White African

She is a hairdresser. Every morning she get up very early to go to work. It can easily take several hours from Omoja to Moi Avenue in town The salon is on top of Kenya Cinema – in busiest Nairobi. Some evenings she is not home before ten because she is waiting for the worst jam to cool down. Home in Omoja there are two boys. The youngest call her Mom, but they are not hers. They belong to her brother. He is not around. He went to Qatar for a job and the mother ran away with another man. Qatar is such a ugly and terrifying word. As if something is eating you from the inside. Catarrh is also a superficial inflammation on the skin. All the way back in 13th hundred Europe The Cathars was religious outcasts from The Catholic Church, expelled because they believed in reincarnation. She expects him to send her money, but she has not heard from him since he left. --- Four years later her brother returns, not in a coffin like other men have done, but very sick, and she has to pa...

I have been asked to do a joint performance together with an Ugandan dance group. They have given me a topic. This text and those who follow are different attempts to tackle the challenge. The performance wil be Thursday 23rd of March in Fusion Autospa in Munyonyo.  I am sitting in a bar in Copenhagen. with my colleagues from Uganda. We are here for a conference. There is a group of guys next to us. They smile. We exchange phrases. We are comfortable in each others company, becasuse we resemble in color. One of them moves closer to me and ask me almost whispering as if he is telling me a secret: "How can I help you?" Help me? I am confused. He wants to help me! Do I look like I need help? I am almost about to ask him for a drink to respoind to his offer and be polite, but he does not look like someone buying driinks to a strangers. "Yes, how can I help you to stay here?" But I am not going to staying here. I am going back to Uganda tomorrow. He stares at me. ...

I have been asked to do a joint performance together with an Ugandan dance group. They have given me a topic. This text and those who follow are different attempts to tackle the challenge. The performance wil be Thursday 23rd of March in Fusion Autospa in Munyonyo.  I am on my way . The sun will shine. My shoulders are still warm. They say the nights will be cold, but I have my blanket to cover me when I am sleeping. I am tired and my dream is still waiting thousand of kilimoters, a distance I cannot comprehend. I feel exhaustion from travelling. I want to sleep, but I need to move on...

I have been asked to do a joint performance together with an Ugandan dance group. They have given me a topic. This text and those who follow are different attempts to tackle the challenge. The performance wil be Thursday 23rd of March in Fusion Autospa in Munyonyo.  I want to go away. Far away. Away. My dream is to be happy. I connot be happy where I am right now. There is nothing here for me. It does not matter if I am poor or broke, the conclusion remain, I want to go away.

Danish Radio (Danmark Radio) announces that they upgrade news reporting from around the world. One of their head initiatives will be to have an Africa-corrpondent, who will be based in Copenhagen, and it not an until now unknown African city - it is surprisingly, astonishingly and outrageously Copenhagen Dennark. Bravo - thank you very much for this precious christmas gift. Danmark Radio får Afrika-korespondent . Det lyder flot, men han, Søren Bendixen får base i København - dog vil han være på hyppige rejser. Det vil sige ingen ændring af status quo.. Så hvori består nyheden? Der er allerede fra tid til anden nogle der rejser til det afrikanske kontinent for at skrive ofte med en meget dansk vinkel. Sådan vil det altså også være fremover. På samme måde er påstanden om opgradering af nyheder fra Sydamerika også tom. Der har, får vi at vide, allerede været en stationeret i Brasilien i de sidste tre år, som har leveret nyheder til DR. Kristian Almblad får blot en ny titel og bliver S...

Sometims a memory pops up in my mind. Here is one from 2005. A had just returned from two  years in Uganda. After I had told four different stories from my life in Kampala, there was a woman that responded with: "you are making it very hard for yourself". I was especially a comment to a storry about my friend Richard who died in December 2004. I 2005 holdt jeg en foredrag på Fyn. Få måneder tidligere var jeg kommet tilbage til Danmark efter to år i Kampala.  Mit foredrag bestod af fire fortællinger. Den ene handlede om min ven Richard som døde i december 2004 - for nu 12 år siden. Hans officielle dødsårsag var AIDS, men min konklusion i fortællingen om ham var, at jeg slog ham ihjel, fordi jeg tog håbet fra ham, eller at jeg havde muligheden for at redde hans liv (som den eneste) og at jeg fejlede. Efter mit foredrag og efterfølgende spørgsmål fra publikum, sagde arrangører af aftenen til mig: "Du gør det meget svært for dig selv". Hvad hun mente var vist nok...

Africa is very ofter understood through colonial structures, whereas Europe understand itself by European terms. Maybe we ought to change these asyncronous messurements? Hvis vi accepterer at afrikanske lande forstås ud fra de europæiske kolonimagters indflydelse, så burde vi også forstå europæiske lande efter de samme linjer. Vi må vurderer Europa efter, hvordan Afrika spiller en rolle hos os - og i Danmark fornægter vi det afrikanske.