Hi all,
Apologies for the mass email but I think you fill find it entertaining and worthwhile. Hope you are well!
I’m taking on A Dare to Remember for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Heather is getting back at me for daring her to bungee jump off of Victoria Falls in Zambia last year (something I would love but she would hate) by daring me to do a stand up comedy routine at an open mic comedy event in Edmonton. I am not into performing and am not funny so this is pretty terrifying!
I have set a personal fundraising goal of $2000 and am asking you – my friends, family and colleagues – to sponsor me. The money we raise will go directly to support the inspiring transformation in sub-Saharan Africa, where community-based organizations are working to turn the tide of AIDS.
Help me reach my fundraising goal! Every dollar counts! It’s easy to contribute. All you need to do is click on the link below - or copy and paste it into your browser - and then click on the Donate button in the top-right corner of my Dare page.
Click here to sponsor me!
http://SLF.r-esourcecenter.com/Event/FundraisingPage.asp?crypt=aA5hAA1jGX4cTVx/YX1/YhkfcgARaA9zZUFZbRFxfHkDCnQRHH4CCmxBWWE=&EMAIL_TYPE=P
By supporting my Dare, you support my own daring effort, and the millions of Africans who rise to meet the challenges of the pandemic with extraordinary acts of courage, ingenuity, determination, and the strength in their communities.
Check back regularly to see how I’m doing!
Thanks so much,
Justin
Spread the word about my Dare!
http://SLF.r-esourcecenter.com/Event/FundraisingPage.asp?crypt=aA5hAA1jGX4cTVx/YX1/YhkfcgARaA9zZUFZbRFxfHkDCnQRHH4CCmxBWWE=&EMAIL_TYPE=P
Do your own Dare! Visit www.adaretoremember.com A Dare to Remember engages Canadians to raise funds for the inspiring grassroots organizations in Africa working to turn the tide of AIDS. In an act of solidarity, Canadians take on Dares that parallel the acts of courage, ingenuity, determination and strength in community of their African peers. Sign up now and do your Dare by World AIDS Day (December 1st). All proceeds go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation to help support communities in the 15 African countries that have been hardest hit by HIV and AIDS. Find out more at www.adaretoremember.com.
================================
Thank you to everyone who has supported my Dare so far, and more importantly for supporting this valuable cause... I think?! Here is the update I promised.
We are currently at just over half of the goal so I have gone ahead and booked myself a spot on Friday, December 3rd at Bohemia Cafe's stand up night hosted by our friend Rose. The cafe is located on 114 st just south of 106 Ave (right by our place). You are welcome to come out and see the pending train wreck of me on stage but be warned that I will be passing the hat to top up my fundraising.
If you would like to request a word that I have to work in to my routine that can be arranged, for the right price :)
If you are looking for a little motivation or understanding of why I would do something I clearly dread I encourage you to check out the following:
http://www.adaretoremember.com/why_dare.cfm
This is a complex and pressing issue and there are millions of amazing people doing inspiring things to stop the spread of the disease and rebuild the communities that have been devastated by it in the last couple decades. The thing I like about the Stephen Lewis Foundation is that it supports people already doing amazing work who understand the on the ground realities and how to create change in their unique communities. They also do amazing things to raise awareness and support for change here in Canada.
I have hope for the future. Please help spread the hope.
Justin
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
minding your Qs and Teas
I generally don't drink a lot of coffee or tea because my body can't handle the caffeine, but it is nice once in a while. I have heard some horror stories about the practices involved in tea and coffee production operations, and I have also heard of some really cool initiatives. One that is promoted by some great organizations like Oxfam and Engineers Without Borders is fair trade certification. Fair trade means the producers and everyone along the value chain for the good you are purchasing received fair treatment, including fair compensation for their work. Fair trade certification can be granted for all kinds of products. I have heard of soccer balls, clothing, bananas, coffee, tea, spices, rice, quinoa, grapes, and chocolate all coming in fair trade certified varieties. It often goes hand in hand with environmentally responsible practices (because most people that care care about both). Fair trade certification means an independent third party has investigated the production practices and verified that they are indeed fair trade. In general I attempt to bring about a better world by getting my purchased beverage in a "to stay" cup, and giving my business to places that are local, that sell fair trade and organic beverages, and that educate their customers about why these things matter.
Today I was talking with my wife and mother in law about the teas at a particular coffee shop which is marketing to the ethical consumer crowd. We thought their coffee was fair trade but weren't sure about the tea so I looked up the tea companies website. There was not a ton of info there either so I clicked on the "Contact Us" link and sent the email below. So I guess my attempt at a better world for today is to look for factual information on products marketed for being ethical, and to ask questions when the facts are sparse.
to:
friends2@mightyleaf.com
Hi,
I am curious about the practices of your tea growers. I recently explored the "community" section of your website but I still have some questions and concerns:
Why aren't your tea's fair trade certified? Have you considered pursuing certification?
