The rain has stopped, but I am now leaking. I bathed only an hour or so back, and I cannot find out who has turned on the tap on top of my head. Writing about heads is important, as many turned my way as I walked to the shops to buy my hosts and others a drink. "Who is that crazy American" they must have been thinking as I ambled past with an umbrella. A few Africans also had an umbrella, but I was the only one wearing sunglasses. I got rid of the sunglasses, the rain stopped and I put away the umbrella. It didn't help much, the child in the Newspaper Stand screamed as I walked past. No, he wasn't hungry, it was probably the first European that he had ever seen. Now I know how Captain James Cook felt. Wrong area for sure, but the principle is the same. Elias (The Civilizing Process, the Germans) and Niall Ferguson (War of the World [20Th Century history]) tell us about the insignificant differences between mankind. We are all one species but too often than not we regress into tribal behaviour and deem one group civilised and others not. Simultaneously the second group deem themselves to be civilised and cannot comprehend the barbaric behaviour used against them. In many ways, that's real irony. Sometimes two armies coming together and both shouting to God but in different languages, supported by different cultures and with different values and behaviours. The reality is; neither group is wrong, neither group is un-civilised, we are all simply different. Mankind is one species, all of the current inhabitants descend from Africa. Climate, the need for hunter/gatherers, facial and body preferences, and many other factors may have shaped us, but we are all the same. The child carried on screaming, his sister waved and his mother laughed. There was no language barrier; as the smiles, the waves and the signs said it all. I wish they had spoken English, as I would have asked them how to turn off this tap.
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