"After graduating from college, I joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to Niger. Although my French was pretty good, I had to work hard on my Hausa. Because I love to run, I of course took along my running shoes and appropriate attire. Soon after arriving in the country, I hopped the fence and headed down a country road for a long run. I passed many folks - workers in fields, folks tending livestock and people carrying various things on their way to and from the village. Several times I heard people call out what sounded like a friendly greeting - "aikin banzo." So when I returned to my home-away-from-home, I mentioned to one of my native co-workers that several folks had greeted me with a salutatory "aikin banzo" that I had taken as a Hausa "hello." My friend smiled and held back a chuckle. He informed me that it was not a greeting but rather a commentary on my running - "aikin banzo" translates as 'worthless work'."
So, whenever I encounter chores that seem like worthless work, I invoke Ron's story about aikin banzo.
3 comments:
Doug - Great story about Ron. Thanks for keeping him in our thoughts. I miss him so. What a special soul.
You need to send that post to Jim Wallis.
Phil L - I will let you pass it along to Jimbo :-) For unknown reasons, I seemed to have been dropped from the weekly Sojourners e-letter; maybe they found out that I converse with folks like you, Bizzy Brain, et al.!!!
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