What is being done to ensure environmental responsibility of your tea growers?
What is being done to ensure fair treatment and compensation of people involved in the production of your teas?
Do you have any third party oversight of your operations to ensure they are meeting your claims/policies?
Do you work with any local development experts to ensure your community involvement is appropriate and positive?
Thanks!
Justin
Today I was talking with my wife and mother in law about the teas at a particular coffee shop which is marketing to the ethical consumer crowd. We thought their coffee was fair trade but weren't sure about the tea so I looked up the tea companies website. There was not a ton of info there either so I clicked on the "Contact Us" link and sent the email below. So I guess my attempt at a better world for today is to look for factual information on products marketed for being ethical, and to ask questions when the facts are sparse.
to:
friends2@mightyleaf.comHi,
I am curious about the practices of your tea growers. I recently explored the "community" section of your website but I still have some questions and concerns:
Why aren't your tea's fair trade certified? Have you considered pursuing certification?
What is being done to ensure environmental responsibility of your tea growers?
What is being done to ensure fair treatment and compensation of people involved in the production of your teas?
Do you have any third party oversight of your operations to ensure they are meeting your claims/policies?
Do you work with any local development experts to ensure your community involvement is appropriate and positive?
Thanks!
Justin
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Push Start a Better World
My dad recently had visiting Olympian Christina Smith snowed in in Saskatchewan after visiting a whole bunch of High School students in the area. As they visited Christina got my dad excited about her new project PushStart.org and somehow convinced her that my brother and I would be good people to contribute to her upcoming book with some simple steps to push start a better world. I would love to hear other people's thoughts on this topic.
In fact, I would love to have anyone with ideas for a better world to share their ideas with posts to this blog or let me know about other places where their ideas are shared or found. My frequency and creativity has waned a bit lately for my blog posts but I am constantly inspired by what I see people doing to bring about a better world in their lives. We all have a lot to learn from each other. I would like to be a part of this mutual learning and action. I will try to adjust my permissions and set up here to facilitate.
In the mean time, here is what we came up with for Push Start, I would love to hear some feedback:
In fact, I would love to have anyone with ideas for a better world to share their ideas with posts to this blog or let me know about other places where their ideas are shared or found. My frequency and creativity has waned a bit lately for my blog posts but I am constantly inspired by what I see people doing to bring about a better world in their lives. We all have a lot to learn from each other. I would like to be a part of this mutual learning and action. I will try to adjust my permissions and set up here to facilitate.
In the mean time, here is what we came up with for Push Start, I would love to hear some feedback:
Think big and start small; the possibilities are endless! We can all do more to make a difference.
1. Think and dream
What is your vision of a better world? What can you do to make it happen? Be ambitious and creative and demanding; this is your life, and your chance.
Question the status quo, question your assumptions and your culture’s: make up your own mind.
When shopping, consider where it comes from, how it was made, and what that means for the people and places along the supply chain. Use your money responsibly; don't just buy what is most convenient. Talk to the people selling things to let them and their suppliers know you care.
2. Reduce – the first and most neglected “R”
Think about what you actually need, not just what you think you want. You can turn down your thermostat, take short showers, turn off lights and appliances - and you’ll save some money too. Drive less, fly less, consume less. Do-it-yourself: sew, scavenge, tinker, create, get things fixed instead of replacing. Spend more time with friends, neighbors, family, and mother nature, rather than purchasing throw-away entertainment.
3. Reuse and Recycle
If you are done with something, consider another use; share reusable items with people or organizations that will put them to use (e.g. donate good-quality used clothes and give worn out clothes to a local mechanic for rags). If you are throwing things out, think about where it goes and minimize what goes to landfills; nothing goes "away", there is no such place. Compost. Recycle. Buy things with minimal packaging, and complain when there is excess. Buy used goods when possible (kijiji.ca, craigslist.com, freecycle.org, etc).
4. Give
Remember all that money you saved with the first “R.” Share it around. Consider giving at least ten percent of your income to charities you support. Check out canadahelps.org for a great list all in one place. Consider a mix of local, global, environmental, humanitarian/relief, long term development, and health organizations. If you invest, invest in socially and environmentally responsible companies.
5. Act
Give your time and skills too, whether you are drawn to volunteer at a school, hospital, retirement home, park, community work project, shelter/soup kitchen, or other local charity there is always a need and we all have things to share. If you don't know what to do, DO SOMETHING.
