What do you know about Africa? Chances are, If you grew up in North America or Europe your views are comprised mainly of images from the nightly news (war, poverty, AIDS-a basket case) with a few late night screenings of "Tarzan" and movies with James Earl Jones acting kingly and wearing leopard skins thrown in. Well, Bwana I've got a secret for you: Africans watch TV too, and get most of their ideas about you from old soap operas, corny movies, rap videos, professional wrestling, and trashy talk shows. During my first year in South Africa, I couldn't go anywhere without somebody trying to put me in a sleeper hold or asking if I was on a first name basis with George W. Bush or "Fitty-Cent." They had is wrong about me, but how could they not with nothing but pop culture to go on? The same is true on our side. We don't know Africa. I can't change that with one blog or one hundred blogs. And, unlike the news, I won't pretend to give you "THE TRUTH." But, I do have some good stories to tell you. I lived my life, talked to people, and drew pictures in a part of the world that hosts few foreigners. The drawings featured in this series were created during the three years that I lived near the village of Tlakgameng in the Northwest Province of South Africa. This is a desert area just south of the border with Botswana, home to the Tswana ethnic group. The South African Government estimates that 33% of the people living in the Northwest Province are HIV positive. Unfortunately, my personal experience bears out these numbers. In a small neighborhood, it is not unusual to have several funerals going on at the same time. I watched many of my friends wither and die from AIDS. However, people are not the disease that they may carry. Even in the hardest times, we would find excuses and even cause for celebration. I have never laughed as often or as hard as during my time in South Africa. This may seem inexplicable or even cruel if you only know Africa from the TV news. But, I think you will find that if TV has touched something you know well, it is thematically as well as physically flat. Real life is much more rich and complicated. From January 2003 to April 2005, I worked as a US Peace Corps volunteer. As an education volunteer I was assigned to teach at three different schools, but I soon branched out to help with many other projects. I presented my HIV workshops to many church groups, community organizations, and traditional healer meetings, and distributed condoms from my home at all time of the day and night. What they don't tell you in the ads is that Peace Corps service leaves a lot of people feeling confused. Our pop culture and religions tell us that a person can save the world as you would save a child from drowning. It is painful to discover that a person may sometimes be assisted if they ask for help, but the world cannot be held, shaped, and perfected like a ball of clay. Life can become very difficult when you try to be of use far from home. I would have had a much more negative view of my life in South Africa if not for my friendship with Mrs. T. M. Seitsang. As head of the school nearest my home, she was my boss, but I soon found out that she was no ordinary person. During our first meeting, she told me that my ancestors had come to her in a dream and told her that I would be coming to help and that she had recently done battle with a giant cave-dwelling snake. In addition to being a tribal princess, Mma seitsang is a sangoma (also called a traditional healer or shaman.) Though we were from entirely different backgrounds, we soon found that we had a great deal in common. Chief among these similarities is a willingness to give importance to dreams and visions that most people disregard. Mma Seitsang taught me not to edit my artwork before I put it down on the page. She showed me that if an idea comes from deep down, it has value. After the completion of my service, I was invited by Mma Seitsang to stay with her and her family in the village of Kudunkwane (about 20 kilometers from where I was living) and become her student. I had some some reservations about this undertaking, because I tend to see the world from a scientific point of view and there are are many things that sangomas believe in that I do not (witches, demons, and magical snakes.) Still, I felt that I had more to learn than I did to lose, after all corporate America isn't knocking my door down. Over the next nine months, I studied Tswana legends and herbal medicine, wore traditional cloths and beads, attended healer ceremonies, and made friends with many other sangomas. I drew nearly every day during this time, adding to the many pictures that I did during my life as a volunteer. I went to Africa to help, and found myself being helped. I am not the same person that I used to be. Over the next few months, I will share with you the artwork and stories from this amazing time, in the hope that you will get a view that you will never get by watching TV. The people of Africa have much more to teach us than how to die with dignity.
