Impressions from Dr. Jane Goodall in Seoul

So Jane Goodall had a public speech ”Seeds of Hope” on the 25^th of November delivered at Ewha Womans University of Seoul, South Korea. I will try putting a brief note trying to answer the question “What did she say?’ and you will be the judge to provide answer to the question “What would be the impact?”.

The event started at 3pm with a musical presentation dedicated to Dr. Jane Goodall after which Jane appeared on the podium from where she was seated in the middle of the crowd surrounded by a bunch of little kids with their phone cameras in front. Then Jane wasted no time in beginning her speech by relating the power of music and culture in changing the world.

I was enjoying her way of storytelling as she listed the most important people in her life in between her speech. She began with her mother at first in the list of the most important. This has a message that every parent, guardian or anybody has to know. A mother who was always by her daughter’s side, encouraging & supporting her ambition unlike most others who would otherwise have been discouraging or disapproving of her strange inclinations and fascination to life. She reminded her mother telling her that she had to work hard if she wanted anything of something in her life. Jane points this as an important message to every child, a message of hope that parents have a responsibility of passing to the younger generation.

Other personalities in the list respectively were: Louis Leakey without whom she said may not have been engaged with chimpanzees specifically, David Greybeard as the one who gave her a chance to be a member of a chimpanzee family and in finding her epic breakthrough on the use of tools, Husky whom unlike other professors and scientists proved her that animals had personalities, mind and emotions.

Jane says, after all there is no fine line dividing us as humans and other animals, after going down the details of how she started at Gombe, first impressions and her discoveries. Besides resounding DNA resemblance with humans and the tools discovered (9 different ways of using tools), she told the audience about the multitude of behaviors her chimpanzees relate with us.  She listed by saying they kiss, embrace, hug, they beg when they want to share food. The case of infant development and the relationship between an infant and adult- how they raised their kids, their learning process, even cultural records amongst different populations in different locations as premature culture, premature warfare, reconciliation processes. She even talks about their ability to love, show compassion and altruism, having their own individual personalities, emotions, ability of thinking and solving problems.

To prove the case that her observation didn’t stick only with chimpanzees, she also had to present amazing stories of other non human animals that were out of our expectation. She told fascinating stories of how crows of Caledonia learned to use tools and animals as simple to our observation as the brainless octopus can be outrageously smart and cunning with the fact that many other animals are now proven to use tools.

Jane’s message truly felt from the ultimate messenger of peace in the big auditorium packed with countless number of mostly young people. The power of her story had to show reflection.

Jane didn't just focus on implying the amazing resemblance between us and other animals, she not only listed non-humans in her list of the most important personalities in her life, but she was also blatantly vocal on humanity’s dissolute and irresponsible damage to its cousins – non humans and nature. She said ‘we have to be responsible’ and more importantly she spoke about the immorality, abuse and destructive character of animal agriculture relating it to ethical coexistence with other animals, environmental issues and climate change.

Later Jane tried to analyze the ingenuity of human brain to its deeds and questioned how the most intellectual species could be destroying its own home. She blamed our short term thinking and that we lost our decision as to how to think on our effects for the future and the disconnection between the clever brain and compassion. She talked about air and water pollution, industrial, agricultural and household waste, forest destruction, soil erosion, climate change, oceanic and forest ecosystems loss etc to consolidate her claim. She also gave a little bit of more time to climate change, how it takes effect as many people still have no idea, co2, fossil fuel and animal agriculture and its incredibly disproportionate scale of contribution to climate change through methane, deforestation and tried to link it to cruelty to animals as well.

She said cow was her spokesperson for abused animals but Jane also was quick to correct an audience during a question and answer session who thought she was vegan by saying “I am a vegetarian”. 

Clearly I would have expected my idol to be vegan and I know she can’t escape from criticism. Gary Francione, one of the prominent vegan advocates I frequently agree with said she had speciesist thoughts. True and I am free to think that could have arisen from one of her big discoveries with chimpanzees or she was trying not to sound farfetched but anyway I don’t buy into her idea of vivisection and consumption of free range or organic dairy which is by no means easier to find than vegan food while traveling 300 days a year.   

My over excitement having seen my long time idol for the first time had shown a little bit of calmness at this time. I hope my Mexican friend who was there with me didn't notice that. 

She had a powerful message anyway, with great mind, story, personality and vision of hope saying “EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE”. And I hope the most important values she shares would not be overlooked by the audience’s perception of Jane as a celebrity and dwelling on specifics like her affinity with chimpanzees.

This is not just a public figure or like any other celebrity, it’s Dr. Jane Goodall. She’s the one who smashed the wrongly perceived humanity’s egomaniac ideology of a special and very different creature on the planet.  She’s the one who spent decades into the wild to prove that and is now travelling across the world to remind us and let us know. 

And I hope her message in the big crowd resonates. We have to bring ethics to the way we treat nonhuman animals, nature and abstaining from all forms of their exploitation has to be the foundation of that ethics.

Cheers!!  

Who said living as a vegan is difficult?

This is live testimony of an ordinary Ethiopian vegan immigrant in South Korea and Seoul. 

Here will follow a blog roll from my short yet adventurous life in Korea.

Life in many ways can be difficult for a lonely, broke activist from one of the most unlikely places. It is difficult indeed when things force you to lose hope and the same reason makes you do regrettable mistakes. I admit there were times when I made mistakes driven by hopelessness, poverty and social pressure but never with others’ lives in my recent history after I went vegan in 2008 and it is a lifetime commitment that will never be broken.

