Every second Saturday is Good Hair Day, for dogs at least. In the small Moravian village of Elim, near the southern-most tip of Africa, dogs are given a wash and pamper by local farmer, Andrea Booysen and her helpmate, Belinda Owens. And it’s more than a lick and a promise for these often neglected animals.
Elim houses
Pula ran across the bare, cracked, cement earth throwing her mother a toothless grin.
“Don’t be too long in the forest and remember the dangerous ones”, she called after her effervescent firstborn.
Billed as an annual celebration of conscious living and community, the programme was portentous of the eclectic mix of people that the festival drew.
The topic that initially attracted me to the festival was “African Wisdom”, which embraced the complexity of African thinking. Traditionally, Africans live close to Nature and understand that peoples’ law is subject to natural law. It is only recently (in historical terms) that the tribal initiate’s sense of responsibility to the environment has abdicated to the impersonal concept of government, and this is where things have gone awry. In light of the excesses of the West it is uplifting to learn that answers to our current problems are innate to this wonderful continent. It will take open minds and consciousness to rekindle them; not necessarily in their previous forms but in new, creative ways, appropriate to modern conditions. Read the rest of this entry »
Still on a biblical theme: the parallel between the long suffering people of Zimbabwe and the misery of Job in the Old Testament is apparent. In the Book of Job God has a wager with Satan that Job’s faith is so great it will withstand all manner of deprivations inflicted by God. The conceit in this is shocking (and probably inadmissible to many of the faithful). Yet the parallel is there again – Zimbabwe’s ruling elite crushing their own people for the purpose of shoring up their power.
I’ve just closed the covers on “The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot” by Herbert Krosney. Much of it details the arduous and dangerous route, often through bungling and greedy hands, the ancient papyrus manuscript took since its discovery in Egypt (yes, this is an African story) in 1974 to reach the general public.
The content of the Coptic codex is built up by the author when he states that the “Gospel of Judas will shake the very foundations of the Christian faith.” However, when one finally reads the excerpts of the story of Jesus as told by his betrayer, Judas Iscariot, it is curiously satisfying.
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Stark, extreme, magnificent, the Kalahari has a humbling effect on most people. You’d have to be a hard nut not to get it.
A spiritual reconnection with the Earth is something that more and more people are realising is an essential ingredient to humanity’s psychological health. In fact the Wilderness Leadership School makes it their business to sensitise people to this reality.
During a recent sacramental visit I became reacquainted with Belinda Kruiper, widow of Vetkat Kruiper, renowned Bushman artist. Immersed in the society of the formerly dispossessed Belinda is trying, in her own way, to demonstrate to her husband’s people a way of reconnecting with the Kalahari on their terms. These people of the Kalahari have long been marginalized from their land and way of life. However, a recent land claim awarded a large portion of the Kgaligadi Transfrontier Park to the Khomani San and a community-owned and run lodge has been erected and is operational.
News is full of the troubles in Democratic Republic of Congo again. There has been renewed fighting around Kanya Bayonga, north of Goma, and rebel leader, Laurent Nkunde, has established his stronghold in and around the Virunga National Park.
Virunga was the first national park to be established in Africa in 1925, to protect the variety of wildlife found there, including mountain gorillas and okapi. One can jump to conclusions as to what’s happening to the wildlife populations under such conditions. The hippos have been under fire for a decade or more now, but that’s another story. Or perhaps we would be surprised to learn that Mr Nkunde has instituted some kind of martial lawfulness in an otherwise lawless country?
I visited Kanya Bayonga and Virunga some years ago and a vivid memory is of an outdoor restaurant on the shores of Lake Edward where delicious banana chips and bream were served. Marabou storks wandered between the tables looking for titbits. For those unaccustomed to them it was a little disconcerting to have a long, ugly face suddenly appear silently at your shoulder. However, what was remarkable was that they were accepted and tolerated by the restaurant owner and the customers!
I like to think that this innate forbearance, so typical of Africa, would return once all the ignominious influences either dissipate or are brought under control.