lördag 29 november 2008

Cafe y Vino!

My dream life here in Arequipa,Peru is coming to an end tomorrow sunday. I shall be leaving to Puno in the southeast of Peru on monday. I will stay there for at least three days and then shall continue to Copacabana,Bolivia......Chile, Argentina by bus..............etc....

I had a farewell party at a friend's bar which is called Cafe y Vino.....the best one in this city. I was the DJ for the most of the night and we rocked it until the woe hours of the morning.

Two incidents stick out though: first I thought that I had lost the network card for the wireless connection of my laptop. One guy was suspected of stealing it and we had to look for him around the garden where a folklore musicfestival was taking place. We eventually found him and had to search his pockets and the whole body including his shoes but to no avail.

He was claiming to be innocent all the time but the people around were certain of his gultiness. He turned out to be a nice gentleman who took the situation easily. I had forgotten that I had put the staff in my bag.

The guy had left by the time I discovered it ........but had aplologized to him and bought him a glas of red wine before he departed from the bar. I still feel bad about it!!! I have only experienced one attempt of robbery here in Peru before. One guy tried to open my bag and when I felt that something was going on and confronted the guy.....he just pretended not to have done anything and walked away.

The other incident was that my friend/sister/ spanish teacher Milena fell down on the dancing floor while dacing to an Eritrean rythm with me. I was holding her up and lost my balance (may be I took one too many beer and wine....:-))........she hit the floor right on the face. For a moment, everybody thought that she was injured seriously and might need some medication...as she was crying and had a lot of pain.

I felt guilty and wanted to hurt myself. I inflicted a lot of injuries to her teeth which was bleeding a little bit. Fortunately, it was not that bad........and she was fit after some turbulent minutes which felt like hours. We are going to a dentist now........what a night in Arequipa, Peru!

Bolivia.....is the next destination and look forward to having a great time in there as well. The Bolivians advice foreigners: to avoid soroche(altitude sickness), in La paz.......camina lentito, come poquito....y duerme solito( walk slowly, eat only a little bit....and sleep by your poor little self), especially on the first day or two.

måndag 24 november 2008

Mi exilio ha terminado...yo soy Arequipeño....???

I have been here in Peru for almost two months now and love the country. I am currently having some thoughts about my next destination............Bolivia , Chile or both before I end up in Argentina around X-mas......what a life!!! I am expecting a high level delegation from Sweden to arrive in Buenos Aires on christmas day.

I have been studying and working as a voluntary for the last two months. My life as a backpacker has not therefore started as yet. Having lived with two different Peruvian families, my personal understanding of this society has enhanced enormously. I have also got a holistic perspective on the situation in here.

P.S. Have you ever thought why things are called as they do........why you have been given the name that you have, your country, city...e.t.c. ...?

Liberia comes from the word Liberty and the capital Monrovia got its name from the then president of the USA who forced thousands of "free slaves" to return "home." The capital of sierra Leone freetown has also the same historical background as a new "home" for "free slaves." Ethiopia means black or burned face.......Addis Ababa......meaning new flower.....Eritrea meaning .....Red Sea....

Having been born and lived in exile and exposed to many cultures for years....the question of where "home" is puzzling me as never before. This city Arequipa makes me feel comfortable thanks to all the wondeful people that I have met here but it would be more than exaggerating if I was gonna call this place my home.

There is nothing called home for me ....one can have different homes....HUMANIA is probably the closest to home I could get. Your are always self-exiled in different circumstances.....the search itself is the most interesting and fascinating part of being a homosapien.

onsdag 12 november 2008

Haile Selassie is not a Messiah!

"The crowning of the King/Emperor in Ethiopia, Africa in 1930 was considered by many bible-reading lay/regular black folk to be the fullfillment of biblical prophecy."

In 1948 Emperor Haile Selassie I donated 500 acres (2.0 km2) of his private land to allow Black Ethiopian World Federation officers, members and other settlers from Jamaica including other parts of the Caribbean to return to their ancestral homeland in Africa.

