The tea-time of the soul
"There is a petition at UTC to stop prostitution" Adam announces. I'd seen the sign myself during an improptu visit to UTC which by the way is the only mall in the country (and just barely qualifies)The sign said: STOP PROSTITUTION-EMPOWER WOMEN.
"The guy at the desk asked me to sign the petition" He went on.
"What did you say?" I asked him
"I refused" he replied "You should have seen his face- he looked at me like I was the most heartless bastard he had ever seen" Adam has a grin that would-to quote Douglas Adams- send sane men scampering up trees. I edge away slightly.
****
I'm getting my hair cut in town at a place called new Texas saloon although any resemblance to the actual Texas is entirely coincidental. The cartoon Kirikou is on when I walk in and I realize that most of the room is watching it and they are all completely absorbed. The guy in the chair next to me doesn't even seem to mind that his hair has hardly been touched. His barber is staring at the screen with the clipper frozen in mid-air. Every twist and turn is being discussed avidly and someone at the back is carrying on a running commentary.
The barber dealing with the guy next to me briefly exits. When he comes back in he breathlessly asks whats been going on.
"It's getting hot- the girl is tricky! She's helping the bird to escape and they are trying to trick the other guy..."
And on and on it goes, but it all sounds infinitely funnier in Kinyarwanda. I can't help smiling. It's the most charming thing I've seen all week.
***
We are drinking at a bar called Vision 2020 on Friday. It's nearly midnight, but everyone in our group is still sober. Outside it's been raining like hell for nearly an hour and we are beginning to wonder how we are going to leave the place.
And then we see the dancer. It's a guy dressed all in black-including a black cap- who has been drinking on the other side of the bar but has obviously made more progress on his path down the road to drunkeness than the rest of us. He suddenly dashes out into the pouring rain-and we are talking a real downpour- and begins to do a mad and completely uncordinated dance right there in the open. There is no grace in it- he looks more like a man who is being electrocuted but he is clearly having fun. The bar is made up of little self-contained huts with a few chairs so everyone can see him. Soon the clapping begins and he keeps dancing. Round and round he goes and he nearly falls a couple of times but somehow-almost miraculously- stays on his feet. Then he runs out of the gate and we don't see him again.
The word 'bizzare' doesn't even come close to covering it.
***
I read an amusing article in The New Times recently about that thorny issue of homosexuality. The writer condemned it ferociously although most of his arguments were laughable (apparently homosexuals want to rape little kids) but one point was most amusing of all. He claimed that homosexuality went against the goals of Vision 2020 (which is the government's goal to make Rwanda a middle-income country by the year 2020 and yes the name of the bar I just discussed up there)Exactly how that worked was left unspecified.
it got me wondering- is there anything that cant be put in the context of Vision 2020? Do you have to justify every decision you make in your life by reference to it? Can you at least choose what socks you will wear in the morning without wondering how they will fit into the overall goals of Vision 2020? It's all getting a bit amusing because just about every article you read evokes Vision 2020. Sample conversation:
Random guy: I think I'll have another beer.
Random guy 2: I'm not so sure about that- will that beer help Rwanda achieve its goals by the year 2020?
Speaking of which I have some beef with The New Times. They recently published a very offensive article about feminism that I had to reply to. I was not very diplomatic about the writer's efforts so it might not get published, but I'm going to put it up next time I blog just to make sure its out there in the public domain in some form. Yes, I was that offended and believe me I'm not easily outraged. Here is the link to the offending article:
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=506&Itemid=52
And here is a link to an article I wrote called 'The fallacy of recolonization' in which I was on the warpath with another writer of that paper.
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=685&Itemid=44
Sorry I'm too lazy to link properly- copy and paste if you are interested...
"The guy at the desk asked me to sign the petition" He went on.
"What did you say?" I asked him
"I refused" he replied "You should have seen his face- he looked at me like I was the most heartless bastard he had ever seen" Adam has a grin that would-to quote Douglas Adams- send sane men scampering up trees. I edge away slightly.
