Today I met someone who impressed me on many levels. He is from Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, a friend of the family. I met him in Melbourne. This is the first time he has been out of his country; a man in his late 30something.
For someone who has only studied until Grade 10 and has never ventured out of the country until now, he has as much knowledge about his career and the world as any educated jet setter. He works in accounting and is quite senior in the company. He knew a lot about what is happening in his country, its neighbours, its investors and more.
We talked about South Africa, Mandela, mining, South African economy and AIDS. Now this is the part that blew me away - he asked me about the Zulus and nodded his head in recognition when I mentioned King Shaka and the wars going on during apartheid.
There have been times where I have had to point out that South Africa is a COUNTRY in the CONTINENT of Africa. There are occasions when I explained that Black people in South Africa have many cultures within the race, and these cultures are different from the other Black people in Africa. And no, although its fun at times, we do not have lions in our backyard and elephants on our streets.
So when I met someone who knows so much about the world without actually having been to all the places to experience other cultures, he deserves a lot of respect. Especially when he is familiar with certain aspects of country's history that a lot of foreigners dont even know about.
This is my salute to the intelligent people out there. Not the braniacs who split the atom and reverse gravity. But to the worldy people who make the effort to know what is beyond their own space.
