Ferlov Mancoba
1995-01-02
Afsender
Alex Laird
Modtager
Ernest Mancoba
Dokumentindhold
Alex Laird skriver til Ernest, mens han er i Sydafrika for sin retrospektiv på Johannesburg Art Gallery. Hun fortæller ham, at hvis Bridget Thompson laver en film, vil hun ikke kunne, på grund af finansiering. Hun fortæller ham om en, der minder hende om Ernest, en anden, der lever i afrikansk og vestlig kultur, som ser sin rolle som at bygge bro over kulturelle divisioner, og vedlægger information om Malidoma Patrice Some og hans organisation Mosaic (nogle af hvilke er uploadet).
Maskinoversat tekst
Transskription
(Transcription: W.Sze)
[sender: Alexandra Laird]
[to: Ernest]
[date: 2 Jan 1995]
Dear Ernest,
I had been meaning to write to wish you and Wonga a very happy Christmas, but here is my love and warmest wishes for a very happy New Year instead. I hope that you are enjoying your homecoming, and would be fascinated to hear just how you have felt about it all. The experience of meeting old friends must have been heart-warming, and to be surrounded finally by fellow ‘strugglers’ who share your vision. But seeing so much change must have made an impression on you….
I am glad to hear that a film was finally made about you, especially that it should be made by a South African – Bridget Thompson sounds like a good spirit. Unfortunately it means for Ginny and I, however, that SABC no longer needs our film, which, in turn, means that a British broadcaster is unlikely to fund the whole project on its own. If this is the case, then Bridget may be able to sell her film here to a broadcaster to show during Africa ’95. I look forward to seeing it very much, and hope that you were pleased by it…?
I met a therapist recently who counsels Asians and Afro-Caribbeans here in London, and is part of a US-based group called Mosaic which addresses issues like racial violence with a cross-cultural wisdom. Being inspired, as you know, by your advocation and umuntu, I was fascinated to hear about this group and the way the therapist, Ismail Asmall, works with his clients, drawing on both Shakespeare and the African spiritual tradition for imaginative ways into the psyche. I enclose some information about Mosaic which may interest you. One of the moving forces behind it is Malidoma Patrice Some from Burkina Faso, who also straddles both African and western cultures. He was ‘stolen’ by the Jesuits at the age of 5 and only returned to his village as a teenager, whereupon his family and the Dagara tribe rejected him as a ‘westerner’. He seemed to belong nowhere, and it was only through his decision to undergo initiation that he finally gained acceptance in his own tribe. Malidoma’s role was to become that of ‘he who brings African wisdom to the west’. He has written books on Ritual and community, which echoes much of your experience, Ernest.
And talking of Burkina Faso, I am very excited, because I’m going to West Africa in late February for a month for the film festival in Ougadougou. It’s a great opportunity to spend time in Africa at a moment of celebration of its culture, not just of film but, I hope, of music too. I’m planning to go with a couple of friends to Ghana, where a friend will meet us and we’ll drive together to Ougadougou. I hope to visit Mali, too, where a friend of mine has begun a truly grass-roots ‘green’ revolution in his village in the Sahel, by planting vegetables and trees, with the help of the schoolchildren and the villagers, to help replace the vegetation lost through the drought and overgrazing. All his siblings deserted the village after education for city life, but Madou loved growing plants, and had the vision to see how his village could be re-invigorated through new, green growth – without imposing the co-operative system, which took any profit away from the growers themselves.
My Christmas was spent in Northern Ireland with 15 of us altogether! – children and adults. My father, step-mother and I flew out from London, and after four days I set off to fulfil my many years’ ambition to visit the south of Ireland. The south – Eire – is a totally different way of life – thoroughly Celtic, where music, talking and drinking predominate, and life is taken much less seriously than in Anglo-Saxon England! Education standards are higher for a larger proportion of the population, though unemployment is also much higher. But the culture of Joyce and Yeats is palpably alive – and that sense of life abounds in the colourfully painted houses, the chatting on the streets, in the pubs, in the buses. I took a bus – a bone-shaker – from Galway city out to the wild and beautiful coast of Connemara – two and a half hours of wind and rain hurling itself at the bus as we twisted and turned on a tiny road along the Atlantic, hardly a tree to be seen on the rocky hills inland. The bus stopped in the middle of nowhere for old men on their way for the pub in town an hour’s drive away, for the women to buy food, and the odd drunk would stagger into a seat. The friendliness and the humour, the sense of fun that the Irish have, and their love of language, is what so sets them apart from the British. Their expression for fun, for good conversation is wonderful – it’s called ‘crack’ – ‘did you have good crack?’ they ask. You’d enjoy the Irish, Ernest, I’m sure, and their music which is full of heart and a sense of joy in life.
