28 Sep Alex’s visit in Poland June 2018
Only for a second
How does life in Poland look like in the eyes of Alex, a Masai who came to visit us for a month? Is there anything he would like to take home from Europe?
A dark 2x5m cottage made form clay with a leaking roof. The rain entering the room turns the dirt floor into a slush. On the ground there lies a several-year-old child with a 40-degree fever. You can tell that it is undernourished. There is a rusty bicycle next to the child’s head and a chicken walking around.
– Your jaw starts shaking and you want to cry. But how is that supposed to help? – says Iwona Kreczmanska who visited remote Masai village located far from the tourist routes. – I thought I knew what to expect before coming to Africa – she says. – Children with a swollen belly, flies on their faces, people dying of hunger. Everyone has these pictures of Africa in their heads, we know it form the TV. But if you watch it with your own eyes, it’s hard to pretend you haven’t seen it – she adds. In a town near the village a stranger approaches Iwona’s husband, Robert. He points to the knee, “See, it hurts here. What should I do? “- he asked Robert. – He thought I knew better because I was… white. And how shall I help him? – Robert wonders.
A noble goal
After coming back home, Iwona and Robert began with sending parcels. Inside there were balls and fluffy toys flying for the Masai children in the bush. It quickly turns out that giving them was a bad idea – teddy bears quickly got dirty and full of germs, the balls last only two days, because they broke on the spiny acacia from which cattle pens are built in Africa. – But how were we supposed to know?! This was our first time we got involved in organised helping – says Robert.
The next idea how to help was to build a school. – We wanted to do something special for the children. School – a noble goal, we will quickly collect money – they thought naively. In order to be able to gather money Iwona opens an association: To Help Africa. She encourages her friends to give donations. The link between them and local builders in Africa embodied Alex, the man they had met at Zanzibar. The estimated cost of the school is 20,000 PLN but that is only for the raw state. Iwona does not know about it though, so when it comes to paying for windows, benches and cesspool she needs an additional 6,000. PLN. She takes the money from her own pocket. After four months, together with her husband, she boards on the plane to finally open a school in the Tanzanian bush.
The next flight to Dar es Salaam, the former capital of Tanzania, they take to monitor a drilling of the well they financed in the village. Helping goes smoother and smoother. In the Masai village of Kolanga there appeared 10 live chickens, a computer, vaccine for tetanus and regular help for 12 children worth 100 z PLN a month each, called the adoption of the heart.
Soon after, in Częstochowa the African Children’s Foundation organizes an annual meeting, where volunteers and missionaries share their experience gained from helping in African communities and discuss completed projects. – Maybe we should invite Alex – Masai from the Tanzanian village of Kolanga involved in the foundation’s activities? Let him come and hear what he has to say.
European inventions
From the very first day, the schedule is tense – Alex comes to Poland only for a month. He participates in the Częstochowa conference and visits schools in which he introduces students to the living conditions in Africa. Polish hosts do not remain indebted, they want to show how life in Europe looks like. They start from visiting Wieliczka, where they descend with Alex 140 meters underground into the soil mine. In the Tatra Mountains they climb together to Gubałówka, in Energyland they sit on a roller coaster. They show to Alex a train, a modern factory and a luxury apartment building. They teach him how a smartphone and computer works. They go to the zoo and to the old town. However, European “inventions” bring mixed feelings in Alex. – In Mazury, a Polish lakes district, we went on a luxury motorboat, so I ask Alex: Did you enjoy it? “Yes”. And that’s it, no wows, no sighs of admiration. And the boat was top notch – explains Robert, a fan of sailing. Similarly, with a car. – A friend took him for a ride in his sport model of Porsche. After leaving the car instead of the expected delight, Alex commented: „ Are you sure it is safe?” – I liked the Tatra Mountains the most – reveals eventually Alex.
One day they went to a large shopping centre with household appliances. They went inside and there’s a round self-driving vacuum cleaner. Alex looks with vivid interest. – Would you like to take something home from here? – Robert asks. Alex looks around the shelves and takes some time to answer – We do not have electricity, so do you think I need a fridge? Besides, it’s too heavy. A machine for mowing the grass? Why would I need it if you can use a knife for grass cutting – he says while looking at the mixers, laptops and flat screen TVs that surround him. In his world, all this is useless. – What I really would like to take back homeI from you the most is work – he says – Instead of these devices I would also prefer to have more cows – he adds
Sheng’ena stands for „bright mind”
Alex, whose real name is Sheng’ena Oleshao, a warrior from the semi-nomadic tribe of the Maasai, walks along the streets of Mikołajki. His shoes from tires make no sound on the Masurian pavement. Suddenly the silence is broken by a barking dog. A poodle with locks and with a bow on his head, stick out from the balcony and barks. – Look, the dog out of work! – laughs, amazed Alex. In his village, animals have a clearly defined role – cows and goats give milk, dogs guard cattle.