6. Eat
Buy more local, in season, natural, organic, fair trade certified, unprocessed, sustainable food. Grow a garden, and cook. Share food with others. Talk to a farmer; know where your food comes from. Eatwellguide.org Seachoice.org Transfair.ca
7. Learn
We live in the information age, so get informed. Watch/read/listen to the news from a variety of sources. Attend educational events and classes. Visit museums. Watch documentaries. Research things you wonder about, and share what you learn. Try to ask one good question per day. Ignorance is only an excuse for the ignorant.
8. Vote
Learn about election candidates and parties and what they represent. Vote for the community, province, country and world you want your children to live in. In between elections ask questions to your representatives. Care about your world and let them know. Engage in YOUR government.
9. Walk
Bike, run, swim, play sports, get active. Take care of yourself and support active lifestyles in your community. Get your friends and family doing the same. Try to drive less. Take public transit.
10. Love and laugh
A better world should be more enjoyable, and fulfilling for all. Give thanks and celebrate. Support local music, or make your own. Dance. Play. Live the way you really want to, today. We are in this together!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The upside down world of Botswana
I recently read The In Between World of Vikram Lall and I highly recommend it to anyone wondering about Kenyan history, the life of Indian people in Africa, or just wanting to think and learn and be swept away. All I have to say is that the book begins “My name is Vikram Lall and I am the most corrupt man in Africa.” Talk about an opening line!! This post is more related to our recent journey by bus from Kitwe to Johannesburg via Botswana than anything to do with the book, but it is the book that accompanied me and I wanted to steal the title and highly recommend it (also, the author is Canadian, for you English teachers at heart).
We were mid-way into our time in Southern Africa, and I needed to digest and shake up what I had been learning and thinking after three pretty mentally intense weeks in Kitwe and Racecourse, so the trip fell at a great time. We went to the museum in Lusaka (underfunded but interesting and somehow proud still) and spent a day mooching about before heading on to Livingstone. Every person in Zambia who enquires about your itinerary in your country asks “…and have you been to Livingstone and Victoria falls yet?” even though a significant portion of them have not. People don’t seem to begrudge this fact although some feel free to ask to be taken there, they are mostly proud to have a natural wonder like the falls in there country. Since it is the end of the dry season the falls were much smaller than normal and you could see the bare cliffs and stand where in just a few short months enormous amounts of water would be flowing. Perhaps not the most spectacular time to visit but the site was still plenty spectacular for me, and another reminder of how much things change with the seasons here. We had to stop our taxi and wait almost ten minutes for a laissez-faire herd of elephants to cross the road back to town. As we spent a few days in livingstone carousing with westerners coming from and going to all sorts of places on their interesting journeys we were trying to determine our travel plans to Jo’burg, and for our intended three weeks of travel after my conference there.
Just like the guidebooks though, no-one could recommend anything to do or see in Botswana, other than maybe a safari. Imagine a whole country that is completely safe that noone wants to visit?? “I hear its expensive”, “I would consider spending extra time here in Livingstone or on safari and then flying straight to jo-burg”, “Our bus was 24 hours straight through so we didn’t see anything.” At least our friend Thulasy said, “I hear it has more elephants than people so maybe you’ll see some wildlife from the road” and she seemed interested. We knew from our African history courses and our guidebook that Botswana was one of the better-off countries in Africa, owing mainly to rich natural resources that were discovered mostly after colonial times – fuelling economic growth rather than war, corruption, exploitation or other nastiness that natural resource wealth - ‘the resource curse’ as it is sometimes known- seems to have brought to places like Nigeria, the DRC, Sierra Leone and others. The combination of people ignoring it, it being expensive, and it seeming to have figured something out in terms of ‘development’ all made Botswana more intriguing to Heather and I. We decided to travel through by bus and spend one night in Francistown and one in Gabarone, the capital. The first surprises of Botswana were right at the border, first there were hippos, and rain drops. Once we passed through the border crossing and waited for the bus and other passengers, there was no one wanting to change money (we had turned down about fifty offers on the other side because we needed enough Zambian Kwacha to get back if anything went wrong). There were some marketers in the area where we were waiting, but they were somehow different. All had chairs and umbrellas and big coolers, and bought goods for resale. None had babies or small children. They did not call out to us or notice us any more than any other passenger.
I am still unsure of what I would consider development but I have thought of a few measures I might use. I know it is certainly more than Gross Domestic Product per capita, or big buildings and big industries and big consumption as capitalism seems to imply. As we traveled through northern Botswana watching excitedly for the occasionally appearing elephants and giraffe I realized that space for wildlife and environmental integrity is certainly one measure I value in which Canada, Botswana and Zambia all seem to be blessed, and have preserved (maybe more easily partially because of low population density, and varied landscapes not all suitable for farming or resource extraction). The bus trip to Chipata in Eastern Zambia had also been a feast for the eyes of natural beauty and untouched land so this was not a big change, except now not a single piece of garbage was tossed out the bus window to pollute this wonderful resource.
