Hang in there Garrett. The struggle one man endures in his journey will only make him a stronger man. Your bullshit detector will be top notch when you get back.
hey garrett, i was a volunteer living pretty near tjakastad, and i actually did a lot of work there. tjakastad is an incredible community, and i really hope you are enjoying it. i miss south africa and my friends and family there every day. i happened upon your blog and was excited to be able to read a bit about what is going on there. but, to be honest, i was pretty shocked by this post. i assure you that i felt much of what you are in the way of frustration. but i do think that expectations we have for behavior might often fall short not b/c people are inherently deceitful or lazy or rude, but because they simply live and operate differently. one thing that i always struggled with was to sort of try to balance my expectations of people and progress with empathy. it did not always work, but i think its important to try. i'd just ask you to please be careful, not only about how you portray a place and especially its people, but also with using such loaded language - the history behind words like 'voetsak' make them incredibly powerful, particularly if they come from a white man.
Now this girl Nombuso likes to be sarcastic and bother me whenever possible. She is very annoying. She asks me if I would like to read one of my favorite passages, throwing in a smirking laugh for good measure. I certainly am not the bible quoting type but I couldn't give her the satisfaction of besting me.
I thought back to watching the WWF when Stone Cold Steve Austin was around and his slogan was 'Austin 3:16' and I remembered that when he coined he mentioned John 3:16. I decided to would wing it and so I say "Sure. That would be John 3:16" and I flip to it. I used a voice of gravity and meaning. "And god so loved the world... that he gave his only begotten son... that whoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life."
My counterpart let out a gasp of surprise and the cleaning lady stopped her mopping to hear me read it. Everyone was amazed that I knew the scripture and I totally proved my skill in the area of bible knowledge. Holla.
3 responses:
Hang in there Garrett. The struggle one man endures in his journey will only make him a stronger man. Your bullshit detector will be top notch when you get back.
hey garrett, i was a volunteer living pretty near tjakastad, and i actually did a lot of work there. tjakastad is an incredible community, and i really hope you are enjoying it. i miss south africa and my friends and family there every day. i happened upon your blog and was excited to be able to read a bit about what is going on there. but, to be honest, i was pretty shocked by this post. i assure you that i felt much of what you are in the way of frustration. but i do think that expectations we have for behavior might often fall short not b/c people are inherently deceitful or lazy or rude, but because they simply live and operate differently. one thing that i always struggled with was to sort of try to balance my expectations of people and progress with empathy. it did not always work, but i think its important to try. i'd just ask you to please be careful, not only about how you portray a place and especially its people, but also with using such loaded language - the history behind words like 'voetsak' make them incredibly powerful, particularly if they come from a white man.
yeah, i hate liars too:
Now this girl Nombuso likes to be sarcastic and bother me whenever possible. She is very annoying. She asks me if I would like to read one of my favorite passages, throwing in a smirking laugh for good measure. I certainly am not the bible quoting type but I couldn't give her the satisfaction of besting me.
I thought back to watching the WWF when Stone Cold Steve Austin was around and his slogan was 'Austin 3:16' and I remembered that when he coined he mentioned John 3:16. I decided to would wing it and so I say "Sure. That would be John 3:16" and I flip to it. I used a voice of gravity and meaning. "And god so loved the world... that he gave his only begotten son... that whoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life."
My counterpart let out a gasp of surprise and the cleaning lady stopped her mopping to hear me read it. Everyone was amazed that I knew the scripture and I totally proved my skill in the area of bible knowledge. Holla.
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