About the author: Li Zhaoxing has served as China's representative to the United Nations, Chinese ambassador to the United States, minister of foreign affairs, and president of the China Translators Association.
Swahili is an important language in Africa and is spoken by many residents of Tanzania, Uganda and Zaire. But traveling in Kenya, it's not enough to know Swahili and English. There are more than forty tribes in Kenya, almost each of which has its own language, while some people, especially middle-aged and elderly, speak only their own language. I was often able to overcome language barriers during my travels, which was related to my first trip to Guangdong.
I am a northerner, the first time I went to Guangdong, language became a problem. I don't understand what people say, I'm stunned when people talk, I can't even ask for directions, it's really difficult to walk. People who do not understand each other often speak louder and higher, but what is the use of high light? Sometimes I have to buy two or two noodles, bibi draw and shout for half a day, and finally have to take out a pen and paper to solve the problem in writing. I slowly discovered a trick that worked: to talk, find a "red scarf." Middle and primary school students all over the country are learning Mandarin!
I like children in Kenya when I start by asking for directions. There is a saying in my hometown: "Under the nose is the main road." "Under the nose is the mouth, and with the mouth you can ask the way out, which means right, but it is not complete, and someone must be willing and able to answer your question."
Inspired by my experience in Guangdong, I always turn to primary and secondary school students for help when I encounter difficulties in urban and rural travel in Kenya. After Kenya's independence, most children were able to go to school. They attach importance to learning mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and also seriously learn languages. Regardless of the tribe's children, by the time they graduate from the seven-year primary school, in addition to being able to use Swahili correctly, they can generally speak some English, and the level of middle school students is of course higher. These students are polite, and when they meet strangers, they will stop to say hello and ask if they can help. If they can use what they have learned to help guests solve difficulties, they will be as happy as if they had a perfect score. My "Guangdong know-how" is on the other side of the ocean.
Kenya's primary and secondary school students are easily recognizable. Boys were short hair, snow-white shirts, dark blue shorts; girls were combed with curly braids, short skirts, and rubber-soled shoes. They are very disciplined. A table tennis team in china once performed in a middle school, "Hurry, the world's strongest team is coming to play!" "The whole school was a sensation. The order of the competition hall is orderly, no classmates are crowded and noisy, and only when there are wonderful smashes and wonderful saves, there will be warm applause. At the end of the performance, the class bell rang again. When Chinese guests came to visit a physics classroom, the students were doing experiments, one by one, without squinting. The class was quiet, with only the sound of weights falling softly on the scale and a little sound of guests gently passing through the classroom.
I have visited natural zoos and artificially managed zoos many times, and I have never seen any middle and primary school students throw leftovers at animals in violation of regulations, let alone a child hitting an animal with a stone or a wooden stick. They understand that animals are the wealth of the country and need to be loved by everyone, and children and young people also have a responsibility. They know that what they eat may contain bacteria, and if they are not good, they will transmit the disease to the animals; the eating habits of animals are different, and eating indiscriminately will cause trouble.
In 1973, when I returned to China on vacation, I heard that the sea lion Dongdongheyuan garden at the Beijing Zoo had died tragically because it had eaten pear cores, peach cores, knives and bullet shells thrown by unknown people, and a very beautiful golden snub-nosed monkey had also died because it had eaten more peanuts, sugar cubes and bread crumbs thrown by tourists. What a pity! Zoos are clearly forbidden to throw food at animals, so why do people insist on violating it? Hopefully, this is not done by young friends; if it is done by adults, they should use the example of Kenyan children who love animals as a mirror to compare themselves.
Helping others is a virtue of the Kenyan people, and children and young people are educated in this spirit both at school and at home. Many middle and primary school students help their families or neighbors after school and during the holidays: breaking corn cobs, picking coffee beans, fetching water, chasing donkeys, helping their mothers cook and taking care of their younger siblings...
In ancient China, there was a story of Kong Rong letting pears. Kenyans also value the virtue of benevolence. For a teenager to win the respect of his peers, it is not enough to rely on intelligence and bravery. To study well, you must also be willing to help your classmates; you must be brave and have a spirit of self-sacrifice. Pride and complacency or bullying with great strength are the most despised by their classmates. With good things, the older children must let the younger children take first than their own age; when they encounter danger, they must let the younger children leave first; when they encounter difficulties in labor, boys know to take care of girls, otherwise their "dignity" will be affected.
