*I have a camera. I like taking pictures. Here are some of photographs from my recent life stuff.
Be kind to yourself.
Onward.
Kirby Kaptures: Burning Man/Life Afterwards #SuperLatePost
Tag: burning man
Kirby Kaptures: Catharsis on the Mall
*I have a camera. I like taking pictures. Here are some of photographs from my recent life stuff.
Be kind to yourself.
Onward.
Monday in a Picture – What is AfrikaBurn?
Just over a month ago, I was fortunate to return to Karoo National Park the Stonehenge Private Reserve in the Northern Cape of South Africa. The occasion? AfrikaBurn. AfrikaBurn is a regional event of the Burning Man network. It’s the largest of the regional events and the first on the continent of Africa.
When I first received my invitation to serve in eSwatini, I was overjoyed because attending AfrikaBurn went from “possible” to “highly probable”. On occasion, AfrikaBurn or Burning Man would come up in conversations with fellow PCVs. One question kept surfacing. What is AfrikaBurn? Before April 2017, I could only give the textbook answer: “AfrikaBurn is a regional event of the Burning Man network” . Some people would delve further. What is Burning Man? My response was almost always the same. “What I’m about to say won’t make sense, but Burning Man is everything.” Most people agreed. My comments made no sense.
When the theme for the twelfth AfrikaBurn was released, I was indifferent. The theme was “Working Title”. While reading about how this theme was chosen, I got more excited. Working Title is a name given to something still being created. Because that thing is still being created, it can be anything. There can also be collaborations with co-creators. “Working Title” made perfect sense! AfrikaBurn, Burning Man, and other similar events are works in progress. We get to collaborate to make it what we want.
I had an idea. I designed stickers to look like movie slates. On the sticker, the open ended sentence started, “AfrikaBurn is”. Participants were asked to complete the sentence. Afterwards, I asked to snap a photo of the sticker.
So, what is AfrikaBurn?
AfrikaBurn is fuzzy.
AfrikaBurn is freedom.
AfrikaBurn is freeing.
AfrikaBurn is the best experience of your life.
AfrikaBurn is Radio Free Tankwa.
AfrikaBurn is 37 24 16 V M 27 Clap 37.
AfrikaBurn is stepping into your true self.
AfrikaBurn is unicorn exposure.
These were some of responses. AfrikaBurn, like life, is different for everyone. The idea that we get to co-create the experience is magical. Ask any of the 7 billion human inhabitants of Earth what life is. You’re bound to get different answers. The answers may even change with time. None of them are wrong. AfrikaBurn is similar. Everyone has their own unique experience. Everyone is the director, screenwriter, and leading actor. It’s a beautiful thing. So, what is AfrikaBurn? You decide.
Be kind to yourself.
Onward.
Reflections on AfrikaBurn, Peace Corps service, and life
Recently, I’ve had time to reflect. We had our COS conference last week. Three weeks ago, I was galavanting in the Karoo desert during the experience that is AfrikaBurn. Last month marked eight years since my mother died after a long illness.
As I’ve been reflecting, some things became clearer to me. These are five recurring themes that I’ve learned from burns, service, and life.
Embrace impermanence
There’s a saying that there is no time like the present. Strike while the iron is hot. While it’s true that no moment lasts forever, it’s also true that life and all the things in it (including AfrikaBurn and Peace Corps) are mere moments. Admitting to ourselves that nothing is permanent (including us) allows us to fully engage in the now. Now is all we have. Why not love now? Forgive now. Embrace now. AfrikaBurn is seven days in a desert. Peace Corps is more than two years in an foreign community. While those moments won’t last, the memories do.
For the first time since I’ve started going to burns, I was ready to depart from the burn last month. AfrikaBurn was still magical. And it still left me high on life and the awesomeness of humanity. But while the high might be long lasting, it isn’t permanent. The need for a constant, permanent high is addiction.
Don’t try to recreate experiences
I remember discussing my first year at Burning Man with a friend of mine. He was excited as I recounted fond memories. I remember him expressing his desire to recreate my Burning Man experience for himself. When I was doing research on Peace Corps before I joined, I saw many volunteers doing amazing work. I arrived in Swaziland, and thought of replicating the work being done by the previous group. It makes sense. They are successful. I want to be successful. I need to do what they’re doing. I believe that the experience we have is heavily influenced by many factors including where we are in life at that time. The factors that made my first year at Burning Man so amazing might not be present in your life at this time. And that’s okay. I believe inspiration and aspirations are powerful, but they don’t have to dictate our path and experience. You are the creator of your own experience. Which leads me to…
It’s all made up
Everything that we see, hear, do and experience is all made up. JFK made up the Peace Corps. Larry Harvey made up Burning Man. Al Gore made up the internet. When wild imaginations are left in childhood, we try to create a better today instead innovating an exciting tomorrow. Life, like AfrikaBurn and Peace Corps, encourages experimentation and innovation. There’s even a camp at Burning Man called, “It’s All Made Up”. Shouts to the IAMU crew. Again, it’s up to us to create and co-create this thing called life.
