v4#9

Translating from Swahili to Haitian Creole is a strange thing to say the least. It would help of course if I was a better speaker in either language, but some reps from the organization I work for from Haiti are attending this training course on Jatropha curcas in Tanzania, and I happen to be the person available to provide what little help I can. I really wish I was better at it because I feel like there's something very significant about two people coming from Haiti, an island country populated by people of African origin, and still in many ways living as their ancestors did. So somehow I feel like when I get the occasional chance to hear something in a true African language and turn and express this in a Caribbean language which evolved through some remarkable history, its like maybe in some microscopic way I make a contribution to undoing all the bad karma accumulated by my European ancestors in creating and promoting a way of life which was based on slavery for many centuries.

Maybe that just sounds like crazy talk to you, but I swear I can almost hear the voices of many who have gone before, African, Caribbean, and European very close behind, or perhaps, above.

Again I am photoless this month which I will rectify as soon as I get home.

Simple lamp made from coffee can burning on jatropha oil. Oil is pressed from the seed of the jatropha plant and burned directly. One of the many uses of jatropha we learned about during the course.