Comments on: Back to Africa…Yes! http://www.riehlife.com/2008/07/31/back-to-africayes/ Creating connections through the arts and across cultures Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:30:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Erwin A. Thompson http://www.riehlife.com/2008/07/31/back-to-africayes/comment-page-1/#comment-3291 Erwin A. Thompson Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:18:17 +0000 http://www.riehlife.com/2008/07/31/back-to-africayes/#comment-3291 Give my love to Africa, Janet. I'm glad we went on our three trips there, they were very interesting. I learned a lot. They showed me a lot. Those trips showed me the reason behind your attachment to the place. But, I'm glad you came home. It was an important season in your life, but I don't think it would have worked out over a lifetime. Pop Give my love to Africa, Janet. I'm glad we went on our three trips there, they were very interesting. I learned a lot. They showed me a lot. Those trips showed me the reason behind your attachment to the place. But, I'm glad you came home. It was an important season in your life, but I don't think it would have worked out over a lifetime.

Pop

]]> By: Janet Riehl http://www.riehlife.com/2008/07/31/back-to-africayes/comment-page-1/#comment-3287 Janet Riehl Sun, 03 Aug 2008 12:26:55 +0000 http://www.riehlife.com/2008/07/31/back-to-africayes/#comment-3287 Dear Alan, Thank you for enlarging my post so full-heartedly. This makes it nearly a blog-duet to have your story placed against mine. You said once you thought I was brave....dunno why....but I always thought you were the bravest for standing by the courage of your heart convictions and making it work...by dint of passion, Big Brains, hard work, and your calm so deep that by rights you should either have an ulcer or become a meditation instructor. I kept trying to convince My Man that we could make a go of it, but fate had other plans. For you to have married the woman you loved, fathered beautiful-accomplished children with her, traveled the world with her serving on the fronteirs of political action...oh my god, Alan...what a life of ex-patriate exile you lived! And, I'm so glad that now you are both in Iowa City....and I'm so glad I'll see you in Botswana soon...and I'm so glad that even though you "don’t live in Ghana anymore, but Ghana lives with [you]". Janet Dear Alan,

Thank you for enlarging my post so full-heartedly. This makes it nearly a blog-duet to have your story placed against mine.

You said once you thought I was brave....dunno why....but I always thought you were the bravest for standing by the courage of your heart convictions and making it work...by dint of passion, Big Brains, hard work, and your calm so deep that by rights you should either have an ulcer or become a meditation instructor.

I kept trying to convince My Man that we could make a go of it, but fate had other plans.

For you to have married the woman you loved, fathered beautiful-accomplished children with her, traveled the world with her serving on the fronteirs of political action...oh my god, Alan...what a life of ex-patriate exile you lived!

And, I'm so glad that now you are both in Iowa City....and I'm so glad I'll see you in Botswana soon...and I'm so glad that even though you "don’t live in Ghana anymore, but Ghana lives with [you]".

Janet

]]> By: Alan http://www.riehlife.com/2008/07/31/back-to-africayes/comment-page-1/#comment-3285 Alan Sun, 03 Aug 2008 07:14:04 +0000 http://www.riehlife.com/2008/07/31/back-to-africayes/#comment-3285 I really like this entry. Janet’s musings remind of the great blessing that the choice of “exile” provided to my life. I think the difference, in my life, was that my parents could not understand what it was that so attracted me about Ghana and the woman I had fallen in love with there. When I returned from Ghana after my first two years in the Peace Corps, my family’s demands for me to leave it behind made me more stubborn. And the times (1970-71), mired in the crises of Vietnam and race , and at the height of the power of Nixon-Agnew-Mitchell, were enough to drive me towards the choice of leaving America behind. Sometime in July, 1971, I made up my mind that I had no choice but to “sabotage the future” that my family had dreamed of for me, and that for the survival of “me” I would take a chance on Africa and the woman I thought I could love there. I bought a one-way ticket and finagled a tourist visa in October, 1971, and made the journey to that “strong heart home” that Janet describes. 37 years later and counting, still with that woman I thought I could love there, I don’t live in Ghana anymore, but Ghana lives with me… I really like this entry. Janet’s musings remind of the great blessing that the choice of “exile” provided to my life. I think the difference, in my life, was that my parents could not understand what it was that so attracted me about Ghana and the woman I had fallen in love with there. When I returned from Ghana after my first two years in the Peace Corps, my family’s demands for me to leave it behind made me more stubborn. And the times (1970-71), mired in the crises of Vietnam and race , and at the height of the power of Nixon-Agnew-Mitchell, were enough to drive me towards the choice of leaving America behind. Sometime in July, 1971, I made up my mind that I had no choice but to “sabotage the future” that my family had dreamed of for me, and that for the survival of “me” I would take a chance on Africa and the woman I thought I could love there. I bought a one-way ticket and finagled a tourist visa in October, 1971, and made the journey to that “strong heart home” that Janet describes. 37 years later and counting, still with that woman I thought I could love there, I don’t live in Ghana anymore, but Ghana lives with me…

]]> By: Alan http://www.riehlife.com/2008/07/31/back-to-africayes/comment-page-1/#comment-3280 Alan Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:22:14 +0000 http://www.riehlife.com/2008/07/31/back-to-africayes/#comment-3280 So much honesty and truth in what you say here, Janet. And you will find so much changed... on the surface. But underneath, perhaps not so different after all. Prepare to be disappointed, and then perhaps you won't be. So much honesty and truth in what you say here, Janet. And you will find so much changed... on the surface. But underneath, perhaps not so different after all. Prepare to be disappointed, and then perhaps you won't be.

]]> By: Susan J. Tweit http://www.riehlife.com/2008/07/31/back-to-africayes/comment-page-1/#comment-3274 Susan J. Tweit Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:04:22 +0000 http://www.riehlife.com/2008/07/31/back-to-africayes/#comment-3274 You have the place, you have the connection, you have the story and you have the dramatic tension: you left Africa because your parents wanted you to come home. Being the loving, generous person you are, you did. And you have been "homeless" ever since. You may even have the title: Loving Africa. You've got the story, girlfriend, and now you need to go back and immerse yourself so that when you come home you can write! Susan http://communityoftheland.blogspot.com You have the place, you have the connection, you have the story and you have the dramatic tension: you left Africa because your parents wanted you to come home. Being the loving, generous person you are, you did. And you have been "homeless" ever since. You may even have the title: Loving Africa. You've got the story, girlfriend, and now you need to go back and immerse yourself so that when you come home you can write!

Susan
http://communityoftheland.blogspot.com

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