When are you coming back to Paris, I wonder? If you are coming back via Heathrow, I would very much like to see you both between planes. Perhaps I could entice you and Wonga here for a meal? Do let me know – it would be great to see you after all your adventures.
Forgive skew-ing page of type – my printer doesn’t take this size of page!
All best wishes and love to you & Wonga – [signed: Alex xx]
[post script:] P.S. Ernest, I’d be glad if you could show the enclosed information to Elza – thanks.
Dear Ernest,
I had been meaning to write to wish you and Wonga a very happy Christmas, but here is my love and warmest wishes for a very happy New Year instead. I hope that you are enjoying your homecoming, and would be fascinated to hear just how you have felt about it all. The experience of meeting old friends must have been heart-warming, and to be surrounded finally by fellow ‘strugglers’ who share your vision. But seeing so much change must have made an impression on you….
I am glad to hear that a film was finally made about you, especially that it should be made by a South African – Bridget Thompson sounds like a good spirit. Unfortunately it means for Ginny and I, however, that SABC no longer needs our film, which, in turn, means that a British broadcaster is unlikely to fund the whole project on its own. If this is the case, then Bridget may be able to sell her film here to a broadcaster to show during Africa ’95. I look forward to seeing it very much, and hope that you were pleased by it…?
I met a therapist recently who counsels Asians and Afro-Caribbeans here in London, and is part of a US-based group called Mosaic which addresses issues like racial violence with a cross-cultural wisdom. Being inspired, as you know, by your advocation and umuntu, I was fascinated to hear about this group and the way the therapist, Ismail Asmall, works with his clients, drawing on both Shakespeare and the African spiritual tradition for imaginative ways into the psyche. I enclose some information about Mosaic which may interest you. One of the moving forces behind it is Malidoma Patrice Some from Burkina Faso, who also straddles both African and western cultures. He was ‘stolen’ by the Jesuits at the age of 5 and only returned to his village as a teenager, whereupon his family and the Dagara tribe rejected him as a ‘westerner’. He seemed to belong nowhere, and it was only through his decision to undergo initiation that he finally gained acceptance in his own tribe. Malidoma’s role was to become that of ‘he who brings African wisdom to the west’. He has written books on Ritual and community, which echoes much of your experience, Ernest.
And talking of Burkina Faso, I am very excited, because I’m going to West Africa in late February for a month for the film festival in Ougadougou. It’s a great opportunity to spend time in Africa at a moment of celebration of its culture, not just of film but, I hope, of music too. I’m planning to go with a couple of friends to Ghana, where a friend will meet us and we’ll drive together to Ougadougou. I hope to visit Mali, too, where a friend of mine has begun a truly grass-roots ‘green’ revolution in his village in the Sahel, by planting vegetables and trees, with the help of the schoolchildren and the villagers, to help replace the vegetation lost through the drought and overgrazing. All his siblings deserted the village after education for city life, but Madou loved growing plants, and had the vision to see how his village could be re-invigorated through new, green growth – without imposing the co-operative system, which took any profit away from the growers themselves.
My Christmas was spent in Northern Ireland with 15 of us altogether! – children and adults. My father, step-mother and I flew out from London, and after four days I set off to fulfil my many years’ ambition to visit the south of Ireland. The south – Eire – is a totally different way of life – thoroughly Celtic, where music, talking and drinking predominate, and life is taken much less seriously than in Anglo-Saxon England! Education standards are higher for a larger proportion of the population, though unemployment is also much higher. But the culture of Joyce and Yeats is palpably alive – and that sense of life abounds in the colourfully painted houses, the chatting on the streets, in the pubs, in the buses. I took a bus – a bone-shaker – from Galway city out to the wild and beautiful coast of Connemara – two and a half hours of wind and rain hurling itself at the bus as we twisted and turned on a tiny road along the Atlantic, hardly a tree to be seen on the rocky hills inland. The bus stopped in the middle of nowhere for old men on their way for the pub in town an hour’s drive away, for the women to buy food, and the odd drunk would stagger into a seat. The friendliness and the humour, the sense of fun that the Irish have, and their love of language, is what so sets them apart from the British. Their expression for fun, for good conversation is wonderful – it’s called ‘crack’ – ‘did you have good crack?’ they ask. You’d enjoy the Irish, Ernest, I’m sure, and their music which is full of heart and a sense of joy in life.
When are you coming back to Paris, I wonder? If you are coming back via Heathrow, I would very much like to see you both between planes. Perhaps I could entice you and Wonga here for a meal? Do let me know – it would be great to see you after all your adventures.
Forgive skew-ing page of type – my printer doesn’t take this size of page!
All best wishes and love to you & Wonga – [signed: Alex xx]
[post script:] P.S. Ernest, I’d be glad if you could show the enclosed information to Elza – thanks.
