Numerous cars and taxis were parked on the side of the road, and the passengers had swarmed near the river on the left. Many, many more people lined the opposite river bank, staring down, pointing. We stopped our car and got out to see what the fuss was about.
The river wasn't even flowing, but there were rock pools, and in one pool the size of a small car I saw the maroon dress and black sweater floating motionlessly. It must have been an elementary school girl, already dead, drowned. People watched as if it couldn't have been helped. I cussed to myself.
Just a few weeks ago two other elementary school students drowned in this same river. And yet, some parents in my village tell me not to take their children to swim in the river near our village. Some of their children are high school age. These piddly rivers are only dangerous to your children because your children don't know how to swim, because you have ridiculous fears about snakes in the water, but me taking them down there and teaching them to swim may someday save their lives.
This year I swam our river when it was as flooded as I've ever seen it. Half the kids in the village ran down to watch me. They thought I was going to be swept off into eternity. They were screaming on the banks.
But there's nothing in that river for me to fear, and there doesn't need to be any harm there for anyone else either.
Teaching a few kids in my village to swim may turn out to be the most useful thing I have done for them. Despite their parents' cries.
Comment from: mom
Comment from: mom [Visitor]
Oh how awful.
but Gregory, you have to respect the wishes of the parents. If they agree to let you teach their children how to swim, that's one thing, but if not, then you must respect their wishes. by softening their fear of the water, you may take away the fear that protects them. Be wise Greg. A better place to learn to swim is in standing water where they can touch the ground or with a life jacket on. Often adults have a hard time learning to swim and if they panick they can drown. Be respectful. Love, mom
Comment from: Greg [Member]
Comment from: Greg [Member] • http://www.gregalder.com
Mom,
I hear you, and you're right. I won't take any kids swimming without their parents' consent, though I regret that some parents refuse to let their children go down there. And I do only allow them to swim in areas of calm, shallow water, but my hope is that someday they will be strong enough swimmers to go elsewhere, into what is now dangerous territory for them. I'll remain respectful, I promise. I'll also remain pissed off that the kids have grown up with an irrational fear of all water.
Comment from: Rethabile
Comment from: Rethabile [Visitor] • http://sotho.blogsome.com
I agree with you, Kalli. I don't know Greg, yet, but I feel I do, thanks in part to the brilliance with which he relates a story.
I also wanna point out, however, to Greg's readers, that one man will not change a culture, and that indeed it is not desirable that he try to do so. Greg is teaching my country folk things, and my country folk are teaching Greg things.
Nobody must look at the picture as one culture being superior to another. There is no such thing as culture superiority. Teach me and let me teach you. That's the way of the world, or at least the direction it should have embarked on.
Let me insist again that this blog is worth visiting. I'm an avid regular and I always look forward to newer posts.
Greg, have you licked the 'mantsoaitsoai's behind yet? (Reader: 'mantsoaitsoai is a specific ant whose backside has a tangy taste)
Comment from: Greg [Member]
Comment from: Greg [Member] • http://www.gregalder.com
Rethabile,
Thank you again so much for your contribution. It would be a lopsided shame for all opinions here to come completely from people who grew up in America.
While I may have taught a few Basotho a few things over the last couple years, they have taught me multiple times more. When I return to the USA I will bring back with me so much more than I left in Lesotho. Surely, I have been changed more than I have changed. Regardless of the balance of cultural exchange that has occurred, the exchange element is what I hoped for and what I believe should have happened.
Nevertheless, I do believe there are right and wrong beliefs and practices in every culture -- I'm not a relativist in that sense. For example, the idea that there is a gigantic snake in our river that will eat you if you swim in it is hogwash wrong. Though none come to the top of my head, I'm sure I grew up with some similarly ridiculous ideas back in America. No, one culture should not be considered wholly superior to another.
Beyond the areas of right and wrong I also see many gray areas where innocuous and warm exchange can occur: music, language, dancing, food, clothing. That's what I came to Lesotho for. That's what I've received, in heaps. I'm elated.
But Rethabile, I have failed you and not yet tasted the rear-end of 'mantsoaitsoai'. I promise I will do so this week.