The Most Dangerous Game

Of the things I've learned in the past 24 hours, I would have to say that the most surprising has been the revelation that crocodile and ostrich carpaccio is delicious.

I came to this realization when Toukam and I went to a restaurant Khaya Nyama, recommended by my guide for its selection of wild African game. It was about a 10 minute walk from our apartment, and when we got there we were greeted with a nearly empty establishment with examples of African taxidermy lining the walls. We started off with a carpaccio sampler, which had the crocodile and ostrich that I mentioned already as well as springbok and another African deer-like creature. That was an interesting experience- the crocodile tasted like turkey and the ostrich looked like red meat. Next up, Toukam got warthog ribs and I got a steak from some sort of African game with a name similar to Eula or something. Both selections were amazing. My steak was incredibly lean and tender. We finished off with a super-sweet South African caramel dessert. We got all of this with drinks for about 24 dollars each, a price unheard of in the City.

Since we only have one bed, Toukam and I have instituted a policy to alternate weeks on the sofa. Because I had enjoyed the comforts of sleeping in the bed for the first couple of nights, I surrendered it to my roomy and took the sofa. Surprisingly, it's nearly just as comfortable sleeping on the sofa in a sleeping bag, at least for me. We'll see what Toukam says, but from my view, our alternation of sleeping areas isn't as much of a compromise as I thought.

Like every other morning here that I have and probably will experience, I got up early (7am), showered, avoided making eggs by instead doing toast, and drove to work. Lately it's been quite rainy, so it was another gloomy ride, though I've started to really enjoy my time listening to 101.3 FM Fine Music Radio, the classical music station that was playing when I got the car. They do a really good job mixing really old classical music with modern movie music without seeming like sellouts. Maybe I'm just going soft...

Upon arrival at work I braced myself for a day of either manual labor or spending my time figuring out what to do. However, my email inbox greeted me with a detailed email from the boss with long term and short term projects. The first was to find and purchase website domain names for his upcoming book and related projects. He actually came to the Africa House today, which was a nice surprise. Making an appreciated effort to talk, he sat me down and explained some of the email in further detailed and asked me how things are going. I worked on the domain names and, after finishing, got tasked with the job of getting building, liability, and contents insurance for the complex. I've never done something like this, but I welcome the challenge and I'm looking forward to doing my best. In the interest of full disclosure, though, I must admit that I had to look up "contents insurance" on Wikipedia, finding that it was insurance for all objects unattached to a building that could be stolen. To effectively get info on that kind of policy, I will have to make runs to other All Nations property and inventory their valuable items. It should be a diverting activity to break up next week.

I grabbed a humble peanut butter and honey sandwich (the affair continues!) for lunch and chatted with one of my coworkers, Hannah, who is a long-term volunteer at Africa House, but had worked with one of the local townships, Masipumalele, while on DTS with Youth With A Mission a couple years ago. She's an American from Washington state, and she has an energizing attitude and a lot of knowledge to share on All Nations' programs. After lunching, I poked my head in to the area where one of the teams is working and asked them about what they are doing. It turns out that the group of about 5 Americans are training a group of about 10 women from the townships how to operate t-shirt design presses and Photoshop, so that they can run a t-shirt printing factory to bring in income and create jobs. I was fascinated not only with their demonstrations of how to make a t-shirt design, but also by the ingenuity of this community development program. The creation jobs entrepreneurial endeavors jives well with my capitalist mentality.

For the remainder of my time at the office, I began preliminary work on a country-specific report for All Nations to use when expanding operations. After talking with the boss, I'm starting with Zanzibar in Tanzania. For the report, I will be summarizing basic and Christianity-related facts about areas as well as providing suggestions for what sort of physical aid we can provide, as in which services and training would best serve the community. It is bound to be an interesting and engaging endeavor, and I'm hoping it will turn out as well as I'm imagining it.

While I was quietly working in the office, I overheard and quickly joined in on a conversation originating over the case of one of the young men in the townships, but seems to be a common problem. He has become a Christian recently, and he is coming up to the age of manhood or initiation (maybe 17). His father, a member of a South African tribe, has told him that his time for initiation into manhood is coming quickly. What this is is a time when young men of his age go into the wilderness and perform rituals of ancestral worship, coming of age, and sacrifice while drinking and smoking native substances. Obviously, the ancestral spirit worship and animal sacrifices clashes with many of the basic (not Western) tenants of Christianity. However, to decline this coming of age ritual would be definite disownment by his family and some of the community. As incredibly difficult as this decision is, the young man had decided to stick to Christ and forgo the ritual. He will almost certainly pay dearly for that decision.

The people in the office were talking about the tragedy of this situation, and one of them started talking about the possibility of starting to do those initiation rituals but slightly modified. They could talk with some of the older Christian men in the communities who could conduct these rituals, but they would be changed to adhere to Christian theology. This way, there would be a difference in spirituality but not a break from the native culture. It is a problem that has followed Christians since its inception in the Middle East when the Greeks started to become Christians and wondered what role the Jewish cultural background had in the faith. If All Nations wants to pursue such a project, I really really want to be a part of it, even if I'm just shadowing at the meetings. Its a times like this that my inner anthropologist comes out.

With that intriguing conversation I left back to Cape Town, pitying the poor commuters on the other side of the highway in bumper to bumper traffic. Back at the apartment I grabbed a snack and continued reading Against All Enemies, which has grown into less of a personal history of terrorism and more into a scathing review of the failures of the Bush administration. When Toukam arrived, we cooked a dinner of steak, salad, and bread after the rice we attempted separated itself from all definitions of edibleness. It was nice, but I'm just hoping that my culinary skills improve as we do this more and more.

In the post-dinner hours I not only did my laundry but also read the final pages of Against All Enemies, and you know what that means- more Ayn Rand as I delve into part two of Atlas Shrugged! I'll be sure to tell you all about it. I hope things are pleasant on your side of the world- stay classy!