Meet King Rainbow, I get a haircut,

Greetings,

Last Friday I was on my morning run when a car pulled up beside me and rolled down its window. I assumed this was yet another person who spotted me and figured I could give them directions to someplace. Instead he said to me “You look like you’re in a hurry, can I give you a lift somewhere?” A little flustered and out of breath, I began to explain that I was on a run before I caught myself. He giggled as he drove away.

Just after my last blog entry I headed off to the In-Service Training put on by Peace Corps South Africa. It was great catching up with my fellow South Africa 17ers (we are the 17th Peace Corps group to come to South Africa). The experiences varied wildly—some people are living in a deep rural setting while others are living a much more urban lifestyle. Some are already knee deep in a project, while others have yet to sketch one out. Another upshot of the IST was the chess. For some reason, SA 17 is awash with chess playing talent. IST also provided some useful perspective on how to plan and monitor a development project. One of the key aspects of successful aid work is giving ownership of the project to the community it serves. If a volunteer does a whole series of useful, innovative things but fails to garner sufficient community involvement, the sustainability of her (or his) work is nil.

One thing I failed to mention in my last entry is that I am no longer the sole PCV working at Tsogang. Joey is an SA 16, which is to say he has been here six months longer than I have. He was transferred from his initial NGO to Tsogang due, in part, to a special interest in water systems. He can do magic tricks, including one where puffy red balls multiply and disappear before your eyes.

Speaking of wizardry, I have recently made the acquaintance of a sangoma who goes by the name of King Rainbow. A sangoma is a traditional healer—a sort of doctor, pharmacist, priest, and life-counsellor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangoma). In the last photo album I posted, I included a picture of a handout provided by another traditional healer that listed a whole slew of maladies that he promised to cure. These sorts of claims are common among sangomas.

King Rainbow is less common in that he claims to be the oldest man alive. He also tells me that he turns into a snake at night.

But I am getting ahead of myself. One day, when walking home from work, I spotted a sign on the side of the road that read:

“Father of Kings and Sangomas… I will fix everything after you’ve given my world back, I’m born to broke the world if you don’t listen to Rainbow,”

Intrigued, I headed down a path leading to the river to find a small collection of cardboard buildings. I spotted the King immediately. Once Rainbow and I were introduced, he said a great many things. He talked a lot about ancestors, and the relationship one must have with them. Some of his more arresting metaphors pertained to communication with your ancestors so they can “drive you like a car” or “put you on like clothing and walk around in you”.

Sitting in his self-built house, I noticed a large collection of powders, herbs, and roots. I also noticed a stuffed cat, a wooden head covered with human hair and a worrying collection of water bottles containing an array of murky liquids.

When I was down by the river talking to Rainbow, I noticed that a steady stream of people came down to speak with one of his two wives. Some of them took their shoes off and disappeared into the river for a time, while others left as soon as they arrived. I never did ask what they were up to since King Rainbow was giving me a crash course in his particular cosmology. It is an odd mishmash of Abrahamic creation stories, Sotho creation stories, as well as a healthy dose of Rainbow’s own unique perspective. It was also a bit hard to follow. Rainbow told me that my ancestors were writing through my hand as I took notes.

Judging from my notes, my ancestors were a bit confused too; something about snake(s) turning into human body parts and God (Rainbow) creating parallel versions of humanity. He also told me how he plans to find a new body once his current one is worn out.

In less exciting news, I got a haircut. My hair was cut by a Ghanaian barber that I have befriended. He shaved it all off, in a style known through these parts as a “chis kop”. After he shaved my head, he took what looked like a horse-brush and vigorously rubbed mentholated spirits into my scalp. When I mentioned to him that my head felt like it was on fire, he smiled and informed me that it was “hygienic”. I opted for this style partly because it is the predominate hair choice of South African men. Also, I remembered Yul Brynner (The King and I, The Ten Commandments, Westworld) speaking convincingly about how great being bald is. So far I’m fine with it, though it does mean that I need a stocking cap to stay warm at night. Remember, it’s winter down here.

Since my barber friend is a fellow ex-patriot, we like to discuss South Africa from the perspective of an outsider. Once I asked him what the biggest difference between South Africa and Ghana is. Without hesitation he told me that women in Ghana “know their place” and don’t “talk too much”. From my perspective, this is a ringing endorsement for South Africa. It is worth noting that the South African constitution is perhaps the most progressive in the world. Check it out: http://www.info.gov.za/documents/constitution/index.htm

Tsogang recently had its Annual General Meeting. This involved a presentation to various government officials and board members. During the lunch following the presentation, a giraffe ambled up to the window of the dining hall and helped herself to some leaves growing on a nearby tree. It was a wonderful “you are in Africa” moment. After the lunch we took many of the government officials on a tour of some of our projects which included a community garden, a diesel motor water pump, and an attractively built reservoir. Afterwards I fulfilled Peace Corp’s second goal (“Helping promote a better understanding of Americans…”) by explaining some key differences between South African English and American English. In America “that side” becomes “over there”, “now now” becomes simply “now”, and in America “I’m coming” actually means that you are currently on your way to a place, as opposed to merely planning on coming. I also learned that "how" often means something like "really?" or "I see.", as opposed to a question. That explains a lot.

I’ve included some new pictures along with this entry. You will see them on the right hand side of the blog under the creative heading “Sangoma, Haircut”.

Thanks for reading, I shall write again soon.

oli