A Fable from Africa (1)
My parents meet interesting people through volunteer work at
an animal shelter. Among those acquaintances was a couple who tried to build a
farm and start ecological tourism in Malawi. But after several years of toil,
they had to give up because they couldn’t work with the locals.
Does that sound familiar? My experiences in Thailand are
similar, see here: https://christianpfc.blogspot.com/2018/04/looking-for-alternative-to-thailand.html
They wrote a book about their experiences.
Original title in
German: Mzungu: Auswandern-Abenteuer-Afrika
My translation: Mzungu: Emigration–Adventure-Africa
Mzungu refers to people of white skin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mzungu
The ebook in German language is available here:
With the author’s permission, I used google translate and a
native-speaker-friend’s help for proofreading to translate two chapters that
have the character of a fable and nicely illustrate the way of thinking of the
general population (PC for: their intellectual limitations, or in plain
language: how stupid they are) in Malawi.
English translation (German original at the end of the
article):
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I always took it easy, wrote, went for walks and ate well in
restaurants that were not run by Malawians - and I talked to people. That's how
I met Penjani. She was not yet sixty years old, but looked like an
octogenarian.
"I can still
remember exactly how I saw whites for the first time, that's fifty years ago
now” she said, "I was still a junior high school girl back then. My big
brother Johane and I were on our way to class. Our friends were with us too. We
walked down the street which was not yet paved then.
Suddenly a car came along. It drove slowly, because the rainy season had begun, and the road was slippery with mud. We had enough time to look in the car. There were three beings inside who almost looked like humans, but they had pink skin and yellowish hair. We were very surprised. But we were happy, because we had never seen anything like it. We waved and walked a little further. The car passed slowly.
Suddenly a car came along. It drove slowly, because the rainy season had begun, and the road was slippery with mud. We had enough time to look in the car. There were three beings inside who almost looked like humans, but they had pink skin and yellowish hair. We were very surprised. But we were happy, because we had never seen anything like it. We waved and walked a little further. The car passed slowly.
And suddenly something incredible happened: a white man
threw coins from the open window. They were real coins! We children stooped and
collected the money while the car drove on. We searched in the grass, but there
were more kids than coins. Johane's best friend Lazaro had not found a coin and
was sad. Then Lazaro grabbed one of the smaller children and beat him until he
gave up his coin. The other little ones ran away.
Only me, Johane and Lazaro were left. Suddenly, the two boys
were fighting, and my big brother lost his coin to Lazaro. After that Johane
and Lazaro were no longer friends. It was upsetting and we both cried. We
searched again in the grass and even in the mud, but we did not find any other
coins.
We did not go to class that day. Nor the next either. Several
weeks passed. Then, our parents found out about it and beat us. I went back to
school. But Johane continued to stand on the street, waiting for some whites to
give away money. Our father beat him again, but Johane just did not go back to
class. Eventually my brother was bottom in the class. He preferred to stand on
the street, so he did not get a school diploma.
My parents decided it would not be possible for me to
graduate if my big brother did not have one too. So I had to stay home and
help. And that's why I do not have a school diploma. "
"That's
terrible. And all because a white person had given away money, "I said.
"Yeah, he was
crazy or stupid or something," Penjani said.
"Where did you
learn English?" I asked.
"I worked for
whites for a few years. They too, were crazy or stupid or something. They also
gave away things. Not just to relatives or friends. No! They gave gifts to
strangers! So strange."
Penjani spoke in simple terms. But this old lady has taught
me a lot. Now I understand why these people hate and despise us.
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German original /
Original in Deutsch:
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Ich tue mir die Ruhe an, schreibe, gehe spazieren, esse gut
in den Restaurants, die nicht von Malawiern geführt werden, und ich rede mit
Leuten. So habe ich Penjani kennen gelernt. Sie ist noch keine sechzig Jahre
alt, wirkt aber wie eine Achtzigjährige.
„Ich kann mich noch genau erinnern, wie ich
das erste Mal Weiße gesehen habe. Das ist nun fünfzig Jahre her“,
erzählte sie, „und ich war damals noch ein kleines Schulmädchen in der dritten
Klasse. Mein großer Bruder Johane und ich waren unterwegs zum Unterricht.
