Resilience

Merikenoi with her father, in Kimokouwa

Today I am thinking of resilience and of indomitable spirits. How could it be otherwise with news of the first trip abroad for Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar since 1988. On this trip she is scheduled to be presented in Norway with the Nobel Peace Price she was awarded in 1991 but unable to pick up since she has been under house arrest until her release in November 2010. The shining example of people like Suu Kyi cannot be overstated during a time when so much bad news abounds.

The Africa I know is full of people who are characterized by this perennial quality of resilience. History has shown that no matter how much Africans have been oppressed, exploited, or subjugated by other humans; or how much their resource-filled land has been depleted by the need to survive, or by disasters that are either natural or the result of human activity, tens of millions of people, on this continent where life began, somehow find the grit to get up each day and begin again.

It is easy to forget that these tens of millions of people are made up of individuals just like us who have families and dreams for themselves and for their children. No matter where on this earth we find ourselves, or what colour our skin is, or what our religious beliefs are or our economic status is, we are all the same.

Women walk miles to gather firewood

A couple of years ago, during a time of persistent drought there was no water in the villages. Water trucks came regularly to Longido from Arusha – 100 kilometres away, or Namanga, Kenya – 30 kilometres away. People lined up with their brightly coloured plastic buckets to purchase what they could afford for their families. Joyce, who had saved some money from part-time work TEMBO had given her to do, knew her parents would be unable to afford clean water because her father had been injured and unable to work. So she purchased and arranged for water to be delivered to them, 13 kilometers away. My mind is full of images of women with bent bodies carrying home large bundles of heavy branches they have walked long distances to collect in order to cook an evening meal for their families. I also know a poor Maasai coco or grandmother who arranged for her granddaughter, Consolata – who lived 12 hours away – to come to Longido when she heard an opportunity for education sponsorship with TEMBO might be available. 

I find it deeply mysterious - what gets people out of bed in the morning, even when it appears that tomorrow will be just the same as today, filled with extreme hardship and little apparent hope – day after day and year after year. Psychologists say there are many factors, including maintaining strong relationships with family and friends. It's also important to have a goal and to take small actions to move toward that goal.

If there is anything I have learned from my Tanzanian friends it is that strong family relationships are valued above most things. We may talk about it a lot in Canada but Africans live as though their life depends on it. And it does. And it really does make a visible difference when it comes to meeting the countless obstacles they must overcome each day. Simply feeding and providing water for their families is the very real goal for so many women in Longido and Kimokouwa. In years to come, it will be up to their daughters who are now receiving education to address the structures that seem to make rightful access to food and water so difficult to achieve today. Having role models like Aung San Suu Kyi, and their mothers, will help.