In Africa, the Art of Listening

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January 17, 2012

a project of CharityFocus

The first duty of love is to listen.

- Paul Tillich -

In Africa, the Art of Listening

"For nearly 25 years I've lived off and on in Mozambique. Time has passed, and I'm no longer young; in fact, I'm approaching old age. But my motive for living this straddled existence, with one foot in African sand and the other in European snow, in the melancholy region of Norrland in Sweden where I grew up, has to do with wanting to see clearly, to understand. The simplest way to explain what I've learned from my life in Africa is through a parable about why human beings have two ears but only one tongue. Why is this? Probably so that we have to listen twice as much as we speak. In Africa listening is a guiding principle. It's a principle that's been lost in the constant chatter of the Western world," shares author Henning Mankell in this insightful NY Times article. { read more }

Be The Change

For further reflection, a powerful short story on listening by Paula Underwood, a leader of the Iroquois nation: "If You Really Pay Attention" { more }

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