Saturday, March 31, 2007

Maybe

It is seriously looking like I will be going to Mozambique on Tuesday!!!
Just for one week, then HOLIDAYS!!!!
Unbelievable!

Monday, March 26, 2007

Thoughts of Algeria

I miss the dunes! I miss the desert.
I will try to go to Djanet in either September or October depending on what rotation ends up being.

I have to say something about SA

I have been in Johannesburg for well over a month and I haven’t said a thing about South Africa. It is not so much because since I spend so much time working I haven’t seen anything of it and it isn’t because there is nothing to say. It is just that I really do not even know how to start or what I should say to be fair. So remember that this is coming from somebody who is white, maybe a bleeding heart socialist but still white, spends all of her time in the office where most people are white and most of all this is coming from somebody who is staying all expenses paid in the Hyatt hotel in Johannesburg where a night cost what a person, let’s say who works at the cash register (always my personal point of reference) makes in one month. You can see why I am reluctant to say much. Also not helping is the fact that the other geologist is an old racist Brit who says things like “From my observation, the darker the skin the worst the driving” (or have I mentioned that already?!). But let’s just say that in South Africa if you are not a poor person you are stuck in what I call the Golden Cage. There are entire parts of town where you cannot go. If you are poor of course you can go anywhere as long as you don’t offend the rich or you are there to work for them -OK surely you can hear the sarcasm in this.

Rate of unemployment in South Africa is through the roof. I am not sure what the number is but it is well above what any western country experiences. The difference between the haves and the have-nots is huge. Of course the haves are mostly white and the have-nots are mostly black. Though the percentage of white to black at the hotel has to be about 50/50 and one of the magazine you get in the room is “enterprise – where black business lives” (www.entreprise-magazine.co.za).

Typically the Afrikaans are unanimous about things being better before 1994! I can't say that I am surprised at them saying that! They were living on the back of the black population!

Other typical and very common comment is about the fences. I would say that today if I had to describe one thing that would allow you to recognize Jo’burg from another practically instantly I would have to say that in the rich neighborhoods it is the high walls with the electric fences and mean looking razor-blade-type barb wire. The comment is about how “before 1994 you never walls and fences like this”..Well again here is a shocker. Before 1994 if you were poor you were black, you had no rights and stealing from the rich white elite would really not be one of the available options. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying stealing is generally alright, but really when people wear watches that cost as much as you make in a year etc, stealing sounds like redistribution of wealth, doesn’t it?!?

I don’t really want to say much more until I get a chance to travel.

Mozambique's bad luck

Just over two months ago Mozambique had some major floods, even before the cyclone, and 7,000 people died. I remember seeing on the news something about a train somewhere in Europe where over 20 people were hurt but nothing about Mozambique.
A few days ago in the Maputo Airport a military bunker blew up and an estimated 90 people died. I know because this is where we are supposed to land in Mozambique when I finally get there and a few people from the office were there when it happened. And again nothing in the news, not even in the South African news!
I realize that my view of the news is as distorted as anybody else’s. I know about what is close to me and I know nothing about the rest, but 7000 people is a lot, 70 people dying in an explosion in an airport seems newsworthy.
I guess I can conclude that no Americans, no Brits, no Canadians, and no whites of any nationality died in Mozambique over these events.

I am really getting bitter and twisted.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Biomes map of Southern Africa

Here is a cool map of the biomes in southern Africa...
The original is at: http://www.sanbi.org/vegmap/images/biomes.jpg

from the South Africa National Biodiversity Institute.


The Limpopo area where I am planning to go is pretty much the orange area in the northern part of the map.
Orange stands for Savanna.
The green in grassland
the red is Nama-Karoo...and I have no idea what it is...I guess I should go and have a look one day.
The gross yellow is succulent-karoo.

