An Ocean Entry

Our Global Studies professor experienced the beginnings of a detached retina during our stay in South Africa and was rushed into emergency surgery - twice. He cannot undergo any quick movements or jolting in recovery, which the ship would not be conducive to, especially as we traveled at 23+ knots last night (wow!) during a lighting storm (wow again!). We have other instructors in the meantime until his return in India. He was told that if this had happened in a less affluent city, it would have caused unquestionable blindness.
We had a woman named Judy Mayotte lecture today instead. Judy boarded the ship in South Africa as an inter-port lecturer. She told us about the history of Sudan and the conflict there. She is a humanitarian and a theologian who has taught around the US, and volunteered much of her time in Africa. She lost a leg in Sudan from a misconducted U.S. aid/supply drop. Needless to say.. she's a pretty incredible woman.
She showed us pictures of Arab men in clean white robes as they walked through dusty desert land. She showed an image of a girl in front of her flimsy, fabric shack-of-a-home with a pitcher of precious clean water. The girl was using it to bathe herself carefully, despite the fact that she would be laying in the dirt shortly after. Her point in these photos was to exemplify the dignity and nobility of the human race - even in our lowest moments, we still have our pride. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said in a lecture that it's amazing for him to listen to people complain about what they think are life problems. The people of the townships in South Africa, though they are neglected and deprived, don't walk around feeling sorry for themselves. They are in high spirits, and of course ask for help when they need it, but by no means hang their heads in self-pity and should be an inspiration to all of us everyday.
Judy shared two quotes that I found profoundly moving. The first is in our textbook somewhere and I don't know who said it, but he said "Above all nations stands humanity."
The other is from Maya Angelou, who said, "History, despite it's wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, and if faced with courage, need not be lived again."
I also just watched Blood Diamond in this process of putting off studying for my Asian Art midterm tomorrow, and am having a moment of deep respect for sub-Saharan and west Africa, so I thought I'd share. I guess that's all for now.