If the shoe fits...

Maun, Botswana
September 13, 2008
(with accompanying photos continued in the blog entry below)


With all of my travels in the past few weeks, my blog will be certain to consist of dispatches out of chronological order. No matter. As I settle back into my cottage, I’ll work my way through tales as they strike my fancy.

Today is the day to remember the shoe.

If you look at the Sebego in the photo, you’ll see the ink purported to have launched a movement in Zanzibar’s Stone Town, a warren of ancient buildings with narrow alleyways and artistically carved wooden doors. Think of it as Zanzibar’s French Quarter, only with a Moorish architectural style.

“Obama for President” is written on the shoe. And thus one fan with a single pair of shoes began a chorus of “Yes, we can,” and the establishment of a public patch of ground devoted to Barack Obama.

“If Obama can, we all can!” says the shoe’s owner, 25-year-old Masoud Salim, whose business card says, “VOLUNTEER ALSO EXPERT TOUR GUIDE.”

What a scene. There are two oil (maybe acrylic?maybe tempura?) portraits of the Democratic nominee hanging from a tree. A news article rests underneath one of the paintings. An Obama game board with bottle caps for checkers is painted on the concrete ledge. There are bumper stickers, T-shirts and carved key rings in the shape of the island. Zanzibar is burned in wood on one side; Obama ’08 is on the other. (I couldn’t resist buying the unusual trinket. I figure it’s got historical value, and it’s practical, too, since I now have wheels, praise be.)

Wherever I go I continue to be astonished by the reaction that Obama inspires in Africa. White, black, Methodist, Catholic, Zion Christian Church member, wealthy, poor, Muslim, mixed-race, baggage handler, security company owner, game tracker, government official – whether from Botswana, Tanzania, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawai, Kenya, Uganda – you name it, this part of the world is awash in Obama fans. (On the plane back to Maun from Joburg the other day, the flight attendant on Air Botswana pointed to the in-flight magazine in front of me and whispered, proudly, “I’m a supporter of Obama. And that’s OUR Obama.” The magazine cover shot was of Botswana’s new president, Ian Khama, son of a black tribal chief and a white British insurance employee from London. The Oxford-educated chief went on to become Botswana’s first president, Sir Seretse Khama, in 1966.)

Last month Masoud spoke at a gathering of 150 people in Stone Town, a group that included tourists from America who he says changed their support from McCain to Obama after Masoud himself spoke. His take: Obama offers “the great message of hope and change….(His) achievement is that he can inspire change in Africa.”

Masoud said Africans like the fact that Obama’s father was Kenyan, from the country next door. “But that’s not the main thing.” Hope is, he says. “My father insisted on honesty, sincerity and respect. I see that Obama embodies all those things my parents taught me.”

I and my friend Kelly Swift, formerly of The Sacramento Bee and with whom I traveled in Tanzania, got a kick out of the enthusiasm, not only in Stone Town but on the way to the Ngorongoro Crater on Tanzania’s mainland. In Karatu we stopped to take photos of enterprising entrepreneurs who dolled up their curio stands with political slogans. I’m not sure if the Obama stands are helping sell any additional wooden giraffes or beaded necklaces, but I have to believe people like us will keep stopping for the political photo op of the season. Dare I say of the century?