Shashamane or Shashemene is a town in central Ethiopia. It is located about 150 miles (240 km) from the capital Addisababa. Many Jamaicans settled down in Shashamene. Around 200 individuals still live in this small and barren land . It is other than paradise on earth.

H.I.M.(his imperial majesty) visited Jamaica in 1966 and was surprised, (refused to leave the airplane at first because of the surrounding crowd),somewhat shocked and rather vocal about NOT being seen as divine or Divinity.

H.I.M. was neither a GOD nor a good leader. Thousands of Ethiopians died from famine and starvation while he was living in luxury in his palace and feeding his dogs and lions with the best meat which the country could provide. He was a feudal despot whose words were the laws of Ethiopia. He is regarded as a messiah, jesus and God by Rastafarians is a mystery for me.

H.I.M. loved the bible and believed it to be flawless. He belonged to the Ethiopic Coptic church (that Bob Marley was baptized into 3 weeks before his death).

Our rastafarian brothers have their own tangible reasons to worship H.I.M. but my version of Rastafarianism advocates equal rights and opportunities to all black folks across the world wherever they might be. I do not believe either that all blacks should return back to Africa. Why should we do that? Marcus Garvey´s blackstarliner was the product of xenophobia and rascism against blacks in the USA since time immomorial.

I love meat unlike other vegetarian Rastafarians. I have never smoked Ganjah even if many people,specially young white boys and girls, still come to me and ask if I have something for them because of my hair and colour. I do not like it.

tisdag 11 november 2008

lördag 8 november 2008

Do n't you forget the days of slavery!

" Do you remember the days of Slavery?" chants Burning Spear. It does not matter how much sympatatic and humble a white person could be.....he/she will never understand how it is to be black in a white man's world. Some feminist women would like to draw some similarities between the struggle for women's right and the black liberation.

There are of course somethings that we have in common but I am not sure that the resemblances are sufficient. The aspect of being a property for the white man and a commodity to be sold and exchanged is our mutual reality even in this so called global age and modern world.

I do not want to say more......just read the following Advertisement for the sale of slaves taken from Mabel Morsbach's book-The Negro American Life:

By

Hewlett & Bright

Sale of

Valuable

SLAVES,

(on account of departure)

The Owner of the following named and valuable Slaves, being on the eve of departure for Europe, will cause the same to be offered for sale, at the NEW EXCHANGE, corner of St. Louis and Chartres streets, on Saturday, may 16, at Twelve o'Clock, viz.

1. SARAH, a mulatress, aged 45 years, a good cook and accustomed to house work in general, is an excellent and faithful nurse for sick persons, and in every respect a first rate character.

2. DENNIS, her son, a mulatto, aged 24 years, a first rate cook and steward for a vessel, having been in the capacity for many years on board one of the Mobile packets; is strictly honest, temperate, and a first rate subject.

3. CHOLE, a mulatress, aged 36 years, she is, without exception, one of the most competent servants in the country, a first rate washer and ironer, does up lace, a good cook, and for a bachelor who wishes a house-keeper she would be invaluable; she is also a good ladies' maid, having travelled to the North in that capacity.

4. FANNY, her daughter, a mulatress, aged 16 years, speaks French and English, is a superior hair-dresser, (pupil of Guilliac,) a good seamstress and ladies' maid, is smart, intelligent, and a first rate character.

5. DANDRIDGE, a mulatoo, aged 26 years, a first rate dining-room servant, a good painter and rough carpenter, and has but few equals for honesty and sobriety.

6. NANCY, his wife, aged about 24 years, a confidential house servant, good seamstress, mantumaker and tailoress, a good cook, washer and ironer, etc.

7. MARY ANN, her child, a creole, aged 7 years, speaks French and English, is smart, active and intelligent.

8. FANNY or FRANCES, a mulatress, aged 22 years, is a first rate washer and ironer, good cook and house servant, and has an excellent character.

