Waiting for Ahmad: Act II

[thanks to those of you whose emails and IMs are the basis for much of the following conversation]

Act II: too dull? Too weird?

CAST:
John: The nightwatchman
Symon: The british owner of a backpacker lodge on an island in Lake Malawi, Africa. Nearly bald, and having shaved off the rest, he is ruddy and jovial, with a cockney Cambridge accent. Typically wearing cargo shorts and sandals and a beaded necklace of shells with a wooden amulet in the shape of the African Continent.
Dobbie, Chiquita, Askari, and Cotella: The lodge dogs.
Dawn: A Danish tourist, mid-twenties, shy and stoic
Jakob: A Danish tourist, mid-twenties, athletic. Dawn's boyfriend. He has just completed a 6-month internship with the danish consul in Zambia and is on holiday before returning home.
Sylvia and Catrine: mid-40s British couple on holiday
Henry: Manager of the lodge
Joshua: Same as act one but with longer hair and beard. A fair bit more tan and a bit of a wild look in his eyes.
Various villagers: men with umbrellas; women with bundles on their heads and infants strung on their backs; children pulling carts. The women wear brightly-colored wraps.


Scene I: [The Wakky Bar, an African resort tiki bar. Night-time. The huge bar curves around the base of a gigantic hollow baobab tree. The decor is typical of Malawi tourist lodges: whimsical wood figurines, oversized wooden mask smiling down, a few sparse strings of lights, woven bamboo screens all lit by faint colored bulbs and two parafin lanterns.

In front of the bar is a large treasure chest and two benches. Under one bench lies Dobbie, a large black rottweiler mix and on the other is John, the night watchman, asleep.

Off stage left are faint crowd noises and the tinny sound of Bob Marley on a radio. Off stage right is the sudden sound of a ship's horn.]

John [startled awake]: AAaaahh! [calling off stage R as he gathers himself up and then exits stage R] Sam! Sam! Boat, Sam! [off stage R] Sam! Ferry! Sam!

[a distant crash is heard, various muttering and cursing, another crash]

Symon [from offstage R]: Wha? Wha? Raight then. Wha?

[The sounds of a boat unloading come from off stage right, motor boats, yells in chichewa from the crew, creaking ropes, then a splash and yells]

[Symon enters from stage R followed by Jakob and Dawn, followed by Catrine, soaking wet, followed by Sylvia. Henry and the three remaining dogs enter from stage L]

Symon: Right this way, we'll get you into rooms.
Syliva: Oh dear, oh dear are you alright?
Catrine: Yes, yes, I'm quite fine.

[Symon works his way behind the bar and the guests crowd around. Simon begins to open the bar by retrieving the liquor bottles from a locked cabinet and setting them up on the bar, wiping down the bar, setting out bar towels. Almost immediately, Henry starts to close down the bar, putting away the liquor, folding the towels, wiping down the bar. They neither notice nor acknowledge each other]

Symon: So here is a list of the available rooms. We've got the round hut back there, the three bamboo huts, the family lodge, and the dorms - there is one guest, an American [lightning flashes], there already.

[lightning flashes, thunder roars and rain suddenly pours down outside.]

Symon: [to Catrine] well it looks like we're all going to get wet tonight.
[at this 6 wires drop down and the six clip in to hidden harnesses. They are lifted into the air and continue the scene floating as though nothing had changed - Symon still setting out the bar, Henry still clearing up. Each character appears to 'swim' around stage]

Catrine: Yes, well at least the lake was warm.
Symon: So who wants a drink? [at this, un-noticed by all, the lid to the treasure chest lifts and three blue helium baloons escape, the lid falls] The name is Symon, and if you need anything just ask.

Jacob: Jacob [shaking hands with Symon], and this is my girlfriend Grueue.
All: What?
Dawn: Don't worry, it is very difficult to pronounce but it means 'dawn', so you can call me that.

[at this, un-noticed by all, the lid to the treasure chest lifts again and three blue helium baloons escape, the lid falls]

Syvia: Sylvia
Catrine: Catrine
Symon: [to Catrine] Sorry again about your swim.

[at this, un-noticed by all, the lid to the treasure chest lifts and Joshua steps out wearing a deep-sea diver outfit, the lid falls]
...
[The group forms a school behind Symon and moves in unison turning together]

Symon [leading them off stage R]: Well, follow me and I'll show you to your rooms. [upon reaching the edge of the stage] Hmm, no, must be this way [now leading to stage L] As I say, it's right this way [upon reaching the edge of the stage] Well that isn't the right way [now leading them to stage R] We must be getting close now... [continue back and forth until ... blackout]

--------

Scene II: [The Wakky Bar, mid-afternoon. An ancient walkman plays cassettes. The dying battery causes the song to warble off key, shifting the singer's voice from a Dolly Parton to a Johnny Cash while the music becomes a warbled slide guitar.

