The Africa Journey 2nd draft as a page
Introduction –
I think of myself as being on a "spiritual" path, on a spiritual quest, that experiencing spirit wisdom and sacred wisdom, whatever they turn out to be, if noting more than a greater attuning of my sense receptors to feel the vibration of the others' sensory emitters, the other hearts beating, the other molecules spinning in eternal dance.
I am about to leave for sub-Saharan Africa. I hope to be there for ten weeks, begin my journey in late November, 2012, going from Johannesburg, SA, where I first arrive and will stay a day or two to recover from the flight, on to Meseru, Lesotho.
I leave boston 11/26 for Joberg, SA and some local travel including Lesotho, b4 returning to Joberg for the start of my training as at international volunteer at Camp Sizanini. http://www.sizanani.org/
After Sizanani ends I plan to fly to dar es salaam tanzania with my sister Sheryl, who will also have been at the camp. in Tanzania we plan to go on safari, and then on to Zanzibar, after which she’ll return home and I’ll go on – inshallah – to Moshi, Arusha, the Serengeti, Olduvai, Ngorogoro, and from there overland to Nairobi –despite state department warnings – and then on by air to Addis and Lalibela in Ethiopia, letting Eritrea go, based on state department warnings, and maybe if there is time to one west African country (Senegal?) … and, if sam is in euro, to come home via a visit w him and a return flight to boston probably around 2/4/13. Man tracht got lacht.
My sister Sheryl plans to rendezvous with me in Joberg in early December before we spend 10 days as international volunteers at Camp Sizanini, http://www.globalcampsafrica.org/programs/, a camp aimed at enhancing the lives of vulnerable South African boys and girls aged 10to 15 by providing HIV/AIDS prevention education and training through high-impact residential and day camp experiences and continuing education. I trust there will be more to say about Sizanani anon. Camp ends 12/18, after which Sheryl and I fly to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and from there on to a tenting safari deep into the bush. http://www.kwihala.com/ruaha.htm. Christmas morning we fly from Kwihala to Zanzibar, after which Sheryl will return home and I’ll go on – inshallah – to Moshi, Arusha, the Serengeti, Olduvai, Ngorogoro (all inTanz), and from there overland to the Masai Mara and Nairobi, in Kenya – despite U.S. state department warnings – then on to Addis and Lalibela in Ethiopia, (but not Eritrea - in deference to U.S. state department warnings), and maybe, if there is time, to Senegal in west Africa, returning home around 2/2/13. But as I need to say ... and as we all know too well ... man tracht got lacht. So I’m counting on your good wishes. And the good intentions of the guides.
First, however, San
Francisco. Sort of a practice run at being "on the road" again.
Far from home, very safe, yet "on the road" enough to test out
my packs and packing skills, my memory and organizational skills, my back, my
heart, my laptop. More than one person who has observed the planning and
deliberation that go into preparing for and being on any of my low budget
comings and goings has said, "I thought you were such a free spirit."
To which I always reply, "You can't imagine how much work it takes
to be a free spirit."
San Francisco is, of course,
the home of my beloved 43 year old daughter, her husband, and their two delicious
children. And before I start any of these major voyages - which are
always also possibly where my tale will end - I want to see them. San
Francisco is in strange ways how I imagine parts of Africa will be.
Consider walking on Mission between 17th and 18th after midnight, the taquerias
open, the 24 hour stores, the smoke shops, the homeless people, the haggard
prostitutes, the derelict junkies and the smooth talking junkies ready to
exploit any opportunity that presents itself.
I am currently holed up in an old SRO for
70$/night with my laptop and my writing. But the outside world is calling
for me to set this down and otherwise engage. Grandchildren.
Daughters. Pumpkins. School plays. Halloween. Ex-wives.
This photo of a dwelling taken from the west side of Bernal Heights - ppphoto 2 - could
have been taken in Africa … or maybe not My shadow was photographed
facing east in late afternoon. Photo 3. I also imagine this is what
parts of Africa may look like.
I am now 72 years old.
With arthritis, atrial fibrillation, the residue of a law practice, macular
pucker, and a fabulous life partner who is very into her work. www.alinearchitacture.com.
I live on Cape Cod – photo 1 – which I must tell you is a
horrible place, that I advise all visitors avoid and stay away from (unless
they are good personal friends) what with ticks, lyme disease, poison ivy,
street crime, and sharks – besides the traffic is terrible, the weather
unpredictable, and the crowds unmanageable. Go to Long Island. Or
Deer Island. Or the Thimble Islands. Remember, Cape Cod is a
shifting sand bar that will be washed away in another 15,000 years.
