What matters the most is that you’re doing something to make the world a better place. And you have to believe in this. It’s important… you think with your eyes, and that’s all the world asks you to do.
– Camille Lepage, July 26th, 2013.
Christena Dowsett is a remarkable woman, I follow her blog and make that statement based on what I've read over there.
Christena writes things like this, of time spent with her friend, Camille Lepage:
Our last night together, we closed down the bar by talking with the Maasai guards who were there. It was quite a sight to behold. She and I and six Massai dressed in full traditional clothing. We must have talked for an equal number of hours. I remember how intently she asked them questions, about their culture, their families, if leaving their loved ones behind for work was hard. She asked nothing that would relate back to her. She was intent on knowing them inside their own context.
Meanwhile I was asking questions like, “How do you guys feel about tourists and white people in general?”
She looked outward for her questions. I looked inward.
I sat and listened most of the night. I watched her. And learned from her how to learn from people.
Earlier that day she told me, “You need to not see them as different. See them the way they see themselves. Show them as if they were white. You need to look at them as if they were your brothers. Stop thinking about you, you have to think about them.”
And this post, titled The Bag-less Lady, made me smile.
These women, the photographs, Camille's legacy kept alive by her friend ... they're so important.
