Cy and I met in Jurmala, Latvia as part of Peace Corps Lithuania Group #9. He was the only guy who arrived in Eastern Europe without a jacket and I, perhaps, was the only one with an extra. He was also one of the only twenty-somethings whose hairline was receding like mine. This would become on ongoing joke (and concern) as two icy winters in Lithuania would see an island form at the top of our foreheads. Over those two years he and I were lent the experience of teaching youths, discovering bitter truths about history and politics and surviving in a foreign place (a cold and dark one at that). At times it seemed like we were stranded on those islands between the stubborn follicles whose days were numbered. Others we danced our last joyous days of youth and freedom obsessed with the idea of taking home a Lithuanian wife. (Neither of us did). Nonetheless, a rare bond between two passionate men was forged as the future waited to see what we had to offer.
When I decided to rejoin the Peace Corps in 2004, Cy was preoccupied with finishing film school, a Fulbright Scholarship in Lithuania and an accompanying thesis film. Halfway through the shooting and editing of that film, 'The Orphans,' he found some extra money and a month to bring his creativity to the village of Zolokere. In May 2005 he found me there tangled in a web of failed initial efforts, potential project ideas, village politics and general everyday life struggles. He and my helper/friend Gama got along from the go and Cy soon nicknamed him 'Gama Sutra,'. He would replace that with, 'G-Unit' and cap it off with 'The Dalai Gama,' the most fitting. Once he started filming we made every effort to facilitate that process i.e. contacting people, setting up interviews, translating, bike taxiing him and his camera, cooking food and cracking jokes during his 24 hour skirmish with food poisoning. Cy's investigation and astute perspective on the local happenings resulted in 'The Troubles in Zolokere.' He would give both Gama and myself producer's credits which leaves me humbled and honored, especially because it is one of the only products left of my collaboration with the late Gama.
Cy returned to Zolokere for an additional three months, in December of 2006. This time he found me tangled but in a different web; a half-built school project and its maladies, soccer league controversies and the looming future of Malawi Jake after Peace Corps. Throughout those three months, he, like the camera's eye would pivot himself on Tony Bomber's Football Club following their games and standings in the second football league we had organized. The league commenced just in time for his arrival. From deep in the rainy villages of Hewe through the City of Mzuzu to the shores of Nkhata Bay on Lake Malawi Cy studied and filmed the team, witnessing their common struggles, issues and concerns which mirror those of most ordinary village-dwelling Malawians.
In early September I will return to Zolokere to visit old friends and an old life in the village. I will also be making ethnographic recordings of church choirs, cultural celebrations, funerals, Vimbuza (a traditional Tumbuka healing dance), soccer chants, drinking circle rhythms and whatever else might reflect the vitality and spirit of the people. That spirit will be captured and carried home for you as well as anyone else interested in supporting our development initiatives in Malawi. In November we will begin post-production hoping that the final product might generate support for future projects in Zolokere. I am initiating this project as a result of Cy's vision. He had posted some of the video of Zolokere's Presbyterian Youth Choir on Youtube that generated substancial audience and interest. I'll board the plane with as much electronic equipment as the Hewe Valley has ever seen. When they see the extent of what I have they might actually think Madonna is on her way back. She may not but Cy will join me there in October with plans to shoot an epilogue for 'Bush League.' I envision warm evenings beneath the mango trees in my backyard in an air of wood smoke and words between friends of the incredible impressions and how they will weave their way into our futures.
Malawi Jake
PS Hopefully he'll have shaved by then.
comments (2)
Hey Jake, I was coming from San Diego. In May. Where am I supposed to get a winter coat in San Diego in May?
Posted by Cy | 09. 1.08
What about that red slicker you showed up to Malawi with the last time? Where did you make that purchase? Did that jacket have matching trousers?
Posted by Jake | 09. 1.08