Property values are sure to fall. Don’t visit. Don’t buy.
There are thousands of absolutely amazing, charming, comfortable, easy,
beautiful places to live on our planet, thousands. Visit them. Turn
back before you get Cape sand in your shoes. The spirit of the people who
lived and hunted here 500 years ago is abounding. So too the whale, the
dolphin, the crab and their kin. Turn back before it is too late.
1. San Francisco -
San Francisco remains a most amazing city. The weather can be change very quickly and frequently over the course of a day. Bright sunshine in cloudless skies often followed by rain, sun, rain, fog, and a special Pacific drizzle that leaves me cold to the marrow. In the summer the plants here want for water. In the winter the earth is lush and Mediterranean flowers bloom everywhere.
I finally get out of my SRO room by 1 having spent the morning corresponding, writing, exploring the world available thru my computer/the internet. Hard to put aside. And a few blocks walk, and a couple of buses latter and I’m back on the computer in a Peet’s Coffee waiting for my outrageously expensive outpatient medical appointment, because insurers don’t cover optional things, like travel immunizations. Oh well. Obsessing about the question of what might make these writings interesting when I’m not in Africa, or elsewhere on the road less familiar. I saw a new blog site today entitled, “The Adventures of Amanda in trying to organize her life.” Not what I want to be writing. But sitting in a Peet’s drinking coffee goes only so far in holding anyone’s attention.
I think of myself as an ethnographer, trying to describe what I see of the culture and environment I am encountering without judgment or presupposition. I wrote a poem about I say that a good e it’m currently in San Francisco visiting my daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. San Francisco is like Africa. This photo of a dwelling taken from the west side of Bernal Heights - photo 2 - could have been taken in (a nice part of ) Africa. My shadow was photographed facing east in late afternoon. Photo 3. I also imagine this is what parts of Africa may look like. I am no longer sure the mind is contained inside the skull.
My daughter and son in law’s children are brilliant, eager, open, curious, and good humored.
I think of myself as being on a "spiritual" path, on a spiritual quest, that experiencing spirit wisdom and sacred wisdom, whatever they turn out to be, if noting more than a greater attuning of my sensory instruments to feel the vibration of the others' sensory instruments, the other hearts beating, the other molecules spinning in ritual dance. But let us move on.
I am planning on traveling in sub-Saharan Africa and hope to be there for two full months. I intend to begin my journeying there in late November, 2012 going from Johannesburg, SA, where I first arrive and will stay a day or two to recover from the flight, to Meseru, Lesotho. I have a lot of work to do before I depart. And it is not gratuitous to say I'm not as young or fit as I used to be and that my aging spurt since returning from my last voyage requires immense accommodation.
I record my "plan" here to see how much comes to pass, leaving boston 11/26 to Joberg, SA and some local travel including Lesotho b4 returning to Joberg and b4 camp Sizanini starts. I plan to fly from joberg to dar es salaam tanzania on the afternoon of 12/19/12 with my sister Sheryl, who will also have been at the camp. in Tanzania we plan to go on safari, and then on to Zanzibar, after which she’ll return home and I’ll go on – inshallah – to Moshi, Arusha, the Serengeti, Olduvai, Ngorogoro, and from there overland to Nairobi –despite state department warnings – and then on by air to Addis and Lalibela in Ethiopia, letting Eritrea go, based on state department warnings, and maybe if there is time to one west African country (Senegal?) … and, if sam is in euro, to come home via a visit w him and a return flight to boston probably around 2/4/13. Man tracht got lacht.
My sister Sheryl plans to rendezvous with me in Joberg in early December before we spend 10 days as international volunteers at Camp Sizanini, http://www.globalcampsafrica.org/programs/, a camp aimed at enhancing the lives of vulnerable South African boys and girls aged 10to 15 by providing HIV/AIDS prevention education and training through high-impact residential and day camp experiences and continuing education. I trust there will be more to say about Sizanani anon. Camp ends 12/18, after which Sheryl and I fly to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and from there on to a tenting safari deep into the bush. http://www.kwihala.com/ruaha.htm. Christmas morning we fly from Kwihala to Zanzibar, after which Sheryl will return home and I’ll go on – inshallah – to Moshi, Arusha, the Serengeti, Olduvai, Ngorogoro (all inTanz), and from there overland to the Masai Mara and Nairobi, in Kenya – despite U.S. state department warnings – then on to Addis and Lalibela in Ethiopia, (but not Eritrea - in deference to U.S. state department warnings), and maybe, if there is time, to Senegal in west Africa, returning home around 2/2/13. But as I need to say ... and as we all know too well ... man tracht got lacht. So I’m counting on your good wishes. And the good intentions of the guides.