As we spent our time in Botswana I thought more about what was noticeable about the country, my conceptions of development, and how glad I was that we had made the trip. The people we saw in Botswana seemed more confident and relaxed than in Zambia. There was no crowd of cab drivers pressuring us and fighting over us when we arrived – maybe the number of drivers is closer matched to the number of customers, and they are able to make an easier living as a result? Maybe it is illegal to pressure customers? I am not sure of the reason but it was refreshing, and might be one measure of development. People in general took little notice of us unless we approached them in which case they were polite and helpful and then went on with their own business.
People’s confidence was particularly noticeable in gender relations, which I realized was also one of my implicit measures of development. Women were doing everything men were doing (driving trucks and buses, conducting buses, security gaurds, etc) and had the attitude of being equal, which was surprisingly surprising, given that I had rarely been uncomfortable with how women are treated and how they act in Zambia. Women did not hesitate to joke or argue with men and vice versa, aside from the flirting, everyone seemed to interact the same regardless of sex.
Even the prices were somewhat refreshing. Bus transport was still reasonable but both food and lodging were significantly more expensive than Zambia and Malawi. Instead of dividing by 4500 to convert to dollars we were dividing by 6. It was a good reminder that the reason Zambia is cheap to travel for a Canadian is because there is a huge disparity between the economies in all other respects as well.
It was good for us to have to suddenly reconsider things that in Zambia seem to be ‘just the way things are,’ a culture shock without the racism implicit in the culture shock of traveling between continents. So my attempt at a better world for the remainder of our time here is to think of everything as fluid, as possible to change. None of the disparities between Canada and Zambia, or the frustrating things in Zambia have to be that way. At the same time development is not a straight line, we all have things to learn from one another and each person and society can, and must actively choose the ways they want to improve their own situation, and the overall situation of humanity. A better world is more than possible, it is right here- each new place being better in its own way, waiting for others to learn from it.
The best thing about Botswana was turning upside down so many of the little frustrations and characteristics of Zambia that I had become a bit desensitized to: littering, desperate competition for business or charity or attention, gender discriminations and disparities, etc. Again I feel I should emphasize that there are a lot of great things about Zambia too, beauty and character and hope. It was just great to shake things up a bit.
We were mid-way into our time in Southern Africa, and I needed to digest and shake up what I had been learning and thinking after three pretty mentally intense weeks in Kitwe and Racecourse, so the trip fell at a great time. We went to the museum in Lusaka (underfunded but interesting and somehow proud still) and spent a day mooching about before heading on to Livingstone. Every person in Zambia who enquires about your itinerary in your country asks “…and have you been to Livingstone and Victoria falls yet?” even though a significant portion of them have not. People don’t seem to begrudge this fact although some feel free to ask to be taken there, they are mostly proud to have a natural wonder like the falls in there country. Since it is the end of the dry season the falls were much smaller than normal and you could see the bare cliffs and stand where in just a few short months enormous amounts of water would be flowing. Perhaps not the most spectacular time to visit but the site was still plenty spectacular for me, and another reminder of how much things change with the seasons here. We had to stop our taxi and wait almost ten minutes for a laissez-faire herd of elephants to cross the road back to town. As we spent a few days in livingstone carousing with westerners coming from and going to all sorts of places on their interesting journeys we were trying to determine our travel plans to Jo’burg, and for our intended three weeks of travel after my conference there.
Just like the guidebooks though, no-one could recommend anything to do or see in Botswana, other than maybe a safari. Imagine a whole country that is completely safe that noone wants to visit?? “I hear its expensive”, “I would consider spending extra time here in Livingstone or on safari and then flying straight to jo-burg”, “Our bus was 24 hours straight through so we didn’t see anything.” At least our friend Thulasy said, “I hear it has more elephants than people so maybe you’ll see some wildlife from the road” and she seemed interested. We knew from our African history courses and our guidebook that Botswana was one of the better-off countries in Africa, owing mainly to rich natural resources that were discovered mostly after colonial times – fuelling economic growth rather than war, corruption, exploitation or other nastiness that natural resource wealth - ‘the resource curse’ as it is sometimes known- seems to have brought to places like Nigeria, the DRC, Sierra Leone and others. The combination of people ignoring it, it being expensive, and it seeming to have figured something out in terms of ‘development’ all made Botswana more intriguing to Heather and I. We decided to travel through by bus and spend one night in Francistown and one in Gabarone, the capital. The first surprises of Botswana were right at the border, first there were hippos, and rain drops. Once we passed through the border crossing and waited for the bus and other passengers, there was no one wanting to change money (we had turned down about fifty offers on the other side because we needed enough Zambian Kwacha to get back if anything went wrong). There were some marketers in the area where we were waiting, but they were somehow different. All had chairs and umbrellas and big coolers, and bought goods for resale. None had babies or small children. They did not call out to us or notice us any more than any other passenger.
