Getting Adjusted

I am so tired. In an interview we did with Brittany she said, “now I know why babies sleep so much, when everything is new its exhausting.” This pretty much nails it. EVERYTHING is new: the rickshaws, the foods, the people, the monkeys, everything. The distance away from home is very apparent. It actually feels how far away it is. 

Yesterday, when we were heading out into the field for the first time, we got lost following the other rickshaw. We ended up being dropped off in the middle of nowhere and decided to make the most of it. We started walking with no direction.

At first it was very nerve racking; eyes watching us like we were about to do a magic trick or put on a show. Kids were pointing us out to their friends. Generally, people were enamored. We reached the end of the block and needed to take breather. I’ve never felt so uncomfortable in my entire life—but I was thriving on it. There were a few men playing cards near us, and as we passed, the warmest welcome came over them. They were waving and smiling. We took out our camera and approached them. They shook our hands and touched our feet (a sign of respect), one of the men while holding my hands said to me, “no tension”, as if he wanted me to be assured he wasn’t threatening, and none of them were. I needed that.

I’ve started to realize that people here are just as intrigued by us as we are by them. Many of them have never even seen a white person before. On that same walk, a few kids came up to say hello. “Happy New Year,” each of them would say, then reach their hand out for us to shake. Then more approached. Then even more. It was a mob. The children’s older siblings were all standing nearby and gestured for us to join them. We walked over, and they told us they wanted a picture. I posted this photo below.

The people are so warm and welcoming. A young boy even walked us out of the slum all the way to our hotel just so we wouldn’t get lost. Brennan gave him a carabineer as a gift for doing that. He asked if we were South African, the country of the only white person he’d ever seen before us.

The filming has been great. We’ve shot some beautiful, and heartbreaking things. One of the kids that Brittany screened today was with her Grandmother because his mother was murdered a month ago. Heartbreaking. It’s hard to see so many people living in poverty, yet amazing to see them do it with a smile. I want to be sure that we capture the hope that these people have, because although they are living in a tough situation, they really seem to make the most of it.

Andrew