My Faithful Nebraska Readers

A word from readers never fails to elicit my gratitude as a writer. A good word warms my heart, naturally. This week, I have stumbled across good news from the Nebraska Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They run vision trips, a program through which Americans travel to Tanzania "to learn about the culture of Tanzania and the ministries of the Northern Diocese."

I am pleased that, year after year, the organizers of these trips have recommended my book, Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences, to the travelers. The Traveler's Manual for 2018 says:

For those persons wanting to more deeply explore cultural differences between Africans and Americans, the book Africans and Americans by Joseph Mbele is recommended. This book is available at: www.africonexion.com.

I appreciate that the book is recognized as a useful resource, just as I intended it to be. Nebraska has always been on my mind as a place where I have faithful readers. A few years ago, I acknowledged them on this blog. I think about them, and all my other readers, as I continue to work on a sequel to Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences, which I plan to publish this year with the title Chickens in the Bus.

My Arusha Readers

Visiting Arusha is always a treat. There are many people to meet, places to visit, and things to do. One of my joys is meeting my readers. There are quite a few: Americans, Europeans, Tanzanians, and others.

This summer, I spent several days in Arusha. I met my friend, Thomas Ratsim. He and J.M. Tours, the company he works for, have been steadfast fans of my Africans and Americans book. Many American travelers with J.M. Tours have heard about this book from Thomas.

The guys in the photo, taken in the Tarangire National Park during my Hemingway course, summer of 2008, were all with J.M. Tours. They had read Africans and Americans, and they regaled me with tales of how it helps them deal with tourists.

I visited the Arusha Times, which once carried an excerpt of my book. I met Linda, an American fan of the Africans and Americans book, whom I have known for some time, and who offers cultural orientation for foreigners in Arusha. Knowledgeable and experienced, she urged me to write a sequel. Thanks to readers like her, I am working on one.

I met Ingrid, a European teacher I did not know before. She works with school children and likes story telling. She was familiar with my Africans and Americans and Matengo Folktales, and she shared some interesting perspectives on both teaching children and cultural differences.

There are other places I would have liked to visit, and other people I would have liked to meet, if I had more time. One is the Peace House School, where I once gave a talk on the issues I raise in the Africans and Americans book. There, Africans and Americans work side by side. The director thought it would be a good idea for them to have on-going book discussions as a way of learning about their cultural differences.

I would have visited the office of the Global Service Corps, an American organization that sends volunteers to Tanzania and recommends Africans and Americans on its website. I have visited their office several times in the past and seen copies of the book there, for volunteers.

I wish to thank all my readers. Their continuing engagement with my work both inspires and sustains me.

Americans Going to Malawi

Yesterday I went to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, about 123 miles from Northfield, to speak with a group of people going to Malawi to conduct eye clinics. I had been invited by Diane Kaufmann, seen in the photo above, to my left. She has visited Malawi a number of times in her capacity as coordinator of the companion synod relationship between the Northwest Wisconsin Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) and Malawi. She has led mission trips to Malawi, under the auspices of this partnership, and she and I have run retreats at Luther Point.
The trip is scheduled for April, and the destination is Chitipa and Karonga. Some of the people have visited Malawi before, and others are going for the first time.
Diane had invited me to talk with them about issues I raise in my book, Africans and Americans. She told me they would all have read it in preparation for my visit. This is the ideal arrangement, since it creates the opportunity of focusing on problematical or outstanding issues.
I enjoyed meeting these people. I felt as if I were in the company of people who knew me well through what I say in the book. There was no need to worry about breaking the ice or establishing rapport. In my remarks, I just stressed several basic lessons I have learned about living in a different culture and writing about cultural differences. I confessed that the greatest challenge of writing my book was discovering my own biases and fighting against them.
Because these people were going on a medical mission, we dwelt a little bit on the cultural issues relating to medical work. I have said a few things about this in my book, and I have also been learning much from my involvement in orientation activities for college students going on health-related study abroad in Tanzania.

Some of the people had studied at St. Olaf College, and they regaled me with their Ole memories and folklore. One doctor had a copy of my Matengo Folktales and started a conversation with me on it. She noted, for example, the different ways Hare is portrayed in Matengo folklore compared to the American traditions such as the Easter Bunny. I was delighted, as I had never thought about these comparisons. Diane even mentioned my Notes on Achebe's Things Apart. I felt I was in the midst of people who really want to be well informed prior to traveling abroad. Being an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin, I enjoyed this visit in other ways as well, since it brought back memories of my graduate school days in the Badger state.

Memories of Augustana College

Yesterday I returned from a memorable visit to Augustana College, Illinois. The main purpose of my visit was to talk with students going on a study trip to Ghana and Senegal. This is part of the work and vision of the Africana Studies program.

In the evening of January 30, I spoke with a group of professors on cultural issues in the global village and related topics. We dwelt in particular on preparing students for life in the world they will live in.Professor John Tawiah Boateng, standing with me above, on the right, had communicated with me over a two year period about plans at Augustana College to develop the African Studies program. He has said that my visit would help that process. On January 31, I spoke with the people going to Ghana and Senegal, about 40 of them. They had all read my Africans and Americans book, and I had been invited to talk about it.
Above, Dr. Tawiah Boateng, the director of the Africana Studies program is seen introducing me to the audience, flanked by Dr. Kim Tunicliff director of International Studies. Dr. Tunicliff and I had worked together for some years in the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM). While he was the ACM Vice President, I was a member of the board for the Zimbabwe and Tanzania progams. I am still a member of the ACM board dealing with the Tanzania and Botswana programs. It was good to be with Dr. Tunicliff again. It was during Dr. Tunicliff's tenure as ACM Vice President that I wrote my Africans and Americans book, to help us in offering cultural orientation for students and faculty going to Africa. I have mentioned this in the book. Introducing me, Dr. Tawiah Boateng described my work in teaching, research, writing, and study abroad programs. I spoke about my experience of preparing students for study in Africa, with a focus on the cultural dimension. I described my own experience with American culture, growing as person as I went along. I explained how writing my book made me discover my own biases and how, subsequently, I fought against those biases in order to produce the book they were reading. The greatest challenge, I said, is to overcome the idea that the norms of our culture are the standard other people should follow. That bias is like a trap into which we all fall, more or less. An hour and a half later, our session ended and we went out for dinner and still continued our conversations
It is certainly gratifying for a writer to know that people are actually reading his or her writings. I was touched, as usual, to be in a room with over forty people who had read my book asking incisive questions.

A small band of students stayed on, after dinner, to continue the conversation. I signed copies of the book and we took one more photo, which reflects the strength of the human spirit in the face of the kind of rigours we had put ourselves through.