Sunday, August 4, 2013

The Drums of Africa Still Beat in My Heart

Wheeew! This was a full week - meetings, debriefing sessions, interviews, and working on the photo voice project. We have surely accomplished a lot and in such a short time I have learned a lot about myself and the process of team work. Even though we don't always see eye to eye, what I appreciate most about the Building Global Bridges (BGB) team is the respect we have for each other. Respect is an essential to cooperation and progress in a group setting.

Another thing that I really love about my team is that we work hard and play harder :) Last night (Thursday night) Thula (UKZN partner) took a few of us to Cool Runnings, a chill spot in the city that was full of people from all walks of life. I must say, however, that I would have never known there were so many people in South Africa with locs if we hadn't gone to Cool Runnings. The main attraction was the African Drum Circle that included about 20 - 30 drummers. The circle was very welcoming to anyone who wanted to drum or dance. I decided to take part in both! Haha :D It was beyond awesome. I drummed until my arms were tired (about three minutes) and danced until I had sweated through my entire shirt. It was BEYOND amazing. After I finished drumming a guy I was sitting next to leaned over and asked me if I felt like I was at home. He continued, "do you feel more African now?" I did. He then gave me some instructions: Close your eyes. Meditate to the drums. Close your eyes and be alone with this energy. I did. For those few moments I was in another place, inside myself, moved by the vibrations in that room. It was powerful and I loved every second of it. That experience was much needed after a such an intense week. It was a great way for me to encourage myself to just let go and go with the flow, which is something I sometimes have difficulty with in more than one context. What an incredible experience with an incredible group of people. I am so happy to be here - soaking it alllll up :)

Jasmine

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