“ ‘Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you.” — Timothy Ferriss
As older adults, we sometimes reflect on meaningful experiences. I can point to my two years in Africa as one of the most significant times of my life. I learned so much about myself and what kind of man I wanted to become. Below is an article written by reporter Morgan Voorhis for a special Mountain Pride section of the local Mountain Area newspaper. Story ran February 26, 1998.
David Johnson finds himself in Africa
As a teenager, his fantasy was sitting at the helm of the USS Enterprise with Captain James T. Kirk, exploring new frontiers and “boldly going where no man has gone before.” Fantasy gave way to reality when, as a young man, he explored the “new frontier” of distant Africa … behind the wheel of a Landrover with African counterpart Samuel Dampere at his side.
“I felt like I was on a different planet because of the people, the language, the customs, the food,” says Coarsegold resident David Johnson of his Peace Corps experience 20 years ago. “It was like I was always on stage because the African people stared at me, expecting something from me.””
Known as “Kwame-Poku” to his Ghanaian friends, “Master” to the laborers, or “Obruni” (foreigner) to strangers, Johnson served in the Peace Corps from 1974-76. He lived in Tema, 15 miles south of Accra (the capital of Ghana), and traveled within a 50-mile radius to poor villages, teaching farmers about tomato extension, as well as working on irrigation projects.
“We would help them (farmers) get tomato seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, establish demo plots, and introduced them to new varieties of tomatoes,” Johnson says. “We also started co-ops where several villages could come together to collectively share equipment (tractors) and resources.”
It was akin to a marriage between the best part of the U.S. farming system and the best part of the African system.
According to Johnson, in that part of the country, the African farmers practiced shifting cultivation. What this means is that instead of using land to its fullest potential, the land was quickly exhausted, with the farmer rapidly moving on to a more fertile plot of land. The concern was that, over time, this practice could leave farmers with virtually no fertile lands left for planting crops.
During his two years there, Johnson faced many challenges and numerous frustrations. This was mainly due to the lack of available resources.
“Because of the poor economy and the corrupt government, it was difficult to obtain equipment, fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides or seeds. I remember that we had tried to get a tractor for the co-op for a long time, but the head administrator of agriculture decided to keep it for his own use. Other times, when we were halfway through a project, we were told we would only receive a small portion of the requested materials.”
Another major source of frustration was the language barrier. Since Johnson had only an elementary command of the language, he relied heavily upon his companion, Dampere, to translate almost everything.
“That always made me feel like an outsider,” Johnson recalls. “Mr. Dampere’s ability to communicate with both the poorest farmer or the highest ranking official was inspiring. I felt so honored to travel with a man like him. He was not only a mentor and good friend, but was like a father to me.”
What made Johnson feel like an insider was how he was accepted and appreciated for what he could offer.
“Think about it. Here I was a 21-year-old kid and I was treated like a celebrity. I was offered the best they had to offer and it was a real ego-boost.”
Ego aside, Johnson internally struggled with doubts of his expertise in a country where he was looked upon as an expert.
“In comparison with my peers, I would have been considered very average in America, but in Africa, I was expected to be a specialist. I often felt like I was cheating the African people, that I was an imposter, because by own standards, I wasn’t an expert.”
Instead, Johnson insists, it was the African farmer who was the expert and master of getting something from nothing.
“They were very connected to the earth, could tell by smelling or feeling the soil, or by reading the stars, which days were best to plant. If there was anything to be produced from the infertile, over-used soil, they would find a way.”
A trait that Johnson admired, yet at the same time, caused him great frustration, was their deep sense of timelessness. Their concept of time was “if we don’t get to it today, next week is fine.” Even though they had little sense of meeting time expectations, Johnson continued to set a work schedule of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. More often than not, some showed up at 9 a.m., some trickled in an hour later, and others didn’t show up at all.
“What one would typically expect to complete in a few hours would end up taking an entire day. That is not to imply the African farmers didn’t accomplish much. They simply had a lackadaisical attitude towards schedules or deadlines.”
“They had a very relaxed approach to life, a beautiful sense of living in the moment, an acceptance of whatever was happening in their lives at the time. I don’t think I could have explained the concept of stress to them, even if I had tried, despite their hardships.”
Rituals played a large part in their everyday lives and Johnson was expected to play his part. No matter how many times he had been to a village, the order of things remained the same. Shake the chief’s hand using the right hand only. It was a sign of disrespect to use the left. The chief would then offer a beverage – the village’s best, but first he would pour some of the liquid on the ground in respect to God. God always came first.