I am still unsure of what I would consider development but I have thought of a few measures I might use. I know it is certainly more than Gross Domestic Product per capita, or big buildings and big industries and big consumption as capitalism seems to imply. As we traveled through northern Botswana watching excitedly for the occasionally appearing elephants and giraffe I realized that space for wildlife and environmental integrity is certainly one measure I value in which Canada, Botswana and Zambia all seem to be blessed, and have preserved (maybe more easily partially because of low population density, and varied landscapes not all suitable for farming or resource extraction). The bus trip to Chipata in Eastern Zambia had also been a feast for the eyes of natural beauty and untouched land so this was not a big change, except now not a single piece of garbage was tossed out the bus window to pollute this wonderful resource.
As we spent our time in Botswana I thought more about what was noticeable about the country, my conceptions of development, and how glad I was that we had made the trip. The people we saw in Botswana seemed more confident and relaxed than in Zambia. There was no crowd of cab drivers pressuring us and fighting over us when we arrived – maybe the number of drivers is closer matched to the number of customers, and they are able to make an easier living as a result? Maybe it is illegal to pressure customers? I am not sure of the reason but it was refreshing, and might be one measure of development. People in general took little notice of us unless we approached them in which case they were polite and helpful and then went on with their own business.
People’s confidence was particularly noticeable in gender relations, which I realized was also one of my implicit measures of development. Women were doing everything men were doing (driving trucks and buses, conducting buses, security gaurds, etc) and had the attitude of being equal, which was surprisingly surprising, given that I had rarely been uncomfortable with how women are treated and how they act in Zambia. Women did not hesitate to joke or argue with men and vice versa, aside from the flirting, everyone seemed to interact the same regardless of sex.
Even the prices were somewhat refreshing. Bus transport was still reasonable but both food and lodging were significantly more expensive than Zambia and Malawi. Instead of dividing by 4500 to convert to dollars we were dividing by 6. It was a good reminder that the reason Zambia is cheap to travel for a Canadian is because there is a huge disparity between the economies in all other respects as well.
It was good for us to have to suddenly reconsider things that in Zambia seem to be ‘just the way things are,’ a culture shock without the racism implicit in the culture shock of traveling between continents. So my attempt at a better world for the remainder of our time here is to think of everything as fluid, as possible to change. None of the disparities between Canada and Zambia, or the frustrating things in Zambia have to be that way. At the same time development is not a straight line, we all have things to learn from one another and each person and society can, and must actively choose the ways they want to improve their own situation, and the overall situation of humanity. A better world is more than possible, it is right here- each new place being better in its own way, waiting for others to learn from it.
The best thing about Botswana was turning upside down so many of the little frustrations and characteristics of Zambia that I had become a bit desensitized to: littering, desperate competition for business or charity or attention, gender discriminations and disparities, etc. Again I feel I should emphasize that there are a lot of great things about Zambia too, beauty and character and hope. It was just great to shake things up a bit.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Snakes and devils – tragedy and religion
We have been in Southern Africa for three and a half weeks now. Each day is still full of new things to notice and learn – both similarities and differences. This post deals with some tough stuff, so I feel the need to say upfront, Zambia is a really enjoyable place. People are generous, cheerful, kind, intelligent, diverse and beautiful. Kids play, people hang out and laugh and sing and have fun. The sun shines. Etc. As I talked about in my last post though, there is incredible variety. There are also people working hard, people wishing they were working hard. There are people having a good time, and people having hard times. The stories of this post are not representative of my time, they are just something I thought was important to talk about.
We have experienced incredible and persistent hospitality from the teachers and executive of the Racecourse School. As we search for and test different ways to get involved and contribute to the school and the community my comfort level with the amount we can and can’t do has converged with the things to be done. As the students progress from grade to grade the amount of English instruction is supposed to increase so that by the end of grade seven they are ready to take their standard government exams in English. This transition makes it actually fairly natural and productive for the teachers to have some Anglophones around to increase the student’s exposure – especially in the classes where the teacher is not super comfortable trying to explain things in English. It is an interesting tension though to be trying to cram as much learning as possible into the already condensed time (currently each class is only getting 2.5 hours of instruction per day due to a shortage of space as the school transitions from using rented space throughout the community to its own buildings) while also trying to increase student’s proficiency in their second (or third or fourth) language English.
