FALLING WHISTLES

Have you heard about the Falling Whistles campaign? The situation in the DRC is just so horrible with no real solution in sight. I know that this is one of my specific areas of interest, but thought that you might be interested as well. Most of the electronics that we have use materials from the DRC that are mined illegally and under horrible conditions, and it also contributes to the ongoing violence. I'm not saying that we need to eschew all of our electronic devices, but people need to know where they are coming from, and it could help to support organizations that call for transparency about the source of materials being used.

I'm not saying that you need to buy a whistle, but it's definitely something people should be aware of.

Visit www.fallingwhistles.com for more information about this campaign.

STUDY BREAK

Had to share this great commercial that was banned in South Africa. These are the kinds of things that I watch when I need a study break. :) Back to work!

On a side note, a great Camerounian proverb I just read in an article: 

"Until lions have historians, tales of the hunt will always be told by the hunter."

Poema para um dia de chuva

When I was in Mozambique, we studied Mozambican literature from a textbook that our professor had written. This is one of my favorite poems that we read (in it's English translation). Someday I think I would like to have this posted near my front door:

Poem for a Rainy Day

My home is a lighthouse in the middle of the night.

Come, whoever you may be

at first you'll be like the stem of a flower

dripping over the carpet

and we will watch you

as the color of the rain

but immediately, almost immediately

you will feel in yours the warm palms

of our hands

and you will find in the design of our smiles

the translation of the hour.

- Gloria de Sant'Anna

as translated by Frederick G. Williams

Magical Places 3

Cintsa (or Chintsa), South Africa

After our stay in Mozambique, 6 of us went on a week-and-a-half road trip through South Africa (which is a little sketchy safety-wise but turned out to be pretty amazing). We stopped at Cintsa on the southeast coast of South Africa for a night. We arrived at about 2am (which is NOT a safe thing to be doing in South Africa). Anyway, we couldn't find anybody to help us, so we just grabbed a room at the Buccaneers Backpackers Hostel and crashed. We awoke early in the morning and walked out to the balcony and were stunned by the view above. These pictures are altered in no way - it was amazingly breathtaking. The hostel itself was also amazing. Although there are camping sites, the actual hostel is like an eco-friendly hippie treehouse - so great! The next two pictures are of the hostel - if you are ever in the area you should not miss this piece of paradise (although you should be warned that the bathroom facilities are definitely coed).

The picture below is of Autumn and Jeff on the bridge on the way down to the beach. We also walked to the neighboring town to grab lunch. It really is a beautiful area. Not only that, but the monkeys in the nearby trees were pretty entertaining to watch.
Oh, and did I mention the quote on the hostel's website? "If buccaneers doesn't get to your soul, there is something wrong with your karma." Does it get any better than that?

Be Aware

So, I had a moment of pure frustration last night as I was watching the news during the Super Tuesday craziness. I noticed that any other news (world news) had been pushed aside for to-the-minute election coverage. My frustration reached a peak as I heard various candidates express sympathy to victims of the current tornadoes. What tornadoes? I thought. Here I am watching the news for the last hour or so and I have heard NOTHING about this! Now, I realize that maybe there are some who feel the need to hear every two minutes that Romney (big surprise) took the state of Utah, but could we please cut out to get a little news? I mean, REAL news? I want to follow the coverage, but I don't need to hear everything repeated every 2 minutes with no new developments. I mean, did anybody hear the news about Chad? How about the tornadoes?

Anyway, now that you feel my frustration, I will lead to this story about Mozambique that I read earlier today. It seems oddly alien to read a story about this from somewhere that you spent a significant amount of time and places that you recognize, but to which you no longer have a physical connection. Just food for thought. Oh, and did you hear about Zimbabwe?

You Hold My Heart...

Okay, so I am totally on a blogging spree today, so bear with me. Due to a recent conversation with Autumn through goodreads.com, I was reminded of some beautiful Mozambican poetry that we studied last year. I wanted to share two poems with you that I fell in love with. Here's the first one by Gloria de Sant'Anna (keep in mind that this is the English translation done by Frederick G. Williams):

Poem for a Rainy Day

My home is a lighthouse in the middle of the night.

Come, whoever you may be

at first you'll be like the stem of a flower
dripping over the carpet

and we will watch you
as the color of the rain

but, immediately, almost immediately
you will feel in yours the warm palms
of our hands

and you will find in the design of our smiles
the translation of the hour.

This next one is one of the most amazing love poems that I have ever read. I will admit that I think it is even better in Portuguese, but I am posting the English translation so that you will also fall in love. Autumn and I both agree that we can't get over this poem. We got to meet, the author, Mia Couto, who is a writer and professor in Mozambique, and was at that time helping with plans to expand a Great Park (like Kruger) into Mozambique. Here it is:

For You

It was for you
that I unfolded the rain
for you I loosened the perfume of the earth
I touched upon the nothing
and for you it was everything

For you I created all the words
and all of them were lacking
the moment when I felled
the savor of forever

For you I gave voice
to my hands
I opened the buds of time
I assaulted the world
and I thought that everything was within us
in that sweet deception
of owning everything
not having anything
simply because it was nighttime
and we weren't sleeping
I descended into your bosom
in order to find myself
and before the darkness
would gird our loins
we remained in our eyes
living from one look only
loving from one life only

Sigh. Need I say more?

Simplicity

Just another Africa picture to brighten up your day! (this was near Machava, Mozambique)

Africa Recap

So, I'm always thinking about Africa and my time there (even though it was over a year ago). I decided to periodically put some pics up on my blog, particularly since no one ever really saw them. Enjoy.

This was an old train at a museum in Maputo, Mozambique (I think it was in use up until the 70s or something)

I took this pic the first day out in Maputo over a wall. That's a chapa (our normal transportation) which are public taxis. Imagine 15-20 people smashed in there. This is a pretty typical scene. Hard to imagine it's the capital city, eh?

A fishing boat out in the Indian Ocean near sunset waiting for it's use early the next morning.

Two adorable little girls in a preschool we visited in a run-down church on the outskirts of Maputo.

Another little boy at that same school (you can see the school in the background). I love the little beanie, particularly since it was between 70 and 80 degrees outside.