“Many times in the poorer villages, their best was water the color of Coca Cola in a huge barrel,” Johnson says. “I knew I would get sick if I drank it but it was an insult not to drink.”
Sensitive to and observant of their rituals, Johnson suffered many bouts of dysentery, although he was one of the fortunate few who didn’t contract malaria.
Along with the contaminated drinking water, traditional spicy African foods also took its toll.
“Tears would be streaming down my face. I wanted to yank my tongue out and gulp gallons of water, but I had to smile and keep on eating in order to not offend them.”
Africa offered Johnson not only the opportunity to live in a foreign culture, but the chance to see animals he normally saw through the bars of a zoo. For Johnson, nothing has ever compared to getting close to a pride of lions, watching the skies turn pink as thousands of flamingos took off in flight, waiting 10 minutes for a herd of elephants to cross the road, or to the beauty and gracefulness of the giraffe in the savannas. Sometimes, however, the local creatures got a little too close for comfort.
“I was walking near a clump of trees in Nairobi National Park and a baboon unexpectedly jumped out from behind a tree directly in front of me, challenging me. He smacked me on the leg, and I was afraid he was going to bite me or snap me like a pretzel. I was frozen in terror and the baboon eventually backed off and ran away.”
One of Johnson’s more frightening nights was his first camping trip in the Serengeti, where three were crowded in a small pup tent.
“We could hear lions roaring and hyenas running nearby. Not one of us slept that night. We thought we were going to be eaten by a carnivore, or maybe trampled by elephants.”
Africa is where Johnson’s deep love and connection with elephants began. Noting and appreciating their considerable strength, their extraordinary gentleness and their nurturing sense of family, he hoped to develop and emulate those qualities in his own life.
When Johnson left Africa, several appreciative village chiefs gave him gifts, including traditional African clothing. One generous chief even offered one of his wives. However, Johnson, married to Monica for about two years, declined the offer.
Africa gave him many insights into himself and forever altered his view of the world. Johnson admits he left the states a naïve young man, returning much wiser and focused, having grown tremendously during his two years of service.
A philosophy he holds today is that everyone is a teacher – if you look closely enough.
“What appeared to be the most simple and uneducated people were actually the most wise and best teachers. Education has nothing to do with wisdom.”
Whereas he tended to live his life in a rush always looking towards tomorrow, he now tries to live in the moment, appreciating and accepting whatever is at hand. While he continues to struggle with not sweating the small stuff, he admits that stress is still a part of his life. Occasionally, his stress is related to the question he reflects upon whenever the thought crosses his mind. That question is what price the African people paid for “so-called advanced technology.”
“I didn’t realize until much later how toxic the pesticides we used were. I’m sure it damaged the water supply and has since caused many healthy problems. The Africans utilized a natural system. We came in and suggested they use chemical fertilizers for instant results – a quick fix without regard to a more natural and integrated farming system.”
An offshoot of this technology – the transition from village to city life – also caused the breakdown of something he valued: the extended family. The price tag for advancement was a hefty one: the loss of community, intimacy and the connection with nature.
It was in Africa that Johnson came to the conclusion that spirituality was not confined or defined by religion or church, as preached by the missionaries. Rather, he saw spirituality as a deeper sense of compassion, acceptance, genuineness, strong family values, and a profound respect and love of nature. To Johnson, the farmers – not the missionaries – represented spirituality in its highest form. It’s a spiritual belief he continues to hold today.
Service continues to be of the utmost importance to Johnson, who now works as a mental health therapist to children in foster care.
“The Peace Corps says that it offers the toughest challenge you will ever face. And it is right. It’s challenging on many different levels, yet it was the most rewarding and inspiring time of my life.”
Indeed, the Peace Corps offered Johnson the ultimate challenge of maturing, of discovering his true inner values, while taking modern technology and applying it at the most basic level, using very limited resources.
“You can’t go into another culture and come out the person you went in as,” Johnson explains. “When you can let go of your identity and completely submerge yourself in a completely different language and culture, that’s when you truly come alive. I thought I was going to Africa to teach and to serve, but it was more like a two-year education in the study of life … my own.”
EXERCISE
When you look over your life, what period or event had special significance for you, gave you new insight, personal growth, adventure?
I would love to hear from you about that special time in your life. Please contact me.
Remember, don’t’ act your age!