I wake up at 6:30AM this morning. It is so cold I am afraid to get out of bed. I finally get up an hour later.
ML gives me some good advice, but I do not understand it until 12 hours later.
Sam wows me with his knowledge in this group meeting. But I see our problem in a completely different way than he does. I want to force Africans to be white. Sam wants to model Africans as if they were white. Sam is right, but I want to be right.
I go to the most comical seminar I have ever went to. I was the only one who laughed.
I learn to never send an international student to do an American's job.
I go to this party at a house that is the reason I wanted to get a PhD.
During the party, I decide no matter how hard I try I cannot continue on the road I am going down now. Yeah, the house was nice. But the people in it were different than I am. They are not bad people just different.
After the party, I remember ML's advice. So I have made a decision, and after I finish something, I am going to change roads.
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3 comments:
I am not sure what you are saying and I am not sure how to think about it. What in the world you mean by white.
I am an African, ...black, white, brown..and every other hues that Africans come in. Sadly very ppl see anything except a dark continent. We are very diverse.
Very few of the world see Africa ...very few ppl see the suffering that has been caused by decades of plundering by ex-colonial powers some who still have a lot of say in the running of thier ex-colonies today.
Constant infighting between groups who never got along in the first place but have been forced to form some sort of democracy out of several unrelated cultures who don't understand each other.......you find the same tribe split between different countries....because the colonial divisions didnt really care about who they were splitting or what this caused. I think you need to do a lot of history my friend before you make your comments with Sam.
(Lookup Abidjan + Trafigura )
(Lookup Rwanda + French troops massacre)
Outsiders are very ready to solve 'Africas' problems.
One also has to remember there are about 54 different countries in the continent FIFTY FOUR...each with its own distinct history and cultures AND DISTINCT problems....you cant go around claiming you have a remedy for all of them.
The differences between china and USA are the similar differences you would find if you moved from Tanzania to Togo......you feel extremely alien to the environment. You cant use the same tool set for China and the USA can you?
So, my husband looked over my shoulder...and asked me what i was writing....and he goes "Good luck with internet, it is huge and full of morons."
And with that I bid you goodnite.
Say hi to Sam
Here are some online news from various african countries, in no particular order, there are way more online google them up:
Tunisia
Angola
Uganda
Nigeria
Botswana
Kenya
Eritrea
South Africa
Ghana
The Gambia
Various
Thank you. I needed that perspective.
I was trying to summarize two philosophies into two sentences, and it did not work.
You are exactly right. Two young Americans cannot "solve" anything in Africa. We are both literally and figurativly thousands of miles away. All we know is America. All we know is ourselves. Neither of us has any idea about Africa or more importanly Africans. But we spend our days trying to "help" Africans. We really are just helping ourselves.
Thank you so much.
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