The reason that we have found ourselves more needed than we expected is sickness and tragedy. Imagine showing up to your staff room the first day after the holidays to find out that two of the 15 teachers (4 are away doing teachers training) have just lost brothers (one of them for the second time in as many weeks), and two others are away sick. To make it harder, one of these teachers is actually present still because he can’t afford the $10 or so to travel to his home community and be with his grieving family (he broke the bank covering the cost of the previous funeral). When I realize how common death is, the sick day for the other absent teachers suddenly seems a lot more serious. It was good to know that at least we would be able to help fill the gaps and try to teach some useful things (even if it is only practicing English) to the students anxiously waiting for their learning to recommence, but we would have given anything to not be needed in this way. If tragedy is going to happen it is good to be in a position to be useful, but it is still tragedy.
The really hard thing for me, is realizing that this is a pretty common predicament. What does it mean for a society to have a life expectancy in the thirties? What does it mean for almost every child to have lost a parent or uncle or aunt? What does it mean when almost everyone fortunate enough to reach the age of a grandparent has probably buried their spouse or one of their children (and some have buried all)? As I write these words I am reminded of walking through the rows and rows of matching white gravestones near world war two battle sites-calculating the ages and realizing they are my age, my brothers age – noting how they are all from the same few years. The two brothers of the racecourse teachers were lost due to illness, which may or may not mean HIV/AIDS, but that is not the only reason for the low life expectancy. Many people are lost to completely random and what should be unlikely accidents.
Mary, a sweet, cheerful, and funny woman from the new local clinic who is on the community executive was carrying a casual conversation with us as we waited to visit the homes of each executive member (at their insistence!). In this conversation we learned that she has two daughters attending a school for disabled children. Their legs were amputated after their house collapsed in a particularly heavy rainy season a few years ago. She now almost never sleeps through the months of rain. Apparently, although there are fairly high quality bricks being fired in giant piles all around us, the cost of these bricks is still out of reach for many in Racecourse. In these cases people have to resort to mud bricks baked in the hot sun of the current dry season. These brick wall and the makeshift plastic/tin/wood roof houses are at risk of collapsing every rainy season.
On that same day, Mary also told us casually about losing her husband. She had told Heather earlier that it was to HIV/AIDs, and after many tests herself she was glad to find that she tested negative. She explained to us that after his death his family claimed his possessions for themselves. They took all the contents of the home, the farm, and all the money from their shared bank account. She fought to keep the kids even though they were all crying uncontrollably at the thought of trying to find their next meal with everything gone. This is also a disturbingly common occurrence (Mr. Siame was walking with us and had a very similar story to explain the emptiness of his home we had just visited) which is incredibly hard for me to understand from outside the local culture. I was happy to learn that recently, some laws were put in place to allow for spouses and children to claim some inheritance after a parent’s death instead of it all going to the family of the deceased.
Death is one of the most challenging things we face as individuals, families, communities and societies. Many of us fear it and do not know how to support those dealing with loss, even when it is the loss of a grandparent who has lived a full and enjoyable life. What can I say to the sixth person this week who tells you about the loss of a close family member? Of course I say “I’m sorry” and sit in empathetic or sympathetic awkward silence for a bit. In the silence my mind spins - was it AIDS? Is it inappropriate to ask ‘what happened?’ as I would in Canada to show my shock, or ‘how are you doing?’ to show my concern? Am I becoming desensitized to death? Is this person desensitized? Is it easier or harder to grieve when it is so common? Can grieving be a skill? Etc.– none of these thoughts are clear or coherent or appropriate enough to break the silence so it drags until someone else does.
One thought I had that I wanted to try to say a bit more about here was “how does this frequency of tragedy affect people’s religious beliefs and the relative importance of religion in people’s lives?” The Zambia I have seen is certainly more religious than the Canada I know. We heard the beautiful Islamic call to prayer each evening and morning in Chipata. Every meeting type gathering at the Racecourse school begins and ends with a Christian prayer (I was asked to give one of these and I don’t think I quite measured up to expectations). I have been asked questions like “And what church do you go to? Would you like to come to my church? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal saviour? Have you met God? (child’s question) Do you have all night prayers in Canada?” in various casual conversations.
Church is a big part of life here, and people’s beliefs seem to be more literal and fervent than I am used to. Before commencing on our tour of the community and the homes of the Executive members it was brought up that there may be some “snakes and devils” along the way. I thought this was a reference to black mambas which inhabit the region and the men who may have been enjoying a “Chibuke Shake shake” (a strong alcohol made from maize meal which comes in a carton and must be shaken before opening to remix the thick liquid) this Saturday morning, giving them a bit more courage for shouting and other shenanigans. This may very well have been the case since no one thought me too strange for laughing out loud, but we did proceed to bow our heads in a prayer for protection from said snakes and devils. The fundamentalist type churches seem popular here, and even the United Church (which in Canada seems to me to be pretty warm and fuzzy and open to people of all backgrounds and any interpretation of scripture) services we have attended the last two weeks have been pretty raucous with shouting and fervent prayers and shouts of “Amen!” and similar things from the audience. I wonder if a more concrete concept of God and a more conscious submission to His ‘will’ can better prepare a person to deal with tragedy? I find the notion of a personal intervening God that still allows this type of tragedy is actually less comforting from a theoretical perspective. I am more comfortable with a notion of God as a more general force of good and sense of “something more”, not the old white man in the clouds responding to people’s individual prayers. This type of God seems more coherent with my experience of the world to this point but maybe it is too ambiguous and aloof to offer personal comfort in a time of tragedy. I have been fortunate enough to not have to find out yet.
