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Culture of African Story
For five years in the 1970s I lived and worked in Africa in both Botswana and Ghana. I also traveled throughout Western, Eastern, and Southern Africa. From that experience, I gathered these impressions of the culture of the storytelling in Africa.
Story in Africa is sacred (thus my capitalization), and Story is interwoven in the daily fabric of life. Story is not just words in Africa. Story is told through baskets, fabric, dance, ritual, and relationship. A slight gesture of a body might reveal entire Story Worlds. I experienced an enormous depth and subtly in communication in every country I visited. Quite ordinary interactions became extraordinary. I recall a woman in the Accra market in Ghana breaking into a spontaneous dance with me as part of our Story Time together.
Tags: peace corpCollege Graduates Turn to Volunteering in Africa
With the rise of unemployment and lack of job security, recent college graduates are turning to international volunteer work as an alternate to finding jobs right out of college.
College graduates will gain both experience and a chance to travel to different parts of the world they would never see otherwise.
Sometimes college students aren’t sure of the career path they want to take. By volunteering in a third world country such as Africa, college students experience a unique adventure while learning about themselves and how other cultures live.
Tags: peace corpRelated posts
Book Reviews – Part II – To the Ends of the Earth With Paul Theroux and Peter Matthiessen
Admittedly tired of his role as famous writer working in his home/office on the next award-winning book, Paul Theroux can’t wait to get away from faxes, Internet and cell phones. He met his wife while teaching in Africa forty years ago; he has history there. What he finds on his return journey is that things change, while some things never do.
In retracing his steps as a young man in Africa, Theroux experiences the “You Can’t Go Home Again” syndrome. One: As a teacher in his twenties Theroux is kicked out of the Peace Corps for getting involved in Malawi politics. Two: Forty years later, “You Can’t Go Home Again,” not to Africa.
Tags: peace corp