. And I really like the metaphor of music being just as important and sustaining as food. In a continent that chronically deals with hunger, famine and food security, think about how powerful that statement is.It was a great show, but due to the hot weather during the Friday afternoon quest, I was beat before he even took the stage. I wish I had pictures of my own to share but I purposefully left most things in the car for safety. Which, as it turns out, was a good call since there were some pick-pocketers working the crowd during the show. The crowd was about half white aid workers and half locals. A source of amusement was some VERY drunk Peace Corps Volunteers. I’m sure my RPCV friends reading this don’t know what in the world I’m talking about. ;)
3 comments:
Love that quote!
my favorite part of this post is the story about the foundation that serves peanut butter sandwiches and milk ... it reminds me how stinkin' easy it is to overlook the very simple basics when trying to solve the large problems in the world. To us, peanut butter and milk are the thing we eat when we have nothing else ... but to them, it's like gold. An awesome food for thought moment - thanks :)
Between work and being out of town, I just read through all of your posts this morning-- love it! Thanks for sharing. Tortilla chips and cheese dip will be my welcome home gift to you.
Post a Comment