Smohl Smohl (little by little)

Yesterday, I visited our other site and went on a who’s who in the community tour. It was wonderfully comic and truly a cultural immersion. People here love speeches and love feeling important. Honor, power (well perceived power) and respect are the most important thing in life. So basically I was toured around all day by our staff saying, “look we have a white person who is clearly important because she is white and we are important because she is working with us.” I shook everyone’s hand at least 5 times and for extra emphasis even had the prolonged, two-handed shake that holds on for a good 10 minutes (no exaggeration, I fulfilled my hand shaking quota for my life!) and thanked them profusely and told them how honored I was to meet such important people. All of this happened outside in the heat. I was sweaty and gross wearing a light cotton skirt and tank top, while all of these beautiful black people were wearing their traditional clothing, thick cloth that is long sleeve and long pants and sometimes multi-layered, and looking stunning!! Ugg, I crave for the ability to pull off such splendor, but really have no aspirations of being important and would have preferred to do actual work than to sit and talk about it with the heads of the community (chiefs, principles, etc.)

After re-reading this, I realize how western-centric this notion is. The reality is, this is actual work. Relationships are paramount to being able to work with and in the community and these introductions are a crucial first step. As they say here “Smohl smohl” (little by little) I am getting started.