{"id":1703,"date":"2012-08-09T15:35:59","date_gmt":"2012-08-09T15:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/php7.innershed.com:10000\/virtual-server\/link.cgi\/212.71.245.84\/http:\/\/www.connectafrica\/?p=1703"},"modified":"2012-11-03T12:05:45","modified_gmt":"2012-11-03T12:05:45","slug":"spears-and-netball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.connectafrica.net\/?p=1703","title":{"rendered":"Spears and Netball"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"African<\/a>“We will be running on the modern life (with access to technology)… You see our children when they see visitors like you, they think it is strange, but we are all the same.\u00a0 So technology will help them learn about others.\u201d<\/p>\n

This statement from one of the Headsman of the Chiefdom Moono stuck in my mind.\u00a0 It\u2019s become known that in Africa the children find visitors to their areas fascinating, and will hang around for hours watching and wondering.
\n\"filming<\/a>
\nAnd yet, we are the same- we\u2019re all just people, with different ways of doing the same things (like bathing<\/a>).<\/p>\n

I then thought to half an hour earlier, when we drove up the road, lined with trees that seemed to not fit in with the surrounding African bush, having being planted intentionally.<\/p>\n

\"traditional<\/a>While we had been all over the Chiefdom visiting a traditional healer<\/a>, a farmer<\/a>, a doctor<\/a> and a teacher<\/a>, people had been arriving all day and gathering at the Palace, waiting for us to return. When they saw us approach in our vehicles, they started beating their drums, raising their spears and dancing.<\/p>\n

We jumped out the vehicles as they came to a stop in Moono Palace, and were surrounded by the dancing crowd who were, as we learnt later, welcoming us through their songs and dance.<\/p>\n