****
I'm getting my hair cut in town at a place called new Texas saloon although any resemblance to the actual Texas is entirely coincidental. The cartoon Kirikou is on when I walk in and I realize that most of the room is watching it and they are all completely absorbed. The guy in the chair next to me doesn't even seem to mind that his hair has hardly been touched. His barber is staring at the screen with the clipper frozen in mid-air. Every twist and turn is being discussed avidly and someone at the back is carrying on a running commentary.
The barber dealing with the guy next to me briefly exits. When he comes back in he breathlessly asks whats been going on.
"It's getting hot- the girl is tricky! She's helping the bird to escape and they are trying to trick the other guy..."
And on and on it goes, but it all sounds infinitely funnier in Kinyarwanda. I can't help smiling. It's the most charming thing I've seen all week.
***
We are drinking at a bar called Vision 2020 on Friday. It's nearly midnight, but everyone in our group is still sober. Outside it's been raining like hell for nearly an hour and we are beginning to wonder how we are going to leave the place.
And then we see the dancer. It's a guy dressed all in black-including a black cap- who has been drinking on the other side of the bar but has obviously made more progress on his path down the road to drunkeness than the rest of us. He suddenly dashes out into the pouring rain-and we are talking a real downpour- and begins to do a mad and completely uncordinated dance right there in the open. There is no grace in it- he looks more like a man who is being electrocuted but he is clearly having fun. The bar is made up of little self-contained huts with a few chairs so everyone can see him. Soon the clapping begins and he keeps dancing. Round and round he goes and he nearly falls a couple of times but somehow-almost miraculously- stays on his feet. Then he runs out of the gate and we don't see him again.
The word 'bizzare' doesn't even come close to covering it.
***
I read an amusing article in The New Times recently about that thorny issue of homosexuality. The writer condemned it ferociously although most of his arguments were laughable (apparently homosexuals want to rape little kids) but one point was most amusing of all. He claimed that homosexuality went against the goals of Vision 2020 (which is the government's goal to make Rwanda a middle-income country by the year 2020 and yes the name of the bar I just discussed up there)Exactly how that worked was left unspecified.
it got me wondering- is there anything that cant be put in the context of Vision 2020? Do you have to justify every decision you make in your life by reference to it? Can you at least choose what socks you will wear in the morning without wondering how they will fit into the overall goals of Vision 2020? It's all getting a bit amusing because just about every article you read evokes Vision 2020. Sample conversation:
Random guy: I think I'll have another beer.
Random guy 2: I'm not so sure about that- will that beer help Rwanda achieve its goals by the year 2020?
Speaking of which I have some beef with The New Times. They recently published a very offensive article about feminism that I had to reply to. I was not very diplomatic about the writer's efforts so it might not get published, but I'm going to put it up next time I blog just to make sure its out there in the public domain in some form. Yes, I was that offended and believe me I'm not easily outraged. Here is the link to the offending article:
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=506&Itemid=52
And here is a link to an article I wrote called 'The fallacy of recolonization' in which I was on the warpath with another writer of that paper.
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=685&Itemid=44
Sorry I'm too lazy to link properly- copy and paste if you are interested...
posted by Minzo at 4:50 AM
4 Comments:
your life and encounters amaze me! no, really, i mean it. how poorer at least my world would be if yours was not so 'quirky.'
I just read the Fallacy article: Freaking hell man, you can write!! Ok, I knew that already but Damn!!! That was a good article, well researched and thought through. You really have great talent punk, I have always told you!!
It's Bazi. I must agree with you, but really, what The HELL is the anti-feminist guy (George Kagame)on about?
The writing, for a National Newspaper Article, is rather sub-substandard and poorly Written.
What I could understand shocked me, again considering this is being published in a NEWSPAPER.
Really Appaling. I hope your response article gets through. Either way, I look forward to reading it.
Just read the article on feminism.
Journalism is supposed to provoke thought, evoke discussion, educate
and inform. It can also be subjective, but this article just shows the writer to be one that has not done any research, lacks coherent thought and does not understand what feminism is.
Gutter Journalism.
This paper needs to re-evaluate who its writers are.
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