Another time, Masai cannot help smiling when Iwonan’s husband hands him a leash, with a mongrel Pinio that joyfully wags his tail awaiting the walk. – And I have to walk with him like that? An animal on a leash – it makes no sense – he says amused. In the zoo, Alex is appaled. – How can you keep animals in such conditions?! This rhino is sick and no one is helping him. Look at his thickening parts on its skin.
Alex calls his sisters every few days to ask what’s going on in the village, how are people and the cows. – I also have a telephone at home, there is one for every family but with a small screen and large buttons – he explains. In Poland, he uses a smartphone, which he got from Iwona and Robert. In his free time, he often looks at it. Alex’s latest discovery is Google and YouTube. He has never heard about celebrities or youtubers, so he searches for what is familiar – Masai music and dancing. He just found out who Bob Marley was. He also looked up what is the meaning of his name. – Oh, in Chinese, sheng means victory, in my language it is: “a clear mind”.
By watching young people in Polish schools, Alex notices that there is a lot of differences between children in Poland and Africa. – You can see that you are taking care good care of the children – the schools are close to their homes, they take shower. They have a better start – he says. He, as a child, had to take care of cows instead of going to school. He learned the alphabet from a cousins who had to walk to school for two hours. The basics of English he learned from tourists in Zanzibar. “Among the nearby Maasai, I am the only one who writes, reads, and speaks English,” Alex says proudly. – But the lack of education haunts me. I could be a bodyguard in a hotel or shop, I only need certificates to be able to work there but they pay poorly. You get 40 euros a month, and this is not enough for the needs of the village.
Not on a pontoon
Warsaw is about 220 km from Częstochowa. Alex looks with admiration at the flat surface of the road. – This trip would take eight hours back home. In my place when you see someone he greets you and you stop and start talking. Here people are passing by without saying anything – he notes, watching passers-by. – They are in a hurry and look as if they were not lazy at all. In my neighborhood, most people do not work. Maybe because they do not have where to work? – he wonders out loud.
Looking out of the window, Alex stares with curiosity at people who are cuddling. In his culture you do not show feelings in the public. Relationships look different: having 15 cows means you’re a good son-in-law and you can get married. Your parents choose your first wife, the nexts ones you choose for yourself.
– Sometimes you come back home and see the spear in the entrance. It’s a sign for you not to come in, because another warrior stays in with your wife.
– Does that not annoy you?
– No, there are other women – Alex shrugs.
Good job
For Alex birthday, the Kreczmanski’s house is full of people. Many of the invited are members of the African Children Foundation, which through Iwona, support the Masai village of Kolanga. Guests sing a happy birthday song, and two meringue cakes come on the table, with 28 candles on them. “Alex never celebrated a birthday, so we wanted to surprise him,” Robert explains.
– We treat him a bit like a child whom we want to show the world – Iwona interjects.
But it’s better not to say it out loud, Alex would probably not like it. – After all, he is a Masai muran – a warrior who has to hunt a leopard to become a warrior.
One of the guests gives him 100 euros, for which you could buy half of a tanzanian cow, others also do not spare their donations. – He collected for a motorcycle worth 3 thousand PLN – reveals Iwona. – Until now, when he wanted to buy food for the community, he had to call the driver and pay for the ride. The nearest town is too far to walk – he explains.
– Alex, maybe you would like to stay with us in Poland? He smiles and shakes his head: “Here you have everything, but it’s not my world. I could not leave the village and my family. Unless temporarily, for work.
– What if you could bring a family?
– How? On the pontoon? – he asks.- Ok, let’s imagine. I would have a chance to bring my sisters here, and what about brothers, cousins and cows – how could I leave them? I’m here only for a moment – he explains and talks about friends who went to Egypt, Congo and Kenya in search for job. – They made money, they sent money home, but they did not feel at home. Just like me on Zanzibar. They came back, to the same poverty they left. Therefore, instead of traveling, I would prefer much more to have a good job back home.
Space
During the afternoon Robert is sitting with Alex in the garden. They look at the sky.
– Why do people fly into space? – Alex suddenly asks.
– They are curious what is there. They want to check if life exists somewhere else – says Robert.
– Madness. We have life here.
– So when you look at the sky what do you think?
– That the stars are far away and that they are empty. Maybe life is out there somewhere, but it’s not important to me.
– Have you heard of Mars? Another planet that people want to go to.
– Why?
– To see what it looks like and if there is water. Maybe in the future life on Earth will end and thanks to trips to other planets we will survive and people will not die out.
– You are looking for water on other planets, and there are many places on Earth that have no water. In Africa, people are starving and dying because of drought. And ships do not fly to us. Why?- Alex asks.
Robert shrugs: – And how was I supposed to answer that question?