Mind games after 4 1/2 months: What can Isaya do in Southern Africa?
Mind games after 4 months: What can Isaya do in Southern Africa?
I came to Africa with an idea: I wanted to support women in less privileged countries to find a better future through education. Now I’ve been on the road since January 2nd, got to know many people, had many conversations and processed many impressions. My first summary: It’s not as easy as we imagine!
Many women here are very well educated. They just can’t find jobs! Simply – because there are none. “Training” or “further education”, as I had come up with it in Munich, is therefore not simply done.
But what really struck me was that the “entrepreneurial thinking”, the “what can I do to get out of here?”, that is a little fallow. The general attitude is rather: “The state should create jobs” and: “I need support, otherwise it won’t work”.
Sounds somehow familiar to me – do you?
But: how far do we really get in life with this attitude? Are we getting the power to take things into our own hands? Do I want to be one of those who just give money?
Scenery. Every day, at a crossroads here in Cape Town, there is a young man who sells sun visors for cars. I’ve been watching him for days now and I’m impressed by his discipline and resistance to frustration. Yesterday I approached him: Would he like to do a little experiment?
I suggested that he sell water bottles. Cooled in summer, now more at room temperature towards winter. I would give him the first 10 bottles, paint a sign and he can sell the bottles at twice the purchase price. Once he has his stake back, he buys another 10 bottles, and so on. No hassle, no warehouse, a consumable product that everyone needs every day – which makes sense since the same cars pass by here every day.
He listened to it and said he was thinking about it. I’m curious. I told him that I would help him for a few hours on the first day. I want to see if my idea works. He refused: Too dangerous.
Sometimes my frustration is high…
I’ll keep trying anyway. Perhaps I can achieve much more with ideas, know-how and start-up assistance for self-employment than with training.
Therefore: To be continued…
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Elephant- Adventure in Namibia: As a volunteer in the stony desert of Damaraland, I helped to build a safety wall that protects a small farm’s water reserves against the last wild elephants.
What inspired me was the naturalness with which everyone pitched in and gave their best, whether it was me, at 58 years the oldest or the youngest, Lukas, who was just 17 years old: Everything was handemade!
The stones were collected by hand and piled up at the construction site, the cement was mixed in wheelbarrows using biceps-power – this was the most brutal work, by the way – and then the wall was erected in teamwork. One handed cement, another stacked the stones on top of each other. Sometimes I felt like I was doing real slave labor. Then I remembered that there really were people who had to do something like this as slaves – and not just for a week, like us, but for a lifetime.
Ah, and when at the end of a week like this you stand in front of the wall that you created with your own hands and a colorful team of volunteers – it gives you a real feeling of happiness. What’s more, these walls are truly built to last. In this way, you actually leave a piece of yourself on site that is meaningful, that protects people like elephants, and that gives real satisfaction!
That is, because after the drudgery came the reward: We were allowed to go on patrol with the rangers for a week to track the wild elephants. And that was exactly to my taste: these consummate professionals know exactly where to look, they know the animals by name and their habits. So we saw a herd of 17 animals (alone – no other vehicle) splashing around at a waterhole, and were enlightened about the social conditions of these incredible animals: Who is in charge (matriachat :-)), how to read and interpret their tracks, how to determine the age of the animals, how to recognize an elephant pregnancy, and and and.
The highlight was of course the two baby elephants, one only one month old. The name can be chosen by the one who sees the animal for the first time. That’s how the little elephant lady is called Mimi now 🙂
As you can see, I’m completely thrilled! And if you – yes YOU – feel the desire to REALLY experience elephants in their natural habitat once in your life, I strongly recommend the