Sit face to face with people
We live in a world with many things competing for our attention. Partially because of that, sensationalism abounds. We end up with strong opinions of people we’ve never met and know very little about. Real life people become the nameless, faceless “them” or “they”. This changes when we sit with someone, formerly known as strange(r), and experience their humaness through interactions. Suddenly, Burners aren’t a bunch of naked hippies doing drugs in a desert and Swazis (and by extension, Africans) aren’t a bunch of unintelligent, poor people living in mud huts. When we meet face to face, there is often some common ground. We get to deconstruct the single story bestowed on those who want to share their own stories. Even without common language, interests, and/or ideologies, we’re all humans sharing this planet.
Community Interaction
One of the principles of Burning Man culture is “participation”. To me, a large part of that participation is done through interacting with the space and the people in it. Through interaction, we co-create the life experience. In Peace Corps, I’ve found that magic happens when I am a participant in my community. Interacting with the community promotes growth and gets things done. Interaction also promotes relationships and seeing people as more than simple mediums if transaction.
Be kind to yourself.
Onward.
Monday in a Picture – Amazingness in Action
Sometimes, amazing things happen. This past weekend saw Swaziland host one of its most famous events, Bush Fire. Bush Fire is an annual music festival that encourages attendees to bring their fire. The suggested interpretation of “bring your fire” is a call to action and to make a difference in your area(s) of passion. The festival benefits women in rural communities and orphaned youth. But, that isn’t the amazing part.
A month ago, I met a wonderful young lady from Sweden at AfrikaBurn. We had good times and great conversations. She contacted me before the Bush Fire festival to let me know that she would be here for the festivities. We talked about meeting up during her time in Swaziland. Anyone who knows me knows me knows that I’m always game to talk to burners, and about Burning Man and related events.
On Saturday morning, the young lady from Sweden messaged me to say that she wouldn’t be able to make it to the festival and didn’t want her ticket to go to waste. She asked if I knew of any Swazis who wanted to attend the festival, but didn’t have the means to go. I messaged a PCV who lives close to the festival grounds to ask if she had a host sibling who might want to attend. The PCV responded that she had a host sisi (pronounced see-see), or sister, who would love to come. She really wanted to see the Swaziland sensation, Sands, who would be performing. The plan was set. A teenage girl from rural Swaziland would be able to experience her country in a new way. Tickets to the festival are cost prohibitive to many Swazis.
On Sunday morning, I was able to check in with the PCV and meet her host sisi, who was all smiles. She was extremely grateful for the experience.
From Swaziland to Sweden, thank you. Thank you for bringing your fire even when you can’t come.
Be kind to yourself.
Onward.
Swearing In: a special picture post
On Thursday, my group (G14) along with six Peace Corps Response volunteers took an official oath of service in front of several other currently serving volunteers, dignitaries, community members. Here are some pictures from the event.
Our country director pinned each of us. It’s a cool pin that has Peace Corps’ logo with the flags the US and Swaziland. Photo credit: Aaron W.
Black excellence in action. Period.
Group 14 of Peace Corps Swaziland and the Global Health Service Partnership (PC Response), along with the country director, deputy chief of missions, Ministers of education and economic development.
My teacher is the best in the business. Timmya challenged me to make sure I learned siSwati. I’m going to miss being in her class. I will get to sleep a bit more. So there’s that.
These ladies provided great support. I’m looking forward to the next two years.
As you might know from the previous post, I gave remarks on behalf of my training class. These remarks were given in siSwati. I even ended up on the Swazi evening news. Feel free to read those remarks here. Photo credit: Aaron W.
Students from Saint Frances Primary School performed traditional dance during the ceremony. Photo credit: Aaron W.
Fancy feast. It’s a brand of cat food in America, but for swearing in, it meant eating like a king.
If you know me, you know I try to burn bright 366 days a year. Shouts to my brothers and sisters headed to Black Rock City now.
Thank you to all of the wonderful people who made this happen wherever you are in the world.
Be kind to yourself.
Onward.
What is Kirby Doing?: Stories from life after Peace Corps eSwatini 