Traveling Update!

Even though the last blog post was about Soweto in South Africa, in real time - we just arrived in Cambodia a few days ago!  For two weeks, we've been ever-so-kindly hosted by the famous French chef/owner of La Boulangerie in Shanghai, Laurent Meffre, and his Russian bracelet-modeling girlfriend, Taisse.
We could not thank them enough for their hospitality and delicious company!  But French pastries and beautiful weather was only the "cerise sur le gateau" for us as Shanghai is truly a fascinating east meets west city that will that your breath away!

From the skyscrapers of Pudong (including one that looks like a bottle opener that the japanese were not allowed to put their flag up on because it is the tallest in Shanghai) to the "platanes" lined street of the french concession through the bustling streets of the Yunan Bazaar and Gardens - you will never be bored in Shanghai!

Live from Siem Reap, Cambodia

Em & Will

Motho Ke Motho Ka Batho

For our last two nights in South Africa, we stayed in Soweto (a name that comes from the fact that it’s the South West Township from Jo’burg).  Although we had been skeptical about staying there at the beginning (opting instead for the funky yet isolated area of Melville in Johannesburg), after two months of being in Africa with no bad track record – no muggings, no late night encounters, nothing! - we decided that there was nothing stopping us… Who were we to judge without trying it first, right?   So after crossing the border from Botswana, we booked a room at Soweto Backpackers in Orlando West.

 After only about an hour drive from Jo’burg, you enter Soweto, and yes, you’ll know when you’re there! A bustling energy, full of excitement and warmth, immediately surrounds you.  Unlike the suburbs of Johannesburg, where people seem to remain either inside their houses or in their car (for safety reasons or a fear of their black compatriots), here, people are everywhere!   Kids wave enthusiastically from the sidewalks; Families and friends barbeque outside their houses – organized chaos in all its beauty.  While at the same time, exuberating an overwhelming sense of cool.

On our second day, we decided to take one of the hostel’s unique, soon-to-be-famous bicycling tours around Soweto to see more of the city. Our tour guide, who lived nearby, greeted us with helmets and a huge smile – which in a way is a symbol of black South Africans strength. Despite their history of disrespect and humiliation from whites, oddly enough, there is no hostility, no resentment.  And we saw this everywhere.  Nelson Mandela said “Before changing the society, you have to first change yourself,” and it seems that this message is truly taken to heart in the black community.  Getting us back is not about making us uncomfortable or scared, but showing us how wrong we were to judge them by their color. 

 While Will ran back to our room to get the camera, I chatted with the guide, asking him how he started giving tours.  He told me that he used to work as a volunteer for one of the community projects supported by our hostel.  During that time, he met an American couple that had come to help out, and after getting to know him, offered to support his training to become a guide.  You could tell from his manner that he was proud of his job and happy to be there, he had an opportunity to support himself and his family.  It’s easy to say that people in the townships don’t want to work – that they would rather just hang out and do nothing, because unfortunately that’s often what you see - but it’s completely untrue.   Their ability to step out of poverty has been crippled by years of racism and lack of opportunity.  This has nothing to do with their work ethic, but the unjust and economically-hindering treatment of blacks by the apartheid regime.  

As he told his story, giving credit to that couple who helped him out, I saw that he wasn’t ashamed or embarrassed for needing assistance, but grateful and proud.  Proud, perhaps, of the fact that we, the human race, are helping one another have a better life.  The African philosophy of Ubuntu is one that’s been mentioned by Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, even Bill Clinton, to explain the importance of our interconnectedness as a people.  A SeTswana proverb – “Motho Ke Motho Ka Batho” – translates as “A person is a person through other persons,” the idea being that our behavior and decisions will affect the lives of others and vice versa, creating an invisible thread through which we are all linked.  Pull on that thread and you may not feel the difference, but you will inevitably shift the position of others who are also attached. 