Wizard of the Crow

Last Sunday things changed for me. I am still in Johannesburg! But last Sunday I started to live my life as if I lived here...The big difference with what I was doing before is that now I do not concider that since I am to work all I do is work and I only eat because I have too, I only sleep so I can work. Now I work because I have to. It makes fairly little difference in my daily schedule apart from a little less work (less than the original 12 hours a day) but it makes a GREAT difference in the way I feel.Last sunday I went to Bushmen Rock Art Museum (it is called the Origin Centre) and instead of being organised and going in the morning etc as any good tourist would do, I ended up going in mid afternoon, whenever the thought came to me.Today I started with a late breakfast in a comfortable place with the newspaper. Those of you who know me when I am home will know that I love the weekend edition of the newspaper. I was sitting in a nice restaurant eating at the only coffe table spot sitting on a sofa (it is really meant to be the place where you wait for you table while it gets ready but the owner let me take it over) reading the newspaper...it felt like home.
Anyway here is one thing..only one don't worry...I read about.
Ngugi wa Thiong (no idea how you pronounce it!) has a new book out "Wizard of the Crow". Ngugi wa Thiong is a Kenyan author who now lives and teach in California. He writes in Gikuyu his native tongue but also translated the book into English himself.I've seen the book here in the book stores, and I wonder if it is available in Canada, here books are VERY expensive. The newspaper just says that the book "Speaks about the ravishing effect of globalisation, of corporolonisation and the corruption that keeps the beggars at the skirts of the rich. In a desert of exploitation, here is a voice speaking for the growing prison class, the homeless, the voiceless"...may I add: and those who will not be able to buy the book.Ok so it does not sound like a light read but here is a stupid point about it: I like the title!...Crazy I know but in a sea of African writing that I am trying to sample while I am here this is just as good a criteria as any.On a totally different subject, one interesting point that Ngugi (I am just going to type his first name from now on) makes about "Out of Africa" the ever so famous book by Karen Blixen is "it is one of the most dangerous books written about Africa because she misuses her brilliant gift (writing) and misrepresents her racist ideas as love, perniciously equating her Kenyan manservant's gestures with those of a pet dof"...I haven't read the book and now I feel re-inforced in my resistance to read it. I don't know if in it she does compare this man to a pet dog, but if she does it bet you she does it in the same way men "look after the poor poor weak females around them" and this gets me always so angry...so I bet you I can relate to what Ngugi is saying: people meaning to be nice but really keeping other people down with their daily subtle but never ending behaviour. I think we should assume that I can rant and rave about this one for just about ever and I should just skip the ranting and raving.
One funny anecdot (spelling?) that came out of the article for me is the one about Daniel Arap Moi, the Kenyan president, sending out a warrant for the capture of the revolutionary Matigari in 1986, in Nairobi, when in fact this Matigari is the main character of Ngugi's book "Matigari" written in 1967.
Other authors and other books were mentioned in hte article and I think I will cut the article out and stuff it in my address book (the onlyplace where things like this do not get lost).

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Human Rights Day

I am still in Johannesburg!
Probably for another week or so...as mentioned before the news is always thatwe should be going to Mozambique "the middle of next week"...so no changes in other words.

Today is "Human Rights DAy" here in South Africa, a day of National Holiday, so I only worked half day for a change.

I think I might have said already that last Sunday I went to an Anthropology Museum specializing in San's rock paintings. The sans are the original Bushmen of southern Africa. The people who include tongue clicking in their language...anyway, I bought a book of "Ancestral Folklore Stories", here is one short one for you....I copy it straigth from the book.

