It's not every day your boss comes up to you with exciting news: "Guess what? There's a recycling conference in Dar Es Salaam." I smiled, "Great. Recycling is good." But actually what I was really thinking was "how booorrinngggg." "No, but get this, guess who's going to speak? Jane Goodall." Then she knew she had me. I agreed I would go, along with Laura and Emmanuel, as representatives of Steven Tito Academy and Baobob Home. Laura and I were pretty excited, but Emmanuel, our Tanzanian rep had no clue. In fact, this was the first time he had even heard of this lady with chimps. We could have told him it was just a recycling lecture and his response might have been the same: cheerful, but unimpressed. As I polled other people around the farm, I came to the conclusion that Tanzanians who have lived for decades in the same country as this woman have never even heard of her. I was shocked, but decided to excuse it as "cultural differences." I mean, to be honest, unless you are a huge animal fan or a biologist, she's not really that important of a person. Right?
As we sat down to hear the other speakers I noticed something more. Our good friend Emmu was close to the only Tanzanian there. As we listened to all of these foreigners talk, things started to bother me. For example, one volunteer for the Jane Goodall foundation's Roots & Shoots program made a cute little video about recycling, which showed her making a skirt out of newspaper, drinking from a durable water bottle, and recycling plastic in the proper container. Oh, she also read the newspaper electronically on her iPhone. This would have been a great video in America, and it was appropriate for audience, but if you brought it to the locals it would be completely inappropriate. The skirt she made was too short to be acceptable wear in Tanzania where women cover most of their legs for propriety sake, drinking water from durable water bottles doesn't work because you can't buy them in Tanzania. Not to mention I have never seen a "recycle" bin anywhere, or a trash can for that matter. It's nice to tell people to recycle, but unless you give them the means to the ends, I don't blame them for throwing out their bottles on the road. Where else can they go? As for reading a newspaper on your iPhone....well need I say more?
I was rather discouraged by this lecture, which seemed to be only catering to the small portion of foreigners who live in Dar. Then Jane Goodall took the stage. For a lady of her age, I was quite amazed at how well she could get around, and how often she traveled (300 days a year apparently). She talked about her life, and as a girl how she had dreamed of going to Africa, even though it was close to impossible at that time. She was quite witty, but also very pointed about telling us why she started Roots & Shoots, a youth based organization. She was tired of watching the world be destroyed. "We always say that we inherited this earth from our ancestors. Some say we borrowed it from our children. I say we didn't borrow it. We stole it. And it's their job to fix it." By the end of the conference there was a long line of people waiting to take their photo with Jane, or to get her autograph. I convinced my friends to wait a little longer so I could connect with some other people at the conference who might help our school. In the end we successfully roped a professional photographer into photographing our school for a few days...for free.
In the end my patience paid off, as I waited for my opportune moment to talk to Dr. Goodall herself. I introduced myself and explained my school, and asked her how I could lead the kids in making a difference in the world. "Well goodness me, have them join Roots & Shoots." She almost walked off right then and there, but then I asked, "Ok, of course. But what can I do?" She paused. "Just listen to them." As I thanked her, I told her that I too had always looked at those National Geographic magazines at home and dreamed of going to Africa as a little girl. "And here you are," she said, with a big smile. Here we are, I thought.
No comments:
Post a Comment