Point-by-Point by Tom Cat: Volume 5 (Three WONDERFUL points!)

So whilst I am jamming to the sounds of Mango Groove, I thought it would be best to write a Point-by-Point post because a) I have not done so in a while and b) there are many points I need to update ya’ll on regarding my three-month disappearance into the abyss of deep, dark and scary Joburg.

1. My future is finally sorted out. I got articles at a small firm about five minutes from where I stay. I worked there part time for about 10 weeks or so (seems like longer, actually), and besides the really short commute to work, I didn’t particularly enjoy it. The people were really nice and friendly, but I felt my mind was being wasted on the work I was doing there. I didn’t feel challenged at all, and I don’t think that was because of what work I was allocated, but it was because I don’t think commercial law and general litigation excites me terribly. I kept on contrasting this to the work that I did at the law clinic in the Refugee Unit, and I really enjoyed that because I felt I was doing something more meaningful. One of the cases we had was an appeal for an asylum seeker who had been denied refugee status – hearing his story and crafting his case for him was perhaps one of the most satisfying tasks I have ever performed, and I felt this way because the work that I was doing would to a large degree influence the direction he takes in life. And so I decided then that the work I need to go into has to make me feel like I’m having an impact on the greater scheme of things, and feeling this way is important to me because (at least for now) it gives me a far greater sense of identity.

So you can understand perhaps that I was feeling rather depressed about the prospects of doing my articles at this firm for two years. I was dreading work because of the work I was doing. Which is why I was overly ecstatic the day I got the email saying that I had been awarded the SAIIA-KAS Scholarship. This scholarship entails me working as a research intern at an international affairs think-tank at Wits University whilst simulataneously doing a Masters in Human Rights law. I will mainly be involved in research, but also organising events (I think), so it’ll be at work that’s exciting and not mundane. I cannot tell you how delighted I am, and how grateful I am to the Karma that be that I have got this opportunity. It makes me smile just thinking about it, and that’s what I like to do when thinking about my future.

2. I am going to Japan in just over 3 weeks time. YAY! I am going with Shakti to visit Sarah, and we are all very excited. We are going to Sapporo, Tokyo and this small town called Ueno in the Kansai region, which is very near it seems to Kyoto and Osaka. Going to be there until the 9th of January, so will be there for a month and a bit. I’m hoping I’ll be able to blog there, and I think I will given the propensity of the Japanese towards technology and the widespread provision of free Wifi internet access.

3. I recently returned from an AMAZING trip to Cape Town. I went down there for a Model UN conference as I was tutoring a bunch of kids from Kimberly in the Northern Cape province. It was amazing because I met some wonderful people and we had a wonderful time! I finally got to explore Long Street, and find myself really enjoying this one bar called Joburg. hehe. But also had such an amazing time because they took us to tour some fascinating places, including the Holocaust Centre and Robben Island. It was ALSO amazing because I met a lovely British boy there who had taught all over the world and knew about a thousand languages. And so he would read to me in Spanish and French and I would go gaga. I also found him rather yummy. I think the best afternoon was the Sunday afternoon we went for sundowners at Camps Bay. It was not only filled with excellent company, wicked cocktails, sinfully divine ice creams from ‘Sinful,’ but the afternoon ended with this amazing sunset over the ocean. Sigh… I could so easily move to Cape Town. SO easily. Indeed it all ended too quickly (most unfortunately) and I had to come back to 3 weeks of hell at university. But I shall never forget it, and the best part of it all was that it was all paid for and that I’m getting paid for tutoring the kiddlie winks. SCORE, i tell you.

Some photos for ya’ll…

1. I love this shot of all of us at Camps Bay because I think it captures the essence of the fun we had.

2. The Boy, me (the gargoyle sunglasses still need to be replaced) and one of the teachers from Kenya.

3. My little tuttlings from Kimberly. They did an admirable job of representing Brazil on three topics – i) Climate Change (Brazil’s cows emit a lot of methane – bet you didn’t know that!), ii) HIV/Aids and stigmatisation and iii) Child labour.

Out in Africa Film Festival: Take 2 (And Take 3)

I’ve seen two brilliant and thought-provoking documentaries this week at the OIA Gay Film Festival. They were Anyone and Everyone and A Jihad for Love.

Anyone and Everyone tells the stories of the coming-out experiences of a number of gay and lesbian Americans from different walks of life in America. I think it hit home particularly because I believe all GLBT persons have a very real and tangible coming out experience. It is something that, for most people very much defines your life, at least up until the period when you tell your friends and family. You have this deep sense of foreboding within you because you’re never sure how anyone will act and you do indeed fear the worst. Will my parents kick me out? Will my friends reject me? Will people hear about it and tell the rest of the world about it, and then they’ll have a big fat laugh about it?

These might seem like silly considerations, but they are extremely pertinent for most GLBT people. They were pertinent for me, and indeed I was very scared coming out, but actually, there was no need to be scared because, at the end of the day most people continue to accept you as you are, and I think actually start to see you as more of an open person now that you’re being entirely honest with them.

But one’s fears in this regard are not unwarranted, and that’s simply because society is still homophobic and remains ignorant about homosexuality. The film was effective in showing how people have this mental block about homosexuality (and how the church and culture does a very good job of perpetuating this block), and cannot see it as being simply an alternative form of love between two individuals.

This theme came through particularly well in A Jihad for Love, a film about homosexuals in Islam. I think this film was even more depressing than the first because persecution in Islam for being gay takes place often, and gay and lesbian Muslims are routinely ostracised from their communities. A South African gay Iman in the documentary gave an interesting interpretation of the story of Sodom and Gommorah in the Qu’ran. He said that Allah punished the men in this city for molesting the other men in the city, and for doing all the other bad stuff they did, but Allah was not in this regard condeming homosexuality per se. The acts of Sodom and Gommorah were essentially a form of rape and sexual abuse, and it was this that Allah disapproved of. He went on to make the point that homosexuality is an act of love between two individuals, and that since Islam was a religion of love, this should be venerated in society.

The film also took us to other parts of the world. Of particular interest to me was the story of two lesbians in Turkey, who practised Sufism, the more mystical arm of Islam. I got the impression that these two individuals were accepted far more than, say, Muslim men in Iran, because Sufism is more concerned with love between individuals, as well as inner and personal spirituality. I found myself thinking – If Sufism is more accepting of homosexuality, and sees it more as being a spiritual link between two loving individuals, then why can’t other religions see it this way?

The most heart-wrenching aspects I think of the film were how Iranian gay men were forced to seek asylum in Canada because of the fear of persecution back home, and how this really pained these men because they were shunned by their communities and torn apart from their family. Surely doing that is the greater sin?

Anyway, this is one of the images used by the Out in Africa Film Festival. I really love it, mainly because of the Joburg skyline in the background. The boys have Table Mountain as their background.