This idea I find most comforting, and one that seems to be growing in pertinence every day.  Globalization, thanks to the internet and cheap travel, has shrunk our world into one ever-flowing exchange of ideas, products, and identities.  “I am because you are,” is no longer only relevant to a town or city, but actually to the whole world.  We are in this together.  This is why I urge whoever is visiting South Africa to visit Soweto.  To learn about its history, not in a museum, but hey, why not on a bicycle! Experience the friendliness of a people that endured more than I, a white Californian, could ever imagine - but still just keep on smiling.  During those two days, we both pulled on that invisible string, and felt a big tug back.


To learn more about Soweto Backpackers you can visit their website at: www.sowetobackpackers.com
Love to everyone!
Emily

In to Africa

I must say I looked at her with worried eyes when Emily first said we were going to spend 3 months in Africa. Africa seemed to me like a dangerous place to go: poverty, famine, ethnic wars, and despotic leaders were what I had in mind.

Now I have seen a little bit I wanted to share with you how feel. We have spent 2 months here and visited, South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. I have been amazed! Everywhere I went I said: “This isn’t Africa!” And that is exactly the problem: Cape Town, South Africa, Southern Africa are all part of Africa even though they seem a very safe and extremely beautiful (not to mention a little pricy: thank you FIFA!) place.

We have seen the majestuous peace and quiet  and amazing wildlife of Kruger Park, the pristine landscapes of Swaziland, the casinos and waterfront bars and beaches of Durban, or the amazing views of Cape Town from overlooking Table Moutain or from a boat at sunset.

In Namibia I experiecened the great medical infrastructure (nothing bad), the beautiful sand dunes on which we sand boarded, and the wonderful crafts markets.  In Zambia we learned how to play the drums. We also visited the Vic Falls and our white water rafting experience there left me literally and figuratively breathless. We recovered with a sunset (booze) cruise the next day!

In Botswana keep your eyes peeled in Chobe National Park for a few days of wildlife watching and go camping in the bush with lions, leopards and elephants taking over the camp at night! Go on to one of the Mokoro stations for a little sunset “cruise” in the tiny woodcarved boats!

Sure there are still problems here but so are there back home. Name me one country in the world that has no issues whatsoever. I hear you: Africa is worse. To which I want to proose 2 things:

1.         Democracy in Africa is a lot younger. When Europe achieved political democracy, the world was in a phase of great economic expansion. And those countries and their political system have been shaped gradually over centuries of economic and military wars. Economic poverty inevitably destabilizes democracy as attests the current rise of nationalist in Europe (France, Holland, Norway) and the US (Tea Party). Israel & Palestine were given their borders at roughly the same time (after WWII) and they haven’t figured that one out yet.
2.        You judge Africa is worse because like me you a. see the news and b. think like a European. I don’t pretend I know how to think like an African (my kingdom for a glass of champagne) but I guess I am beginning to understand how they do. Africa is different. Africa is happy to be that way. The only reason people leave Africa is to find a job! Their lifestyle is not for me but what I’m saying is we need to stop judging them by our standards. Maybe they don’t want to be like us…

After stability, the next step is development and one of the main sectors where Africa has a lot of potential (in my view) is tourism. The gap between the perceived Africa and the real Africa reminds me of an article I read about the African brand in the magazine New Africa. In a nutshell it said that Africa needed to start marketing itself a lot better to match what it has to offer. And I agree. Although it is probably not in their instincts to go market themselves (essentially to their former colonizers), that is exactly what African countries should do.

So this is me, doing my part.

“There wasn’t  one morning when I did not wake up happy in Africa” E. Hemingway

Will

Un drole d'animal

Une des choses que le guide nous as appris lors de nos nombreuses marches dans le bush c’est que les animaux isoles sont généralement les anciens qui ont été écartés par les jeunes males. Les hippos, buffles, éléphants et autres animaux m’ont rappelés la bonne vieille théorie de Darwin. Et le monde dans lequel nous vivons. Apres avoir protégés, nourris et éduqués leurs petits, ces derniers chassent leurs parents du clan. Leger Mauvais esprit, léger !