====================
A man - I do not know his name, but he was one of the "Early Race" - once hunted the Rain, as the Rain was grazing there. The Rain was like an eland. He hunted, approaching the Rain, and he came and lay down. He shot the Rain, and it sprang to one side. The Rain did this: it ran away, as he walked on.
He went to pick the arrow. He intended to go and put it back. He went and picked up his bag, the bag which he had taken hunting with him. He had put it down. That was the bag that he picked up. He put in hte bag the arrow with which he had shot the Rain. He returned. He lay down to sleep.
Early next morning he told the people that he had shot the Rain. And they follow up the Rain. They went to track its footsprints.
They were following them when a mist came up. They cnotinued to follow the Rain's footprints. They followed the footprints right up to the Rain. They caught sight of the Rain lying down, and they went up to it.
They cut the Rain. They kept cutting off meat. They kept putting it to roast, but the meat kept vanishing, being burnt up in the fire. This is what they did: they went to take out hte meat. They turned over the ashes looking for the meat at the place where it had been roasting, but it was burnt up. They went on roasting, and all the meat vanished from the fire. The fire burnt out; thefire died down.
Then an old man said. "I thought I would go whenthis eland's meat was finished, butI have not eaten it, even though I roasted it. So now I will go while its meat sits here."
And another answered, "We will all do so, because we did not know what sort of eland it was. Let us go, because it is an eland whose meat we do not eat."
As they walked away, the Rain shut them in. When the Rain saw that they were preparing to go, it shut them in. The Rain's navel shut them into the hut, and they sat waiting for the Rain' navel. And they worked at a pond. They worked. They became frogs. They hopped at the hut, the people who had followed the spoor hopped away. He made a pond; he had been on hte hunting-ground; he worked, making a pound.
===============

As you can see an unusual way of telling stories.
Of course these people have a very specific set of beliefs with a strong relationship to the rain and the animals they hunted.

Enough for today...I'll try to find on the internet some photos of some of the painting that show the ways of the rainmakers and I'll pass on some of what the museum exhibits explained about those paintings and the ways of the rainmakers.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Guess where I am!?!

I am still in Johannesburg!

Yep! unbelievable!
Working in the office and getting a day off (Sunday, today) per week. Even though I have been here for a month I cannot really say that I know South Africa, too much office time and not enough free time to go places and see things for myself. One thing is for sure, it does not at all feel like Kenya, not at all! I was in Kenya for 3 days before I rented a cheap car and drove half way across the country to the tea plantations of the West. South AFrica is much more about who is white and who is black....and/or who has mmoney and who diesn't. The difference between the "Haves" and the "Havenots" is too big. It is so big that it stops making sense. And there are racial tensions....undeniably so!!

On a totally different note: This afternoon I went to a anthropology museum about the rock paintings in South Africa. Great museum and a great chat with the taxi driver who drove me there and came back to pick me up.

More later. ALl is well though I am getting antsy to go to Mozambique.

Monday, March 12, 2007




I am still in South Africa, and still working in the office in Johannesburg.

Last night I caught on the local TV a news program on the situation in Mozambique and it actually looks pretty bad. Way worse than I had thought from the various reports we are getting here in the office. We are still waiting to see when we can go to Mozambique. Everyday we wait for new information, for one more meeting, for news, any news. But everyday the decision is "middle of next week we will go"...from week to week it stays "middle of next week"...today again "midlde of next week"! We'll see.

So here I am in Jo’burg all the time with the other geologist who will be my back to back and honestly it is starting to drive me up the wall especially since he is an old fat racist brit.
You'd think that people who work overseas would realize fairly quickly that people are the same where ever you go.

Monday, March 05, 2007

still in Jo'burg

Amazingly enough I am still in Jo'burg.
Two weeks already. In a way it feels like I just arrived since all I have really done is work (apart from yesterday), but on the other hand it feels like I have been here for ever...I think that the tedious routine of sleeping, going to the office, eating and back to the office results in this sense of being here for ever.

Yesterday (Sunday) I did go with three guys from the office to one of the many National Parks and we had a great time.
We saw all kind of wildlife: rhinos, hippos, giraffes, zebras, jackal, many different types of antelops and birds and an elephant.

I was a great day.

Right now it looks like we might be going in the field (ie to the rig) next week around the 14th, then I will stay at the rig for just three days or so until I get things started with the other geologist. After this I am still planning on going to the Limpopo River....time will tell!!!