First, however, San Francisco. Sort of a practice run at being "on the road" again. Far from home, very safe, yet "on the road" enough to test out my packs and packing skills, my memory and organizational skills, my back, my heart, my laptop. More than one person who has observed the planning and deliberation that go into preparing for and being on any of my low budget comings and goings has said, "I thought you were such a free spirit." To which I always reply, "You can't imagine how much work it takes to be a free spirit."
San Francisco is, of course,
the home of my beloved 43 year old daughter, her husband, and their two delicious
children. And before I start any of these major voyages - which are
always also possibly where my tale will end - I want to see them. San
Francisco is in strange ways how I imagine parts of Africa will be.
Consider walking on Mission between 17th and 18th after midnight, the taquerias
open, the 24 hour stores, the smoke shops, the homeless people, the haggard
prostitutes, the derelict junkies and the smooth talking junkies ready to
exploit any opportunity that presents itself.
I am currently holed up in an old SRO for
70$/night with my laptop and my writing. But the outside world is calling
for me to set this down and otherwise engage. Grandchildren.
Daughters. Pumpkins. School plays. Halloween. Ex-wives.
This photo of a dwelling taken from the west side of Bernal Heights - photo 2 - could
have been taken in Africa … or maybe not My shadow was photographed
facing east in late afternoon. Photo 3. I also imagine this is what
parts of Africa may look like.
I am now 72 years old.
With arthritis, atrial fibrillation, the residue of a law practice, macular
pucker, and a fabulous life partner who is very into her work. www.alinearchitacture.com.
I live on Cape Cod – photo 1 – which I must tell you is a
horrible place, that I advise all visitors avoid and stay away from (unless
they are good personal friends) what with ticks, lyme disease, poison ivy,
street crime, and sharks – besides the traffic is terrible, the weather
unpredictable, and the crowds unmanageable. Go to Long Island. Or
Deer Island. Or the Thimble Islands. Remember, Cape Cod is a
shifting sand bar that will be washed away in another 15,000 years.
Property values are sure to fall. Don’t visit. Don’t buy.
There are thousands of absolutely amazing, charming, comfortable, easy,
beautiful places to live on our planet, thousands. Visit them. Turn
back before you get Cape sand in your shoes. The spirit of the people who
lived and hunted here 500 years ago is abounding. So too the whale, the
dolphin, the crab and their kin.
1. San Francisco -
San Francisco remains a most amazing city. The weather can be change very quickly and frequently over the course of a day. Bright sunshine in cloudless skies often followed by rain, sun, rain, fog, and a special Pacific drizzle that leaves me cold to the marrow. In the summer the plants here want for water. In the winter the earth is lush and Mediterranean flowers bloom everywhere.
My daughter and son in law’s children are brilliant, eager, open, curious, and good humored. Trust me. I’m an ethnographer. And I must go.
Son in law. Play.
I finally get out of my SRO
room by 1 having spent the morning corresponding, writing, exploring the world
available thru my computer/the internet. Hard to put aside. And a
few blocks walk, and a couple of buses latter and I’m back on the computer in a
Peet’s Coffee waiting for my outrageously expensive outpatient medical
appointment, because insurers don’t cover optional things, like travel
immunizations. Oh well. Obsessing about the question of what might
make these writings interesting when I’m not in Africa, or elsewhere on the
road less familiar. I saw a new blog site today entitled, “The Adventures
of Amanda in trying to organize her life.” Not what I want to be
writing. But sitting in a Peet’s drinking coffee goes only so far in
holding anyone’s attention.
I think of myself as an ethnographer, trying
to describe what I see of the culture and environment I am encountering without
judgment or presupposition. I wrote a poem about I say that a good
e it’m currently in San Francisco visiting my daughter, son-in-law and
grandchildren. San Francisco is like Africa. This photo of a
dwelling taken from the west side of Bernal Heights - photo 2 - could have been
taken in (a nice part of ) Africa. My shadow was photographed facing east
in late afternoon. Photo 3. I also imagine this is what parts of
Africa may look like. I am no longer sure the mind is contained inside
the skull.
San Francisco remains a most amazing city. The weather can be change very quickly and frequently over the course of a day. Bright sunshine in cloudless skies often followed by rain, sun, rain, fog, and a special Pacific drizzle that leaves me cold to the marrow. In the summer the plants here want for water. In the winter the earth is lush and Mediterranean flowers bloom everywhere.
My daughter and son in law’s children are brilliant, eager, open, curious, and good humored. Photo 4.
so variable and yet predictabley is cooling
world series
amanda/bumblebee
BLU
.