Fireside chat ...

It is really true, at the moment, on this
Saturday night I am situated inside the
cooking hut that you see in the picture. There
is a fire going and a cup of coffee by my
side on the table.
In the sky is a half moon and it is lighting up the
surroundings and despite that it is a village
in the bush of northern Namibia, it has an
exotic ambiance to it.
I am alone in the hut because the people that
I am staying with at the moment are off for a
week. But it is really nice to sit alone and feel
the the night.
It also brought thoughts of again, the exoticness
of the here and now. I have come to take these
Saturday nights as a time to reflect. It is funny
but ever since I began this Peace Corps journey,
it is this week night that just seems to have the
effect of ... what would I be doing on a Saturday
back home in the States?
Even though the places I've been in haven't been
the classical description of exotic, but as far as
real life goes, they are. From the campo (bush equivalent),
of El Salvador with the AA group fighting for sobriety.
Or the girls drumming and singing and dancing in the
night in Senegal, to the Roma dancers of the town
in Romania. It has all seemed surreal in the way,
of being the 'different' person, the only one of your kind.
Living and becoming befriended by people who are
struggling through life and each with their own unique
story through the own eyes of mind and culture ...
well ... maybe it's in the eyes of the beholder but ...
my opinion is, that it is exotic. A world where not too
many have been to, or will ever go. Full of the stresses
and rewards from being the 'different' person but
with the privilege of being allowed to enter a little
ways into the inner circles of these societies and
cultures.
I guess it is in the criteria of what is exotic. If it is
Paris or Rome or those incredible places, then
it isn't in this cooking hut by oneself on this beautiful
Saturday night. It isn't anything like that. It is the
exoticness of real life people ... the actual majority of
the people in the world. Many without an education
but with spirits that are just beyond all those things.
Then the others in which life has taken it's toll after
years of struggling without ever having the luck of
grabbing on to the brass ring.
But for me to be with these people and share their
struggles, know their names, laugh with them and
yes at times, curse at them in my mind, is the exoticness
of it all.
So, don't cry for me Argentina for being alone on this
Saturday night. It is my weekly time of reflection and
appreciation for where I am, through the good or bad.
I guess this isn't your fireside chat as we are used to.
It is just the state of the personal union at this time.
The fire is dying down and there is still a coffee to finish.
I think it is time to look out from this hut and gaze up at
the Southern Cross and as an ex-volunteer Pat who
was there would say. Just think we are doing this in
Senegal.
It is amazing to me to think that I am writing this article
under a beautiful night sky, in a cooking hut in a village
70 km from anywhere ... all this in the bush of Namibia.
Ok, one last time ... I think that's pretty darned exotic.