The girls do not show weakness, and they also regard helping others as an honor. There was a news in the newspaper that a crocodile was chasing a six- or seven-year-old boy by the river. A little girl passing by saw that things were not good, so she shouted and rushed to meet her head in spite of herself. It was too late, but it was fast, and the little girl kicked the crocodile's head with her foot, and then picked up a stone and hit the crocodile. The crocodile was injured and fled into the water in a panic. The little boy was saved, threw himself into the little girl's arms, and cried out, but the little girl's foot was bitten by a crocodile, and red blood oozed from her shoes. She was only ten years old.
One Sunday, we drove with a few comrades to the town of Thomson Falls. As soon as I reached the lawn on the other side of the waterfall, I saw a boy of thirteen or fourteen years old sitting under an unknown tree, reading a book, and from time to time writing something on his knees. Directly ahead, the snow-white waterfall cascades down from the eighty-meter-high cliff, shaking the earth; the water droplets roll out vertically, covering the tall tropical trees at the bottom of the valley with a fickle veil; and at a higher place, the seven-colored rainbow appears from time to time... But I wanted to get closer to the child who was reading.
It turned out that he was reading a middle school algebra textbook and writing down some formulas for solving equations. He looked up and spotted me, and our friendly conversation began. I asked him which middle school he was in, and he groaned and calmly told me that he had graduated from elementary school for two years and had not been in middle school. His father was not in good health, and the family's land was cultivated by his mother. He is the eldest child and wants to help his parents do things. He took the time to teach himself the middle school curriculum, using textbooks borrowed from friends. He also used to go to the town's library to borrow books. He liked mathematics, he liked history, geography. He likes all kinds of knowledge, feels that knowledge can enrich him, and will become a more useful person to society and family in the future.
He has not been far away, but he knows the four great inventions of China, the Great Wall, the May Fourth Movement and Li Dazhao... I even know what Confucius said, "The threesome will have my teacher."
The boy told me that his mother had gone to the market and that he had to go back to take his younger siblings to lunch and read a book after lunch. I let go of his powerful little hand and looked reluctantly at the distant back: what a sensible, ambitious child!
Kenyan primary and secondary school students enjoy singing, dancing, telling stories, playing soccer, and sometimes playing a game like our country's "stacked arhats". One of their favorite songs is to the effect of:
Dear Kenya, beautiful land.
You are all of us,
Let's work together to build you...
At night, after doing homework, it is time for story meetings. Under the bright moonlight, Juanxiu's cloud and bamboo edge, young boys and girls gathered in a circle to listen to the adults tell stories. If adults refuse to speak, they are "collectively self-reliant." The solution is simple: draw a random lottery, determine who will speak first, and then take turns clockwise, with each child speaking one.
The stories told by the children were rich and varied, some from books, some from "wholesale" from grandma; some praising industriousness and friendship, some laughing at laziness and greed. I heard them tell a story of persuasion not to be indecisive:
A hyena smelled a scent at a fork in the road. It was salivating and eager to go to a full meal at once, but it couldn't determine where the aroma came from. It ran along the road on the left for a while, and fearing that something was wrong, ran back and ran along the road on the right. After running for a while, it was uncertain: Maybe the road on the left is correct? After many repetitions, in order to be foolproof, it made a clever move, put the two legs on the left side of the road, put the two legs on the right side of the road, moved forward with difficulty, and soon it was powerless...
▒ Kenyan star Henry Rono
Kenya is a country of sport and has produced many famous athletes. This is inseparable from the kenyan love of physical exercise since childhood.
Rono is internationally recognized as an outstanding mid-distance runner. In 1978, he broke the world records for the 3,000-meter race, the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 10,000-meter race for eighty consecutive days. During the Kenyan national anthem, he repeatedly reached the top of the podium and was hailed as a national hero.
Born into a farming family in Canyon Province, Rono was the eldest boy in the family. Dad died early, and he shouldered the burden of taking care of his three younger siblings, eating and drinking only coarse tea and light rice. Going to the ground and going to school, he ran barefoot every day on dirt roads, gravel roads and cinder roads, practicing extraordinary endurance and unbreakable feet.
In 1979, at the Athletics Championships in Central and East Africa, a twelve-year-old Kenyan girl left all her adult opponents behind and won the women's 1,500 meters championship by a distinct margin, close to the world record. This otherwise unknown young athlete was praised by some newspapers as a "prodigy".
She is not a child prodigy. Her name was Onianbu, and her parents were both croppers. Her home was three and a half kilometers away from the school, and no matter whether the sun was on fire or the wind and rain, she ran back and forth barefoot every day in school. At a young age, with perseverance and perseverance, she was ready to fight for the honor of the country.
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Text | "Never Named to Unnamed"
Author | Li
Image | Source network except for labels
Edit | Diplomat says something xiao ha