Ethiopian

Today is the second entry I write in Edinburgh.
I am totally fond of this city by now... I am wondering what I was doing all these years that I was not here... Well, I kind of do know, but still... and of course, in a way, it would not have been what it is without the rest that was not so great. In particular, my previous two months in South Africa made a huge differnce, and they have in a way made me appreciate much more my relationship with Europe. I have been here 6 weeks today and I can recall so many good moments already. But I have a moment to write about this dinner of today, after a long pleasant shift serving tables in the racecourse in Perth town, and came back under the Scottish summer sunset, to arrive home and find two very friendly Ethiopian friends about to cook Ethiopian food with injira bread, and guess what, I ate with my hands :) And so there is this special African connection, and what followed, and what we talked that makes me so much of who I am. It's my links with Africa, which I never want to miss.
And it rememinds me of my striving to be there, to be always there, and to always delay to be there, because before that, there is something much more important that needs to be done, and it needs to be done now.

Is it because on some level, we were not worth saving ourselves?

This is the closing line of the person left to tell us the story that we never lived, when runaway climate change became real, and I wonder how I will feel then, when people starve, become refugees, not drinking water left, all massively. I wonder how I will feel, and if I felt I could have done more, perhaps much more. Nothing is getting done, nothing at all. Surprise, surprise, it's human nature. But that's gonna take us out of this planet, and it's not good enough. It's not an excuse. It's not an excuse. It's never an excuse. Humans have never ever made the right decisions when they had to. That resulted in wars, famine, slavery, colonialism. But this time, this time everyone will suffer. And I wonder. Is that the end, or the beginning? Consciousness, stewardship, there is no unity without a planet.

A little tear to flood the ocean

A little tear to flood the ocean
I am stepping on this continent, and I don’t know for how long
I see brighter than ever as I touch the end
So that it never ends
So that I return and swell through the ocean waves
Once again
Forever again
Everlasting steps over the horizon
Through the mountains and down to the valleys into the rivers
Something is missing
Maybe is me
Or it is all those smiles that were never yours
Those words unsaid, or stuck,
Or those words that hit walls
Bounced back
Hit hard
Cried to the stars
Rained,
Mud is mud
and found me in Africa
Of everlasting walkways
Hidden underneath what I cannot see
The smiles, the dropped faces
The arms that cannot wave and the legs that cannot walk
The days I could not move
And then days I could but talk
Mud is all that I am covered with
Mud that is mud
And it’s what feeds the oceans
And boosts my blood

Cape Town

Bueno, ya llegué :) Estoy demasiado cansado para escribir las experiencias de hoy tranquilamente, así que me esperaré al desayuno de mañana :)

31 de enero, Africa magnana

09.38
Esta mañana me desperté con la luz que entraba por la mañana. Todavía estaba cansado y he vuelto a la cama. Y me he vuelto a despertar y me ha llegado un mensaje al móvil. El cielo está totalmente despejado y entra mucha luz por la ventana. Era Denise diciéndome que va a venir a recogerme al aeropuerto. Y entonces la luz se ha vuelto más intensa aún, llenando toda la nieve que ha caído en Munich. Vuelvo a África, hoy... Hoy! Hoy! Y habrá alguien para recogerme :) No estoy en absoluto nervioso. He dormido bien y tranquilo, y me espera un desayuno sosegado con algunas risas. Hoy es un día muy feliz, aunque supongo que lo sentiré mucho más conforme pase el tiempo.