A few people here have also mentioned being concerned that they’ve heard about a decline of religion in Canada and the US. I can understand their concern from the local context of frequent tragedy that we keep getting glimpses of. Would my ambiguous beliefs be adequate to cope with the loss of as many people as a Zambian my age has lost? Would the average person my age have the spiritual and emotional support they would need? What if most of the people in our communities and families were also dealing with their own losses as frequently as the Zambian families and communities I have glimpsed this week? Is the Zambian version of religion and spirituality any better prepared?
I suppose it is probably the responsibility of our religious leaders and institutions to remain in touch with and work to fulfill the needs of their communities. I wonder if our declining religious communities have enough support to do this though. What are the religious and spiritual needs of our society- and are our institutions, leaders, and communities meeting those needs? Are the Zambian ones faring any better? What do we have to learn from one another in this sense? I guess my attempts at a better world in this context will be to try to support the people and communities in my life dealing with tragedy - through friendship, hard work, my share of $10 for transport to a brother’s funeral, and some heavy conversations and heavier silences – and an attempt to learn and engage with religious and spiritual communities to help them stay in touch with the diverse needs of my family, friends and society..
I would love to peoples thoughts on this topic, and love to hear from people in general. Email me at justinwheler@yahoo.ca or call us at +26 0975759360. In peace,
Justin
We have experienced incredible and persistent hospitality from the teachers and executive of the Racecourse School. As we search for and test different ways to get involved and contribute to the school and the community my comfort level with the amount we can and can’t do has converged with the things to be done. As the students progress from grade to grade the amount of English instruction is supposed to increase so that by the end of grade seven they are ready to take their standard government exams in English. This transition makes it actually fairly natural and productive for the teachers to have some Anglophones around to increase the student’s exposure – especially in the classes where the teacher is not super comfortable trying to explain things in English. It is an interesting tension though to be trying to cram as much learning as possible into the already condensed time (currently each class is only getting 2.5 hours of instruction per day due to a shortage of space as the school transitions from using rented space throughout the community to its own buildings) while also trying to increase student’s proficiency in their second (or third or fourth) language English.
The reason that we have found ourselves more needed than we expected is sickness and tragedy. Imagine showing up to your staff room the first day after the holidays to find out that two of the 15 teachers (4 are away doing teachers training) have just lost brothers (one of them for the second time in as many weeks), and two others are away sick. To make it harder, one of these teachers is actually present still because he can’t afford the $10 or so to travel to his home community and be with his grieving family (he broke the bank covering the cost of the previous funeral). When I realize how common death is, the sick day for the other absent teachers suddenly seems a lot more serious. It was good to know that at least we would be able to help fill the gaps and try to teach some useful things (even if it is only practicing English) to the students anxiously waiting for their learning to recommence, but we would have given anything to not be needed in this way. If tragedy is going to happen it is good to be in a position to be useful, but it is still tragedy.
The really hard thing for me, is realizing that this is a pretty common predicament. What does it mean for a society to have a life expectancy in the thirties? What does it mean for almost every child to have lost a parent or uncle or aunt? What does it mean when almost everyone fortunate enough to reach the age of a grandparent has probably buried their spouse or one of their children (and some have buried all)? As I write these words I am reminded of walking through the rows and rows of matching white gravestones near world war two battle sites-calculating the ages and realizing they are my age, my brothers age – noting how they are all from the same few years. The two brothers of the racecourse teachers were lost due to illness, which may or may not mean HIV/AIDS, but that is not the only reason for the low life expectancy. Many people are lost to completely random and what should be unlikely accidents.
Mary, a sweet, cheerful, and funny woman from the new local clinic who is on the community executive was carrying a casual conversation with us as we waited to visit the homes of each executive member (at their insistence!). In this conversation we learned that she has two daughters attending a school for disabled children. Their legs were amputated after their house collapsed in a particularly heavy rainy season a few years ago. She now almost never sleeps through the months of rain. Apparently, although there are fairly high quality bricks being fired in giant piles all around us, the cost of these bricks is still out of reach for many in Racecourse. In these cases people have to resort to mud bricks baked in the hot sun of the current dry season. These brick wall and the makeshift plastic/tin/wood roof houses are at risk of collapsing every rainy season.
