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EditorsMay 13, 2008
Back from Africa
Today is my first day back at work after spending nine wonderful days in Africa. The trip, courtesy of JWT's Diamond Information Center (De Beers), was a first-class, well-organized and well-run operation. Kudos to those employees of the DIC because...
Today is my first day back at work after spending nine wonderful days in Africa. The trip, courtesy of JWT's Diamond Information Center (De Beers), was a first-class, well-organized and well-run operation. Kudos to those employees of the DIC because they showed our tour group—composed of two stylists, a diamantaire, three journalists and a retailer—as much as a group could possibly see in a week, and more.
We visited the new diamond-sorting facility in Botswana, went down into the Finsch Mine, visited an orphanage for children in Botswana and learned about Debswana's (De Beers' partnership with the government of Botswana) efforts to combat the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among its workforce.
Each of these experiences is worthy of a blog entry all its own. But, for now, I'll just share my general thoughts on Africa.
Each morning, for the first part of my trip, I would leave my top-tier hotel in Johannesburg and visit some of the poorest sections of South Africa. I came from a place where I had more than I could ever need: food, water, entertainment, etc., only to visit those who have less than anybody should ever have to live with.
I found myself feeling, at first, pity. But the more people I met—from all walks of life and all income levels—the more this old cliché started to ring true: Money can't buy happiness. And, in Africa, it isn't needed to. The people I met in Africa were some of the warmest, happiest people I'd met anywhere. They were more than happy to welcome you into their homes, their place of business and to feed you, and to tell you all you would want to know about their lives and their struggles. All of this was done with a smile on their face.
I wonder if they didn't pity us: a group of Westerners cranky from the travel, irritated because our Blackberries didn't work 24/7. I wonder if they perceived that we don't understand what's important in life—family, community and a sense of belonging—and that we were foolish and frivolous.
At one stop on our whirlwind trip, a woman at the African Children's Feeding Scheme remarked to one of the members of our all-women troupe that she could tell we were Americans because we carried expensive handbags. I don't know that to be true, but it made me wonder how we are seen
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in the eyes of people in other countries, and situations, like those I witnessed in Africa.
At another stop on our tour, we visited the S.O.S. children's orphanage in Botswana. There, another one of the women in my group—all of whom were wonderful—asked one of the women who worked there how she had the energy to do what she did: namely, leave her family to work in a house where she was the mother to 11 orphans.
She replied that she found the energy "in her heart."
I don't know what she thought of us, but I do know that when I left Africa, it had me questioning what kind of heart I have.
And I would guess I'm not alone.
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