From another place and time
People I met on the way to finding home
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People I met on the way to finding home (Watch the video)
Zurich, Switerland
He was working in the electronic store at the Zurich, Switzerland airport. My headphones were deteriorating and of course, I had forgotten my international plug thing. At 20 years old Takura, from Zimbabwe was working during the summer. He said it looked good to get the work experience in before the semester started.
I also agreed that he could have some money in his pocket before he got to classes. He had an earnest smile that I hoped would take him fast and far while he studied business. He was far from home and would be lonely. We both knew it and I hope I comforted him with kind words by telling him that he was making the right decision. Doubt has a funny way of making us believe that we aren’t we say we are. Something told me that longing for home feeling would be replaced with experiences that would fill his heart when calls from home become fewer and far between.
Oakland, Ca
I had just returned to Oakland. After a tumultuous journey of self discovery, I understood that there was more to life than the living we do every day.
I was grateful for this conversation, it was the first one that I believed was genuine and wasn't attempting to sell me an idea, a story, a dream, a wish or a fairytale.
He told me he believed we weren't being taught who God was in schools and that we were not taught about “our people”. He laughed out loud when I told him that we had to stop allowing people to believe that everyone’s ancestors were kings and queens. Some of our ancestors were farmers. Some of our ancestors were carpenters. When I said that some ancestors were cowards, scammers and thieves he nodded in pensive agreement.
We talked about education of people and how learned history has hindered cultures and created a division both inside the US. But this showed more profoundly when Black Americans left the country.