In Chapter 13, Mortenson said, “I realized that everything, all the difficulties I’d gone through, from the time I’d promised to build the school, through the long struggle to complete it, was nothing compared to the sacrifices he was prepared to make for his people. Here was this illiterate man, who’d hardly left his little village…Yet he was the wisest man I’d ever met.” Why does Mortenson consider Haji Ali to be the “wisest man her ever met”?
What advice does Haji Ali give to Mortenson (Ch. 15) that he incorporates into the Central Asia Institute (CAI) plans for building new schools? Do you think this advice would serve Mortenson well if he were building schools in the United States?
Mortenson (Ch. 16 &17) “also came to know a religious leader in Baltistan, Syed Abbas Risvi, who agreed with him that education was important but pointed out that the children in the area needed something else, too…” What does Mortenson hope Westerners will understand in the example of Syed Abbas?
Much of the book is a meditation on what it means to be a foreigner assimilating with another culture. Discuss your own experiences with foreign cultures-things that you have learned, mistakes you have made, misunderstandings you have endured.
Two years ago I visited the country of Malawi in south central Africa and plan to visit there again this summer prior to our trip to Korea. Although much of the time is spent within an orphanage, there are several things that stand out. First, keeping on a schedule/being on time is not very important. Relationships are very important. I had to learn to always greet the housemothers every morning with "Muli bwanji" (How did you wake this morning?)or they would scold me in a sisterly way. Families are very important. The housemothers and children like to know about your family and are anxious for you to ask about their family as well. In fact, asking about how someone's family is doing a part of typical conversation (I have to work on my Chichewa to get that much done!). People don't like to disappoint Americans, so sometimes they will agree to do something or say they can get something, but they have no earthly idea if it can done or gotten.
ReplyDeleteIn my 3rd grade class today, I was trying to explain the metaphor that America is considered "a melting pot". Due to the recent flu virus that siezed over 50% of my class, I was down to only two girls in this particular reading group. We had a nice conversation about immigrants and Ellis Island. We talked about how America is made up of many different backgrounds and cultures. After a brief discussion, they were able to tell me what "melting pot" meant. We related this to our classroom - we looked around the room and identified 1 Asian, 2 Hispanic, and 1 Turkish student. One of the little girls made the comment that our classroom was its own "little" melting pot. The other little girl chimed in, "Then I must be a mini-melting pot because my dad is Hispanic and my mom is American!"
ReplyDeleteLater on, I was trying to reflect on what kind of traditional customs were present in America in comparison to the cultural traditions Greg Mortenson faced in Pakistan. It was really hard for me to think of anything because of all the diversity we have! I tend to imagine all the people in Korea as just "Koreans", not American-Koreans, Turkish-Koreans, Hispanic-Koreans, etc... I'm interested to see the level of diversity when we visit.
The only experiences with another culture that I have had is when I traveled with a group of students to Mexico and Jamaica. On both trips, we built churches and worked at orphanages (so despite the tropical location, it was NO "vacation" :-) I was amazed by the laid back lifestyle of both countries. Everything in Jamaica was "no problem" and everyone takes a "siesta" mid-afternoon in Mexico (which I would fully support as an addition to American culture, btw!). All of this makes me wonder...Yes, America is definitely the "land of opportunity", but at what cost?
I'm sure America's "I want it, and I want it now!" philosophy is due, in part, to the lack of widespread traditions and customs shared by a common culture. I feel that there is a correlation between the level of diversity and the prescence of common traditions.
I had a personal connection with Greg when reading the chapter when Greg was talking about how he couldn't leave the site and he he had to be sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing. Haji Ali said that Greg was driving everyone crazy. I feel like I have to finish things or I can't "take a break" until something is finished.
ReplyDeleteHaji Ali took all of Greg's things and locked them away and made him sit down for tea. Greg was able to reflect on how these people had waited so long and it would be alright to wait a little longer. side note--I never even thought about Haji Ali being illiterate.