Mvelo Mahlangu in NYC, Day 26
This morning I was finally able to go and visit the NY SGI Buddhist centre which was just down the same road as the apartment, just over union square park. I was able to catch the Sunday meeting and chanted along with members which made me feel at home. What I truly appreciate about my practice is that even if I were dropped in an unfamiliar place, the first place I could always go to is an SGI centre. Funny enough, Tina Turner was also a practising member and I got to see a photograph that was taken of her chanting, when I went to the National Museum Of African America History and Culture, in DC. Donna was also there and she warmly invited me to come stay with her whenever I decided to come back to visit NY. I’m thankful to her. After the meeting ended, I rushed back to the apartment and finished off the last bit of packing as well as cleaning the apartment.
I felt so much gratitude for the apartment and how much of a safe space it became for me. Another thing that I really enjoyed about the apartment was the imprints of the previous fellows that were decorated around the room. Some things were foreign money, others were notes and a lot was through the types of tea’s and seasonings that were left behind. I liked knowing that I too would leave my little imprint and without getting too deep about it, we exist in so many spaces even if we aren’t physically there. Finally wrapping it up, I made my way downstairs after managing to call an uber. I would also miss my daily engagements with the Doorman called Danny. He would always make sure that I was ok and would always greet me cheerfully.
Getting into my Uber, I asked the driver if I could sit in the front as I again wanted to experience being a passenger in what would be the drivers seat back home. He thankfully allowed me to and we started chatting away. His name is Ansong and he’s originally from Ghana, but moved over for the first time in 2001 with his children. We spoke about his experiences in NY and what it was like having to raise his children in a western way but trying to balance and instil African traditions. The funniest thing he told me was about how he had to navigate disciplining his children, because back home in Ghana and serenallly in Africa, if your child is misbehaving, you would spank them. However, that was viewed very negatively in the US. And so to avoid having his children misbehaving, he started implementing a system where he bought them a phone, and made sure that once they arrived at school, they would call him. Then when they got home from school, they had to call him Since he knew what time the school let students out, and the minutes it took for his children to get home, he made sure that they had to call him using the home phone by the calculated time. In this way, he found it a great way of instilling discipline but also protection for his children. The last conversation we had was about how the 21st century, is the century for Africa and that African countries really needed to rally and unite to leverage our relationships with other continents so that it would best benefit Africa and its people. One example was brought up was the current President of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traore. He reminds me a lot of Thomas Sankara, who wanted to foster Pan Africanism while tending to the needs of the people of Burkina Faso. Just before arriving at the airport, I took down Ansongs details which he said that when I do decide to come back for a visit, I could reach out to him.
Looking back on my experience here in NY, I’m so happy about how much I’ve learned about every single person I’ve engaged with. Reflecting on my journalling, one detail that I’ve mostly stuck to, which I truly appreciate that I’ve done, is writing down the names of each person. I was intentional about this because they too, added so much perspective in understanding the story of NY but also for me, helped facilitate the vision of the fellowship program. It’s reminded me that everyone has a story, ambition or thing to say and that from time to time, we should step out of our bubbles and connect with the unfamiliar. I’m also really happy about how this experience of being a stranger has made me feel a whole lot more comfortable with randomly striking up conversations with people. As for my experience of this fellowship program, I must say that I am still digesting everything. As Steven mentioned, I’ll mostly likely only see the effects overtime.
My biggest shout-out and point of gratitude, however, goes to the person who nominated me in the first place. My lecturer during my time studying Architecture, Solam Mkhabela. When I first arrived, Steven asked me if I knew why Solam nominated me. I asked Solam, this question as I actually hadn’t asked before, and rather assumed. He essentially told me that he believed in me as a young artist and the work that I do and wanted to help facilitate my growth. He saw this program as a great opportunity for this facilitation in growth. Throughout my time in NY, he constantly checked in on me and encouraged me. Since Solam himself had lived and studied in NY more than 20 years ago, it was amazing for me to be able to see some of the places he mentioned, when telling me about his experiences.