Les vieux males isoles sont les plus dangereux. Parce qu’ils sont seuls, vulnérables et probablement un peu amers.

Les lions écartent également les vieux males lorsque ceux-ci sont trop faibles pour se défendre. Mais pourquoi tant de haine me suis-je demander ? Le pouvoir ! Ils veulent dominer le groupe, devenir khalife a la place du khalife, le Roi Lion quoi… Et pendant ce temps la, c’est bobonne qui doit aller faire les courses. Une fois le repas sur la table, le lion se sert le premier et laisse les restes a ses petits, quitte a les laisser mourir de faim si la chasse n’est pas assez conséquente !

Je ne suis pas un expert en animaux de la savane ou un psychologue pour gros chat… C’est la nature, c’est beau, c’est cruel et c’est comme ca. Mais étant donne que nous sommes en train d’essayer de comprendre le monde qui nous entoure – et probablement influencer par une récente lecture sur les craquages successifs des Nations Unies depuis 30 ans (Chasing the Flame, Samantha Power) – je n’ai pu m’empêcher de faire un bon gros parallèle bien simpliste : le comportement de beaucoup d’êtres humains qui nous parait si souvent si choquant est simplement l’expression de notre instinct animal.

Devons nous donc lutter perpétuellement contre notre nature et utiliser ce qui semble nous différencier des lions : la conscience.  Ou bien accepter les bêtes bêtes que nous sommes instinctivement.

La plupart d’entre vous répondront : Petit a. utiliser sa conscience. Mais quand je regarde le monde tel que je le perçois et tel que les historiens mainstream l’ont défini je ne trouve que rarement cette conscience. A qui incombe (ou decombe) donc la responsabilité de la définition de cette conscience morale et l’adoption du comportement qui en découle.

L’enjeu parait trop grand pour la confier a l’individu qui a prouve a plusieurs reprises qu’il était trop susceptible d’être tente par ses instincts. La famille : oui mais non. La famille telle que le sociologue (la fameuse famille nucléaire) la définit traditionnellement est en train de disparaitre. De plus en plus, la famille et i.e. société sont composes, décomposes et recomposes d’individus. Le gouvernement. J’en vois qui rigole au fond. En théorie j’ai envie de dire oui. Sauf que le monde est un peu complique pour pouvoir se permettre de belles tirades à l’ONU contre les Etats Unis toutes les semaines.  Il y en a qui ont quand même eu les noix de le faire et c’est beau. Pragmatisme économique versus conscience morale ? Vous avez 3 heures !

Mais in fine les belles tirades ne changent rien. Ce sont les actions qui permettent de vraiment définir la conscience morale d’un ou un groupe d’individus. Et le fait est que, dans les pays africains (comme Mugabe au Zimbabwe), comme dans le monde (the US of A) les lions dominants vieillissent et d’autres vont bientôt prendre leur place.

Seul le leader peut aujourd’hui vraiment se permettre d’avoir une conscience morale et de vivre d’après ses principes. Barack Obama a déclaré le 22 Septembre dans son discours aux nations unies que « chaque fois qu’un enfant meurt d’une maladie curable cela choque notre conscience ». Il a tort. Cela ne choque plus grand monde. Ce qui me rend optimiste c’et que lui a l’air vraiment touche. Il a d’autres banquiers à fouetter. Il fait ce qu’il peut pour tenir la Barrack…mais bon il ne faut pas trop lui en demander non plus.

Je ne suis pas naïf : Nous sommes dans un monde conflictuel ou chacun la joue instinctivement perso, ironiquement c'est contre productif 99% des cas sur le long terme (cf. l’Histoire de l’Humanité). En revanche  le cynisme me semble être, comme souvent la solution de facilité. La réédition dans le combat que nous menons tous contre notre conscience.

« Where lies difficulty is opportunity ». A. Einstein