About The South Africa Series
What do you know about Africa? Chances are, If you grew up in North America or Europe your views are comprised mainly of images from the nightly news (war, poverty, AIDS-a basket case) with a few late night screenings of "Tarzan" and movies with James Earl Jones acting kingly and wearing leopard skins thrown in. Well, Bwana I've got a secret for you: Africans watch TV too, and get most of their ideas about you from old soap operas, corny movies, rap videos, professional wrestling, and trashy talk shows. During my first year in South Africa, I couldn't go anywhere without somebody trying to put me in a sleeper hold or asking if I was on a first name basis with George W. Bush or "Fitty-Cent." They had is wrong about me, but how could they not with nothing but pop culture to go on? The same is true on our side. We don't know Africa. I can't change that with one blog or one hundred blogs. And, unlike the news, I won't pretend to give you "THE TRUTH." But, I do have some good stories to tell you. I lived my life, talked to people, and drew pictures in a part of the world that hosts few foreigners. The drawings featured in this series were created during the three years that I lived near the village of Tlakgameng in the Northwest Province of South Africa. This is a desert area just south of the border with Botswana, home to the Tswana ethnic group. The South African Government estimates that 33% of the people living in the Northwest Province are HIV positive. Unfortunately, my personal experience bears out these numbers. In a small neighborhood, it is not unusual to have several funerals going on at the same time. I watched many of my friends wither and die from AIDS. However, people are not the disease that they may carry. Even in the hardest times, we would find excuses and even cause for celebration. I have never laughed as often or as hard as during my time in South Africa. This may seem inexplicable or even cruel if you only know Africa from the TV news. But, I think you will find that if TV has touched something you know well, it is thematically as well as physically flat. Real life is much more rich and complicated. From January 2003 to April 2005, I worked as a US Peace Corps volunteer. As an education volunteer I was assigned to teach at three different schools, but I soon branched out to help with many other projects. I presented my HIV workshops to many church groups, community organizations, and traditional healer meetings, and distributed condoms from my home at all time of the day and night. What they don't tell you in the ads is that Peace Corps service leaves a lot of people feeling confused. Our pop culture and religions tell us that a person can save the world as you would save a child from drowning. It is painful to discover that a person may sometimes be assisted if they ask for help, but the world cannot be held, shaped, and perfected like a ball of clay. Life can become very difficult when you try to be of use far from home. I would have had a much more negative view of my life in South Africa if not for my friendship with Mrs. T. M. Seitsang. As head of the school nearest my home, she was my boss, but I soon found out that she was no ordinary person. During our first meeting, she told me that my ancestors had come to her in a dream and told her that I would be coming to help and that she had recently done battle with a giant cave-dwelling snake. In addition to being a tribal princess, Mma seitsang is a sangoma (also called a traditional healer or shaman.) Though we were from entirely different backgrounds, we soon found that we had a great deal in common. Chief among these similarities is a willingness to give importance to dreams and visions that most people disregard. Mma Seitsang taught me not to edit my artwork before I put it down on the page. She showed me that if an idea comes from deep down, it has value. After the completion of my service, I was invited by Mma Seitsang to stay with her and her family in the village of Kudunkwane (about 20 kilometers from where I was living) and become her student. I had some some reservations about this undertaking, because I tend to see the world from a scientific point of view and there are are many things that sangomas believe in that I do not (witches, demons, and magical snakes.) Still, I felt that I had more to learn than I did to lose, after all corporate America isn't knocking my door down. Over the next nine months, I studied Tswana legends and herbal medicine, wore traditional cloths and beads, attended healer ceremonies, and made friends with many other sangomas. I drew nearly every day during this time, adding to the many pictures that I did during my life as a volunteer. I went to Africa to help, and found myself being helped. I am not the same person that I used to be. Over the next few months, I will share with you the artwork and stories from this amazing time, in the hope that you will get a view that you will never get by watching TV. The people of Africa have much more to teach us than how to die with dignity.
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