Again, it is regrettable that the things and values you fight for turn out being fallout with your family, society and an iron fist, anti environment, anti people puppet government that that is farsighted from letting its own people to do things they want and value freely.

There are however opportunities in adversities. There will always be footprints, gains if one sticks to their values and fight for it. My struggle has just begun.

I came here to South Korea for a UN Biodiversity COP (Conference of Parties) representing global youth. Then I witnessed the jokes humanity makes on life on the planet where negotiators amongst parties consider themselves as the gods of nature as if they were not part of it seemingly forgetting that it is nature that governs us all and the one that has all the power. I saw them playing games, tit for tat negotiations on nature. I saw them arguing, bluffing amongst each other and demanding others with  things they should have done by themselves, pretending biodiversity or life on the planet as a separate thing from us human animals. They even indirectly label those people better close to nature like their perceived distant biodiversity and give them different names as if they had to continue with the destructive lifestyle they are in. It was generally saddening and frustrating time for me besides some other reasons to observe the whole thing from rights based or ethical perspectives.

Life had never been stable for me and I think I am not seeking stability in life afterall. Here is a new beginning to a different one though I believe this will be a struggle to maintain instability in life. Now coupled with terribly dangerous situations back in Africa putting life in crisis and stagnation there, I am in Korea as an immigrant in refugee and the following will be my updates on vegan living in Korea.

It’s already been more than three weeks now. I spent the first two weeks in Pyeongchang for the “conference” and more than one week here in Seoul. Kimchi has replaced Shiro -Injera served with spiced pea flour stew so far. I love Korean veggie soups served with rice and some roots, leaves that I don’t know of yet but love their flavor.

The most phenomenal moment during my time Pyeongchang was the 100% vegan choices everyone has to pick at Templestay at Woljeongsa Buddhist Monastery during the weekend between the two weeks. There was no reason to scrutinize anyone, just picking from the various choices.  Furthermore, dried shiitake mushrooms that I bought from a store in a northeastern coastal town of Gangneung mixed with noodles while cooking my dinners back at the hotel in Pyeongchang was also phenomenal. I had nothing to lose but all to pick from or cook my unconformist style of mixing things together in the pot.  

It was a global meeting with “expected veggies” for somehow it was believed to be an environmental meeting though the case did not seem like that at all. The advantage was the perceived ideas benefited people like me. Most restaurants in an around the venue had vegetarian marks easily convertible to vegan choices clearly put in English. It was indeed easier there than in Seoul despite its many veggie restaurants.

However it was also never difficult moving back to Seoul. As a vegan on my 6^th year, I am now used to having interrogative research for every meal whether back in Ethiopia or here at home in Seoul. This is what usually happens to me. And thanks to Google with their comprehensive map of Seoul city, I am coping well.

While eating out, those on the lookout list for me are kimchi, rice cakes, see weed with rice rolls, sprouts soups mixed with multitude of vegetables, salad, rice, tofu and noodles. These or a mix of them are those I could find easily or convince most restaurants to switch to anytime. Thanks to my new veggie friends, I was also pretty amazed to have found Injera that at least on the weekends I can indulge on my cravings at Zion Club in Itaewon. The place is pretty more like a club so I recommend for anyone to go over there from Friday to Sunday for lunch (12:00 to 4 pm) when it appears like a restaurant. They have injera made of rice rather than teff which is the conventional grain for injera but almost impossible to find out of Ethiopia. So they have two different vegan meals- both well known in Ethiopia and my favorites. Tegabino or Shiro (8,000 Won) being my most frequented meal in the past and Beyaynetu- the most famous Ethiopian vegan delicacy that may contain shiro and various veggie stews put on a spread of injera. Beyaynetu may cost you around 10,000 Won

I have also been to two vegan places- one Loving Hut at Sinchon Rainbow and the other being PLANT at around Itaewon. Sure they were a delight, their offers great but I doubt if they could be the places to frequent by a poor immigrant like me.

I am wondering by the way, why vegan food business must be a niche? I guess not, vegan food is something or the only one that almost everyone can eat or live on. I believe, so long as we promote it and get everyone feel closer to the food , it can have the potential to be the most widely sold and cheapest. That is my assumption though. I like to give this a try in the future. Who wants to do that or dream of that in Seoul or anywhere else?

Soon, I found my delights- dried shiitake and some of the exotic Korean leaves and vegs from a local store around Janseungbaegiyeok subway station just across the street from exit 4 and am enjoying them at a shared kitchen in my amazing place Orange Guesthouse – Hongdae area of Seoul. Mixing the shiitakes in noodles with tomatoes, carrots, local vegetables, roots and see plants and some rice gave me yet another Korean flavored delight. Now finding vegan snacks or biscuits is also getting easier as I get to know more stores.

So here are the technologies I am using to help me cope well: Google maps, My maps and search to locate, pin/save places and find them easily for later and get directions via either subway or buses. And Translate. If you ask me how to get around finding most of my meals so far, as English is in poverty here, I use translator apps, websites or even keep translates in forms of mobile screen shots in my pictures for offline use. Translators are not good while using conversations in forms of sentences so I try getting around putting a sentence in several phrases or words. The English version of my model goes like this “I AM VEGAN. I DO NOT EAT NO MEAT, NO PORK, NO CHICKEN, NO MILK, NO FISH, NO SEA ANIMALS, NO CHEESE, NO BUTTER, NO EGGS OR NO ANIMALS. I EAT PLANTS, ROOTS, SEEDS VEGETABLES OR SEA PLANTS”  and translating this into Korean in my smart phone app gets the reader ooooh and most of the time the next thing you see will be the food of your choice on your table.

This is my thought for now. I will be back with more soon.