5th
April
7am and our alarm went off. The road to
Bulawayo is only 150km from here, but we wanted to have an early start. The
Baptist Convention drove us in their minibus to the taxi pick-up point, and
from there we caught a taxi to Bulawayo. 2 hours, front seat, with a friendly
and talkative taxi driver. He even shared his packet of chips with Kristen.
We arrived in Bulawayo, found a take-away
joint and shared rice and beef stew (Kristen is by now a little over sadza),
and then called up our couch surfing host.
It turns out that Mpho is a musician
playing the Marimbas in a 4-man-band. He’s Zimbabwean born, married to a
Canadian born woman, and they’re expecting their first child in June.
source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrXfiTUiEdagnTd6I6DrzbLGGbgbjzexv5Tih0v3ub-1qCqCauNMgeSX0fZjNZ93vMRANJg1rZqKGu4nN0j8pu6BC1kLWwLtLoW_Q3JfjgMueskALe72zi5M1QDqMf0tzNlX0GJmRBJpc/s1600/marimba2.gif
His band is planning on touring Canada and
some parts of USA for 6 months, and in preparation his wife just left for
Canada (now at 7 months), a week ago. He’ll join her there on the 1st
of June (just before the baby’s born!).
Kristen enjoyed an afternoon nap, and in
the evening we enjoyed the company of Mpho and his friend Tswa, a script writer
for plays. Well that’s what they called themselves to begin with, but it turns
out that they both do everything from writing and singing to organizing
creative events around town. They invited us to a Slam Poetry afternoon (2pm –
6pm) on Saturday. We’re both looking soooo forward to it.
source: http://www.couchsurfing.org
It was really revitalizing to be in the
presence of experience-taught, artist/performers. While Kristen and I have been
formally trained by tertiary education institutions, these two are taught from
experience. They are now starting to pick up formal training here and there,
but here’s the interesting thing: neither of them would have it any other way!
For them they have no regrets playing the “experience” card before the “formal
training” card.
If the next 4 days is going to show me
anything, it will show me how people from any background can meet, chat and
share their successes with each other. Now that’s a curve-ball for me.
An education can come from so many varied sources and experience based is just as good as any formal training. We need to be open to adjusting our paradigms as life unfolds.
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