"The Road Not Taken"
The title of this blog is from the poem by Robert Frost. Kinshasa is a city with many forks in the road. However, very few roads have actual names. If they do have a name, there may not be a street sign to tell you where you are. There are no maps of the streets. There are no phone books. There are no numbers on the stores or houses. There is no mail service. And it is a city of 8 million people. How does one get around? By landmarks, of course. The Mercedes dealership. The statue of Mobutu. The Vodacom (cell phone) shop. The Jewish store. The River. The Grand Hotel. The pharmacie. How do I describe where I live? Take Kasa Vubu, through Kintambo, then go up the Mobuto Hill and follow the Matadi Road (it leads to the city of Matadi on the ocean) past TASOK (the American School). When you pass the triangle, watch for the Queen's Restaurant on the left and the Water Company called Regideso, on your right, Take the next left. I'm at #6 Mukoku. When you arrive at the gate, honk and Ndambele will open it up for you. Easy, eh?
So what do you get when you use a poem like Frost's in a class here and ask, have you ever stood at the fork in the road and had to decide which road to take? For one, you get a 25-ish young man who says he had to choose between staying with his family in the war torn Kivu area where he had a job and moving to the Kinshasa where he could go to school. You get a young woman who made a decision to leave her Muslim husband because he didn't treat her well. You get a 30-ish woman who completed her law degree and can't find a job here, and desparately wants to obtain custody of her deceased sister's young children from the Netherlands. You get a soft spoken son of a pastor whose sister is in medical school both of whose lives were spared because they were able to get on the second of three planes out of the war torn east in 1996. His cousins were not so fortunate and were delayed on the third plane. The stories go on.
"And I--I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."
posted by MeJane @ 3:28 PM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
Could I use some of those examples? I'm going to teach the poem in two weeks.
Hey, Grace, of course. No problem. I'm flattered that you would like to use some of my material. I hope your students respond with the same "Wow" experience that mine did. It is very rewarding to introduce them to such great poetry. Love you! Mom
Dear Jane,
Coming back from a place where very few people could understand us, it is so refreshing to read your blogs and to know that you are experiencing some of the same. However, by the time you leave, most of the people you are with will be understanding English and hopefully, they will be speaking English. Don and I really enjoyed our time in China and we had two wonderful guides who knew English very well, but it was in our hotels that we ran into people who could not understand us when we tried to find the business office in order to use the internet. We survived! You certainly are having some wonderful, and also not so wonderful experiences, and we always look forward to seeing what you are writing next. You continue to be in our prayers and we know that God is doing some great things through you. Love and blessings, Don and Barb
Dear Barb and Don: Welcome back from China! I'm so glad you were able to go and enjoy the cross-cultural experience. I hope you are both none the worse for wear. Yes, language is an amazing gift. Our words can be so helpful and encouraging, as yours have been to me! Three young mothers were sitting outside the gate tonight and wanted to "talk" to me. Inspite of the language barrier, I got the message that they are praying for me. Praying for ME! How cool is that! Take care. I'm praying for you, too!
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