On that same day, Mary also told us casually about losing her husband. She had told Heather earlier that it was to HIV/AIDs, and after many tests herself she was glad to find that she tested negative. She explained to us that after his death his family claimed his possessions for themselves. They took all the contents of the home, the farm, and all the money from their shared bank account. She fought to keep the kids even though they were all crying uncontrollably at the thought of trying to find their next meal with everything gone. This is also a disturbingly common occurrence (Mr. Siame was walking with us and had a very similar story to explain the emptiness of his home we had just visited) which is incredibly hard for me to understand from outside the local culture. I was happy to learn that recently, some laws were put in place to allow for spouses and children to claim some inheritance after a parent’s death instead of it all going to the family of the deceased.
Death is one of the most challenging things we face as individuals, families, communities and societies. Many of us fear it and do not know how to support those dealing with loss, even when it is the loss of a grandparent who has lived a full and enjoyable life. What can I say to the sixth person this week who tells you about the loss of a close family member? Of course I say “I’m sorry” and sit in empathetic or sympathetic awkward silence for a bit. In the silence my mind spins - was it AIDS? Is it inappropriate to ask ‘what happened?’ as I would in Canada to show my shock, or ‘how are you doing?’ to show my concern? Am I becoming desensitized to death? Is this person desensitized? Is it easier or harder to grieve when it is so common? Can grieving be a skill? Etc.– none of these thoughts are clear or coherent or appropriate enough to break the silence so it drags until someone else does.
One thought I had that I wanted to try to say a bit more about here was “how does this frequency of tragedy affect people’s religious beliefs and the relative importance of religion in people’s lives?” The Zambia I have seen is certainly more religious than the Canada I know. We heard the beautiful Islamic call to prayer each evening and morning in Chipata. Every meeting type gathering at the Racecourse school begins and ends with a Christian prayer (I was asked to give one of these and I don’t think I quite measured up to expectations). I have been asked questions like “And what church do you go to? Would you like to come to my church? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal saviour? Have you met God? (child’s question) Do you have all night prayers in Canada?” in various casual conversations.
Church is a big part of life here, and people’s beliefs seem to be more literal and fervent than I am used to. Before commencing on our tour of the community and the homes of the Executive members it was brought up that there may be some “snakes and devils” along the way. I thought this was a reference to black mambas which inhabit the region and the men who may have been enjoying a “Chibuke Shake shake” (a strong alcohol made from maize meal which comes in a carton and must be shaken before opening to remix the thick liquid) this Saturday morning, giving them a bit more courage for shouting and other shenanigans. This may very well have been the case since no one thought me too strange for laughing out loud, but we did proceed to bow our heads in a prayer for protection from said snakes and devils. The fundamentalist type churches seem popular here, and even the United Church (which in Canada seems to me to be pretty warm and fuzzy and open to people of all backgrounds and any interpretation of scripture) services we have attended the last two weeks have been pretty raucous with shouting and fervent prayers and shouts of “Amen!” and similar things from the audience. I wonder if a more concrete concept of God and a more conscious submission to His ‘will’ can better prepare a person to deal with tragedy? I find the notion of a personal intervening God that still allows this type of tragedy is actually less comforting from a theoretical perspective. I am more comfortable with a notion of God as a more general force of good and sense of “something more”, not the old white man in the clouds responding to people’s individual prayers. This type of God seems more coherent with my experience of the world to this point but maybe it is too ambiguous and aloof to offer personal comfort in a time of tragedy. I have been fortunate enough to not have to find out yet.
A few people here have also mentioned being concerned that they’ve heard about a decline of religion in Canada and the US. I can understand their concern from the local context of frequent tragedy that we keep getting glimpses of. Would my ambiguous beliefs be adequate to cope with the loss of as many people as a Zambian my age has lost? Would the average person my age have the spiritual and emotional support they would need? What if most of the people in our communities and families were also dealing with their own losses as frequently as the Zambian families and communities I have glimpsed this week? Is the Zambian version of religion and spirituality any better prepared?
I suppose it is probably the responsibility of our religious leaders and institutions to remain in touch with and work to fulfill the needs of their communities. I wonder if our declining religious communities have enough support to do this though. What are the religious and spiritual needs of our society- and are our institutions, leaders, and communities meeting those needs? Are the Zambian ones faring any better? What do we have to learn from one another in this sense? I guess my attempts at a better world in this context will be to try to support the people and communities in my life dealing with tragedy - through friendship, hard work, my share of $10 for transport to a brother’s funeral, and some heavy conversations and heavier silences – and an attempt to learn and engage with religious and spiritual communities to help them stay in touch with the diverse needs of my family, friends and society..
I would love to peoples thoughts on this topic, and love to hear from people in general. Email me at justinwheler@yahoo.ca or call us at +26 0975759360. In peace,
Justin
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