-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Wishing all Goanetters | | a Prosperous | | and | | Happy New Year - 2006 | | Goanet - http://www.goanet.org | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vignettes from Kalangala
It's one ride to hell that takes hours to complete. But when you get there, it's paradise. "This place is falling apart," an unusually exasperated Arun Mehta, engineer from New Delhi, said half-way through the came. He must have just been overly tired. But the pressure on the water and electricity (not to forget the overworked kitchen staff) notwithstanding, Kalangala is a great place to be at. For those of us who do not live next to a beach -- not me! -- this is the next best thing to paradise. There's birdsong in the morning, when Alan "Gunner" Gunn isn't waking us up with his stringed-piece of wood. The beach sands are the colour and texture of pure white, almost like fine wheat flour. Everyone is peaceful here. The concept of theft seems unheard of. A digital camera found by someone else gets immediately returned. (Patrice can't located his New Yorker magazine. But that must be something special about the New Yorker.) On Day 1, last Sunday, we were woken up to a sea of dark clouds in the morning. We had some heavy rain, soon later. Our Ugandan friends stressed that rain is seen as a good omen, though, as in many Asian cultures. In the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, a noisy thunder storm struck. "If you experience a collapse of your tent (in which some participants live), or have either a lake or river running through yours, please let us know," an organiser told the Morning Circle. Our Greek friend Simos whispers with a strange look on his face: "I actually had to hold on to my tent." James Wire, one of the core organisers, reminds participants to carry bags to the nearby fishing village on their Thursday trek, so that they can come back with some fish. Joris "Mr Schoolnet Namibia" Komen is threatening to take participants out birdwatching, with our South African friend Rudy. He stresses that he's interested in "looking at birds... with feathers, and others". By night, the generator chugging along churns out power, but the bulbs seem too dim to read the notes you made by daytime. Bandwidth is limited, frequently failures occur, and the daily report of how much bandwidth is left of the 3GB quota (for the entire camp, shared among all participants) is met with some sighs. Rooms are lit by solar energy, and if your indicator lights show orange or red... power is running down and you're going in for trouble. This place strongly reminds you what life is for the Majority World. We were talking life expectancies the other day, and were reminded that there are countries where a 40-year-old is "old" and can't expect to live much longer! I told an African lady that the vegetation reminded me much of home. That is, Goa in India. Except that the trees were taller. "These are *tall* trees?" she asked, incredulously. "You haven't seen any forests then?" Meal times are always the highlight of the day, offering fine African food, which the staff struggles to prepare on time via firewood-stoves, Matoke is banana-based, while there's often a maize dish, generous servings of fish, watermelon and (sometimes) pineapple. But the peanut sauce is what I go for all of the time. We're warned of a possible bacteria in the river, our Western friends seem to be on anti-malarial preventive tablets, and some feel we should be even brushing our teeth with bottled water. But this all doesn't deter Kim "Meraka Institute" Tucker, who plans to swim anyway, and get tested to ensure nothing's wrong when he gets back home to South Africa. (Meraka is a Sotho language term from South Africa, that refers to an open area of land which the community shares, mainly for grazing. A kind of a commons!) When we arrived, there were some swarms of river-flies all around. Some mistook them for mosquitoes. A piece of tense-sounding Western classical music reminds everyone that it's getting time for a session. You delay too much and Denmark's Thomas Krag simply starts shouting in what could easily pass off for an SS kamp kommandant's voice. "That's music from the Congo," said a participants, as he sat back to pound his keyboard, while others went treking to the hills and villages nearby the Thursday off. Under an African moon, we talked of wider issues, of whether humankind is moving ahead or moving backwards, and USAID's Stephen Settimi had this theory that humankind had been planted on earth by some superior life-form. There was a long round of applause for Joseph, who had actually woken up at 4 am one pre-dawn African day, to cover the computers and hardware as a storm raged. Africa is a fascinating place. And one is always intrigued by it. "And this is a very gentle and kind introduction to a vast continent," said Arun Mehta (52), one bright morning. Hopefully, there will be lot of pleasant memories to take back home. But more than just that! See also http://foss4us.org/blog -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | http://del.icio.us/fredericknoronha Saligao, Goa, India | [EMAIL PROTECTED] Independent Journalist | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436 ---------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Goa - 2005 Santosh Trophy Champions | | | | Support Soccer Activities at the grassroots in our villages | | Vacationing in Goa this year-end - Carry and distribute Soccer Balls | --------------------------------------------------------------------------