Unsere Freunde waren auch dabei. Wir liefen die Straße entlang. Die war noch
nicht geteert.
Auf einmal kam ein Auto. Es fuhr langsam, weil die Regenzeit begonnen hatte, und die Straße war glitschig vom Schlamm. Wir hatten genug Zeit, in das Auto zu schauen. Da saßen drei Wesen, die fast aussahen wie Menschen, aber sie hatten rosa Haut und gelbliche Haare. Wir wunderten uns. Und wir freuten uns, weil wir so etwas noch nie gesehen hatten. Wir winkten und liefen etwas nebenher. Das Auto fuhr ja langsam.
Auf einmal kam ein Auto. Es fuhr langsam, weil die Regenzeit begonnen hatte, und die Straße war glitschig vom Schlamm. Wir hatten genug Zeit, in das Auto zu schauen. Da saßen drei Wesen, die fast aussahen wie Menschen, aber sie hatten rosa Haut und gelbliche Haare. Wir wunderten uns. Und wir freuten uns, weil wir so etwas noch nie gesehen hatten. Wir winkten und liefen etwas nebenher. Das Auto fuhr ja langsam.
Und auf einmal
geschah etwas Unglaubliches: Ein Weißer warf Münzen aus dem offenen Fenster. Ganz
richtige Münzen. Wir Kinder bückten uns und sammelten das Geld ein. Das Auto
fuhr weiter. Und wir suchten im Gras. Aber wir waren mehr Kinder als Münzen.
Johanes allerbester Freund Lazaro hatte keine Münze bekommen und war traurig.
Da packte Lazaro eines der kleineren Kinder und schlug es so lange, bis es
seine Münze herausgab. Die anderen Kleinen liefen weg.
Nur ich und mein
großer Bruder Johane und sein allerbester Freund Lazaro blieben da. Auf
einmal haben sich auch die beiden Jungen geschlagen, und mein großer Bruder
musste seine Münze abgeben. Dann waren Johane und Lazaro keine Freunde mehr.
Wir weinten sehr. Und dann suchten wir im Gras und sogar im Schlamm, aber wir
fanden keine Münze.
An dem Tag gingen
wir nicht zum Unterricht. Auch nicht am nächsten. Mehrere Wochen. Dann
wussten unsere Eltern davon und schlugen uns. Dann ging ich wieder zur Schule.
Aber Johane stand weiter an der Straße und wartete auf Weiße, die Geld
verschenken. Unser Vater schlug ihn wieder, aber Johane ging einfach nicht mehr
zum Unterricht. Dabei war mein Bruder in der letzten Klasse. Er stand lieber an
der Straße, deshalb hat er keinen Schulabschluss.
Dann sagten meine
Eltern, es geht nicht, dass ich einen Schulabschluss bekomme, wenn mein großer
Bruder keinen hat. Deshalb musste ich zu Hause bleiben und helfen. Und
deshalb habe ich keinen Schulabschluss.“
„Das ist ja
schrecklich. Und das alles nur, weil ein Weißer Geld verschenkt hat“, sagte
ich.
„Ja, er war wohl verrückt oder dumm oder
so“, meinte Penjani.
„Wo haben Sie Englisch gelernt?“
„Ich habe einige Jahre für Weiße gearbeitet.
Die waren auch verrückt oder dumm oder so. Die haben auch Sachen
verschenkt. Nicht bloß an Verwandte oder Freunde. Nein. Die haben ganz fremden
Leuten Geschenke gemacht. Seltsam.“
Penjani sprach mit einfachen Worten. Aber diese alte Dame
hat mich sehr viel gelehrt. Jetzt verstehe ich, warum uns diese Menschen hassen
und verachten.
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Copyright remains with the original author.. 2019
ChristianPFC
I am not trying to put you down Christian, but it was not the clash of cultures between the locals and the Germans that was at fault, but the raw German exploitation and genocide of the population. The Africans were to the German's sub humans and the Germans, who had only partially abolished slavery in 1905, had actual plans to replace the black population with white Germans. Stories like the one who are reading were encouraged, and some flatly made up to encourage more German people and companies to exploit the German colonies. I could go on and on, but it is easy to look it up and read the actual, not the literary history.
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