A Brief Trip Back to the Motherland

Place: Ethiopia and Arusha, Tanzania

Reading: Mahmoud Mandami, Citizen and State

Listening to: Magnetic Fields, All My Little Words

Wearing: Colourful harem pants bought at a Bedouin village in Israel

It is perhaps news to no one that I love Africa. Yet for the sake of clarity I will now highlight 5 reasons why I love Africa:

1.        Everything is slower in Africa. While this is undoubtedly the greatest cause of irritation for most Western visitors to Africa, I love it. I get off the plane and my heart rate slows. I have no expectation and endless patience. The pace of life makes me a happier person.

2.        It smells. Walk 10 metres down an Addis Ababa street and you will come across a hundred different smells- injera cooked on a metal hot plate, decomposing rubbish, dirty clothes mixed with human sweat, wild flowers, human faeces... clearly not all delightful smells, but actual smells not masked by an obsession with the outward impression of perfection.

3.        Affection. People touch in Africa. Men walk down the street hand in without social implication or judgment. Women sit in market stalls arms locked, chattering. Children hug and kiss random strangers, not afraid to be held by strangers. Everywhere there are outward displays of warmth and love.

4.        Humanity. So many Western portrayals of Africa depict a continent lacking in humanity- civil war, corruption, epidemics, poverty, desperation. Perhaps it is because of the presence of these aspects of society that in actuality it is in Africa that one can see the greatest human abilities to love and care for fellow human kind. In Addis, I was crossing the road with my cousin’s fiancé when a bug flew into his eye. A random stranger stopped and literally put his finger in his eye to remove the bug. There is an indefinite capacity for kindness in Africa.

5.        The Ujamaa Children’s Home. So undoubtedly a plug for my project but I could not think of a better way to start 2011 than with my five little friends, Sabina, Kelvin, Irene, Ally and Halima. We spend a lot of time in class criticising western aid in Africa, and while I agree with the majority of criticisms, I look at my little friends and I think about their life had Australians not donated money to give them a home, clothes, health care and an education. Sabina, with her immense generosity and kindness of spirit. Kelvin, undoubtedly the smartest nine year old I have ever met. Little Ally, who was recently declared by the doctor to be the healthiest HIV positive boy he has ever seen. How can this be a bad thing? 

For more information on The Ujamaa Children's Home and my fundraising project, The One By One Foundation, visit www.theonebyonefoundation.org