What this is about:

Tales and Tidbits about Community Development, Peacebuilding, and Bringing food for the hungry on a continent in my spirit and a world away.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Confessions of a Ugandan Friend

"Roe, I look up to you, I only beg you not to send me away. I am very proud to know you. What does it benefit to be elder but only knowing what happens in the villages and in Kampala. When will I ever get a chance to know about western, current technology, etc, if not from you? I am grateful for you. I will also begin to think, eat, talk, like an American. You can only look up to me for knowledge about tradition in Africa. Where can I end up with that? Can anything current come out of anything else?"

UGH. Don't say these things.
The fact that I know millions think the same about their position is devastating.

I'm sick of the hegemonic forces that keep telling people--nations-- it can't. I'm sick of having to admit that, in this system, some of these thoughts are true. Western knowlege really is power for someone who has nothing. But I don't think they have nothing! I think they have a lot. However, who helps them believe it? Isn't this what Africa's politicians have been struggling to do for decades? Or have they been merely adopting a method that was never meant to work in the first place?
What do we do with this uplifted pillar where we've been placed? There has to be another way.

:sigh: Thoughts on Euro-hellenic worldview vs. African conception later...

1 comment:

Bugette said...

::cries::

You're depriving me of an update. I MISS YOU, Roe-boat!