|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
boston, ma / 07.sep.1999
Hello assorted friends, current and former co-workers, room- and
housemates, family, etc. I hope this letter finds you all well.
Depending on when I've last been in contact with you, you may know all,
some, or absolutely none of what I'm going to be up to. Well, all will
be equalized soon enough. In a little more than a week, I begin what
will be a four-month journey through Southern and Eastern Africa, and
the Middle East. I leave for Johannesburg on Sept. 15 and return from
Tel Aviv on Jan. 12.
The primary purpose of this trip is fiendishly simple: to meet people,
hear their stories, see what God is doing, and write about it all. Of
course this statement prompts more questions than it answers: which
people? what stories? what sort of doings of God? and what kind of
writing? Though I have some hints as to what the answers will be, the
only comprehensive answer I can give you, and the only one I can give to
myself is, wait and see -- this is in many ways an exercise of faith.
Which is not to say that I step out into the unknown entirely without
plans, hopes, and expectations. Logistically, the trip looks something
like this: Arrive in South Africa in late September, meet up with Derek
McKee, a college friend and former Let's Go editor, and spend a month or
so exploring the complex race dynamics of that country, ending with the
country's bittersweet celebration of the 100th anniversary of the
Anglo-Boer war (Oct. 12).
Then the journey north begins in earnest, taking us through Zimbabwe,
Malawi, and Mozambique (though not necessarily in that order). At some
point Derek will veer off and head to his parents' home in Uganda, and
I'll head to Tanzania by early November, to check out the
coastal-post-colonial scene in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. Thence, it's
north to the Kenyan coast, and finally inland to Nairobi in time for
Christmas.
On December 28, Derek and I will regroup and fly to Tel Aviv, in time to
spend New Year's in Jerusalem's Old City. We'll be staying at, of all
things, a hostel for German Catholic Pilgrims. Assuming the world
doesn't end, we'll travel around Israel and perhaps a neighboring
country or two (Jordan! Lebanon! Egypt! the possabilities are endless!)
before I fly back to Boston.
Along the way, I'll be paying visits to various friends-of-friends and
other interesting folks, including (at last count): a black pastor in
Soweto; a South Asian social worker in Durban; a Bible translator in
rural Mozambique; collective farmers outside Dar es Salaam, a missionary
ethnomusicologist in Nairobi, a lepidoptarist in Cape Town ... the list
goes on.
My hopes for the trip: to have my assumptions challenged; to learn from
those who are different from me; to hear stories of grace, told by
people of faith; to have lunch with people who sincerely believe that
the world is about to end; to communicate in Kiswahili; to avoid
internal parisites; to see the effects (bad and good) of colonialism in
a half-dozen countries; to check the Y2K complence of the world's major
monotheistic religions; to track down Rajmund Ohly, the obscure and
possibly insane Polish linguist whose work was the subject of my senior
thesis; to learn more of what it means to be a Christian in a very
different context than that in which I normally operate; to deepen my
friendship with Derek; to make a whole lot of other friends; to (in the
words of the 48th Psalm) walk around Zion and count its towers, that I
might tell about them to coming generations; to have fun; to be changed.
When I get back, the work of writing will really begin. I'll resume my
30hr/wk. job as a graphic designer at ZEFER, an Internet consulting firm
in Boston, and spend my mornings at the computer, working on ... well,
who knows what ... freelance pieces for travel publicattions ...
cultural commentary for e-zines ... perhaps a longer travellogue to shop
to publishers. What I'll attempt depends in large part on what will
happen. So I'll just have to let you know.
Finally, the sticky issue of contact info. Probably the best way to
contact me on the road is via email -- the address I'll be checking is
[email protected]. If, wonder of wonders, you want to send me a letter
or package, it's probably best to email me and let me know which city's
general post office you should send it to. I'm simply too unplanned
right now to offer solid mail addresses.
I'm putting together mass email lists for those of my friends who would
like the occasional brief report from the road. If you'd like to hear
news of my travels, please reply to this email by next Monday, Sept. 13
to let me know ...
Best wishes to all of you. Know that I'll appreciate your prayers and
kind thoughts as I travel.
Warmly,
Nate
|
|
|
|
|
|