In this scene, Josh, Jakob, and Dawn are having a conversation at the benches which are positioned stage L; Symon, Catrine, and Sylvia are having a separate conversation at the bar upstage R. There is a somewhat steady stream of islanders walking up and down just off the front of the stage. Initially it is an individual or two. Then they travel in groups of men, of women, and of children. As the scene progresses, they become more and more a parade - more rowdy and spectacular. The men's umbrellas become more elaborate, the women's bundles become humongous; the children's carts become parade floats. The men and women keep to themselves but the children engage the stage constantly, yelling "Hellohellohellohellohello" and "Hellohowareyoui'mfine HellohowareyouI'mfine" and "give me pic-ture" as they cross. Finally, the villagers crossing stop exiting and form a crowd off the front house-left. Drums and other intruments are produced and they begin singing and dancing. By the end of the scene, the music drowns out the conversations and continues without acknowledging the final 'magic trick' until its conclusion.]

Josh: ... almost everyday I really need to take a break and walk away for a while and remember how I saw the good side of people.

Dawn: Wow. really?

Josh: Probably not that often, but it IS hard coming to a part of the world where I am the utter minority racially yet still in the position of power and authority. It is amazing how much power there is in being white.

Jakob: Yeah it is actually easier to see here than at home.

Josh: For sure! It is a nonstop adventure in learning.

Dawn: hmmm - interesting. Can you give me an anecdote?

Josh: For example: go to a health clinic and you see locals who have waited in line for hours. The white tourist would be in and out in 5 mintes

Dawn: Oh. That IS hard.

Jakob: And there is STILL this idea that the white people are the thinkers and planners. Automatically. It's weird...

Dawn: Wow - how is it possible to change that?

Josh: ...But what really makes it hard is that the educational system here actually doesn't teach big picture views. The people in general don't develop good problem solving and critical thinking skills so it IS the white people who do the planning and thinking. A cycle of continued repression.

Jakob: And of course the poverty feeds into it because there is such a lack of resources that big picture things suffer automatically. When you need 15 cents to survive, you aren't thinking about how to spend your extra capital to create a sustainable means of survival, you are trying to make it through the day.

Dawn: Exactly

Josh: So western tourists are, of course, seen as a ready source of cash and it is hard to have mutually beneficial relationships. So i have to remind myself of the reasons and the environment and realize the true cause and react accordingly, not overreact or let my offense get overblown

Jakob: Yes, I have learned a lot on my trip about how to relate to people. And to take a critical view of my actions and how they are seen and how they affect people.

Dawn: What you have control over and what you don't and what they have control over and what they don't.

Josh: Well put. As solutions go it is a more difficult question. I do think that the solution is 3-sided: open media, education, and a complete revamping of foreign aid programs.

Dawn: Do you get a sense that they have burned so bad in the past by others that they have trouble trusting you?

Josh: There is a mutual distrust and a mutual feeling that we don't want to be distrustful.

Jakob: I think that there are the scam artists - probably 70% of the people that come to talk to me on their own accord - and they are not burned by the tourists, they instead feed off the tourists...

Dawn: yeah - I think you learn how to take advantage of what's there

Jakob: ... and then there is the other 99% of the population who are more honest and they have more distrust of foreigners...

Josh: ..but they have less interaction with us because they don't seek me out and my relations to them are short and professional. Though, there you do see a lot of trust sometimes.

Dawn: Like when you are on a crowded minibus and some woman hands you her infant so she can climb in.

Jakob: Yes, when it comes to family, it seems as though we are all brothers and sisters - locals and mazunga alike.

Dawn: Do you see a difference between city and country?

Josh: Only slightly but that is partially because the rural areas i go to have been the touristy areas so they have the same issue as the cities. I guess that the rural areas that i've been to that are not touristy are quite welcoming and generally nicer.

[Here Symon, Catrine, and Sylvia silently get up and slowly build a huge wooden box - mirrored on the inside - around the other three while the conversation continues. They perform much like magician assistants, demonstrating silently that the sides are solid and flamboyantly showing off the finished product. When finished they exit the stage and the conversation finishes via microphone]

Dawn: If you were to do this again what would you do differently?

Josh: I'm coming to the point where i really want to travel where i know people and can have local support. In africa, europe, asia, america, everywhere. Because when i get local support my experience is 1000 times better.

Dawn: Yeah I definitely get that feeling from my limited travels. I felt so guilty when I was in Jamaica where I didn't know anyone

Josh: Oh tell me about it! When you end up being one of THOSE tourists because you can't avoid it.

Dawn: I didn't develop any relationships and they didn't see the real me

Josh: That was tunisia for me. Awful. I wanted to say "wait! I'm not like those french tourists. Trust me!"

[at this point the 'box' falls apart like in a magic show, and it's former occupants have disappeared!]

[villagers 'ooooh' and 'ahhh' appreciatively ... blackout]