Christmas in Africa

I have a Madonna and child that was carved at the Serima Mission school. If you look at Mary, you say: She is a Karanga: she has the facial features of the Karanga clan of the Mashona.

Alas, I don't have a photo of the statue, which I gave to my brother for safe keeping.

There is an article about the Serima school here: some of the students went on to be professional artists.

and here is a picture from the Zimbabwe National Gallery by an unknown artist: titled: Come let us adore him. Note the three kings at the left side.

of course, the locals disliked the primitive art, and the educated , at least, preferred the more sophisticated stuff of the west: hopefully, as in music, they will combine both traditions as their culture evolves into today's world.

Even 40 years ago, many of our nurses came from urban middle class families who owned stores etc.  One of our sisters wrote her PhD thesis on how the family structure and personal interactions were changing with education: I found a copy at a university in the US after I returned, and found it interesting, because she described what I actually saw in the changing society.

This was even more true when I went back to urban Liberia, where few had ties with their villages.

In other words, 90 percent of what Americans (or South Americans or Asians) think about Africa is nonsense, although the CNN reports in their "on Africa" segments are fairly good.

I mean, even my friend in Rural Zimbabwe has had a cellphone for years, and when she was teaching had access to their high school's computer.



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too often the west sees Africa via their own eyes, but now there is an active Nollywood to show African stories. Yes, in English because it is the "lingua franca" for Nigeria.

lots of "Nollywood" films on youtube, by the way.


Hopefully, Zimbabwe will have their diaspora return and get their film industry going again.

cross posted to my regular blog.