9. EMMA, an orphan, aged 10 or 11 years, speaks French and English, has been in the country 7 years, has been accustomed to waiting on table, sewing etc. ; is intelligent and active.

10. FRANK, a mulatto, aged about 32 years speaks French and English, is a first rate hostler and coachman, understands perfectly the management of horses, and is, in every respect, a first rate character, with the exception that he will occasionally drink, though not an habitual drunkard.

All the above named Slaves are acclimated and excellent subjects; they were purchased by their present vendor many years ago, and will, therefore, be severally warranted against all vices and maladies prescribed by law, save and except FRANK, who is fully guaranteed in every other respect but the one above mentioned.

TERMS:---one-half Cash, and the other half in notes at Six months, drawn and endorsed to the satisfactions of the Vendor, with special mortgage on the Slaves until final payment. The Acts of Sale to be passed before WILLIAM BOSWELL, Notary Public, at the expense of the Purchaser.

NEW-Orleans, May 13, 1835.

Printed By Benjamin Levy.

I wish that all people could be multilinguals and forgiving like the majority of Africans!!!

I have never met a single African who is not at least bilingual. Most of the stupid folks that have existed and still exist speak only one language....their mother tongue. I believe that speaking several languages makes people understand the world better and feel the pain of others who are not related to you biologically in a much civilized and cultured manner. That is what I call transceding your personal limitations.

The devils like Adolf Hitler, Mussoloni, Tony Blair, George Bush, Winston Churchill e.t.c. could not be otherwise than narrowminded war criminals because of their distorted worldview and mindset. I am not exaggerating the significance of language in here or blaming everything on the white man but I am just reflecting upon my observations from several countries and cultures.

I, for instance, speak almost 9 languages : fluent Amaringa, Tigringa, English, Lundensiska with a Tourialistisk dialect, Danish, intermediate Arabic, French, Italian and Spanish. My Spanish is getting better here in Peru every day and in a couple of months...I shall master even this language. I am therefore feeling privilaged and lucky to have been able to widen my perspectives on different issues. I have some wise African proverbs which show the practical wisdom of our people:

"The lack of knowledge is darker than night."

"Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse."

"The dawn does not come twice to wake a man."

fredag 7 november 2008

Osama being chased by Obama......

The Obamania will cool down and the honeymoon will be over soon. Obama in the white house is something extraordinary.

I really hope that Obama will deliver and live up to our expectations. It is not gonna be an easy presidency but he shall turn around the economy and create the best preconditions for a prosporous USA. The big question is though how he is going to handle Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

He might be trying to chase Osama and fall into the same trap as Bush. I hope that he will not endanger the lives of millions blacks across the world by outbushing himself. But that is a scenario which is a realistic one. Is he gonna have any black and hispanics in his cabinet???? I hope that he is not gonna be another uncle Tom..........

P.S. I have managed to scare a lot of children here in the countryside of Peru. Many people had never seen a man who looks like me. It was an interesting experience. A couple of people asked me if I ate humanbeings ironically...........this people are indiginous Peruvians with little contact with the outside world. I ate my first Cuy and it was tasty...delicious........Guinea pig....marsvin......is a good one :-)

lördag 1 november 2008

Peru TV and Halloween....

I started working as a voluntary worker at Peru TV yesterday. It was a fantastic experience to follow the media coverage in here. I attended demonstrations, church ceremonies and press conferences ..etc... with some collegues.

I shall be helping with translating some english documents into spanish.....of course with the help of dictionary, journalists who speak english and commonsense, update myself about the Peruvian society and learn a lot from the journalists who have been dealing with investigative journalism for years.

I was out yesterday with some friends and celebrated halloween.....the youth went wild in here and I enjoyed the night. Arequipa has impressed me and feel like staying here longer....may be until x-mas. The sun shines everyday and people are very friendly. Everything is great right now and I am looking forward to having a thrilling historical moment on tuesday when the US election is held.