It is one of the locations where Borat was filmed (I did not watch Borat...it looked stupid, but I do know what it is), anyway I just watched "When Borat came to town" a documentary about the town.
Basically, the small town was depicted in an unpleasant way in the movie and a lawyer came and told them to sue and they could get millions, a bit of a kerfuffle and nothing much materialised from that promise.
BUT, what was amazing and truly tugged at my heart strings, was (two things actually)
1. I was struck by the fact that the town of Glod was deceived by the movie people so that the movie people got what they wanted and the town of Glod was left disappointed. BUT the lawyer ALSO came and made promises that he failed to fulfill.
And again I saw the problem that we as humans sometimes put ourselves in, we decide that others know better than we do and we let ourselves get sucked in. Learned Helplessness: we reach a point of such despair that we cannot see an end to our suffering and we rationalize that the answer must lie in others and we disempower ourselves
I don't know the agreement that the movie people and the lawyer made with the town but ultimately the town was dissappointed. I hold hope that in fact the town was actually playing stupid in order to get more publicity, and sometimes you just never know.
Anyway, it was basically, I was just sad for them for getting dissappointed and let down in such a major way...twice (that is assuming what they said in the movie was real, and they aren't actually rolling in the dough somewhere)
BUT
2. There was a man, who owned a shop, who spoke of bringing running water to the town. He had a vision, and when he thought of filing the lawsuit he was thinking of bringing money to the town and changing it. He had a vision, a dream, he was passionate and he was going to take the whole village with him.
When it fell apart he said, 'I don't dream about anything anymore. Too much dreaming, It's not good. If you don't have money to back you up dreams are in vain"
And this broke my heart, and definitely not for him, for ME.
What if my dreams never materialise, what if I die with all that I have seen in my mind, remaining in my mind and never really helping anyone.
I guess we never really know though, it's way better knowing you tried and failed than you never tried at all.
BUT in the end he decides to start all over again, he decided that even though his village hated him he was still going to try and build his vision. AND his daughter is pregnant, and that child represents their future, someone how will continue on their road but go further.
And when I think about it a bit longer, I know that my vision will not be impossible because I am not the first, Zambia is currently filled with amazing people doing amazing work, I have the benefit of existing being alive at such a time as this, and this is the right time for me. Additionally, I know that my life and what I will be capable of doing is only because of the battles that were fought and won by my forefathers before me. They paved the road, all I have to do is take a few more steps.
No comments:
Post a Comment