Ben’s Brush with Adaptability
East Africa’s Example
Zinkevych photo -
During his 50 years of on-and-off travel, Ben has endured the indifference of Nassau, basked in the anonymity of New York City and marveled at the brashness of Paris.
But he recalls more fondly feeling the pulse of humanity for the first time as a 30-year-old. It was in the struggle for life on East Africa's Serengeti Plain.
Toka, the guide for the day, took a sharp left turn to get the Land Rover into the groove of the track leading to the rim of the small, long-dead crater Ben could see in the distance. Dust flew out of the back end of the vehicle, a crude cross between a VW minibus and a U.S. Army Jeep, as the Rover sped toward the cavity that interrupted an otherwise flat land.
"We go see elephant," Toka told Ben’s group of seven, all Wisconsinites on a 1973 People-to-People tour of East Africa. Toka pointed to the approaching crater on the northeastern horizon. "Last week, we saw three."
Ben’s crutches began to dance around on the floor of the Rover as it bounced over the rough track. He kicked his left foot against his crutches, which were key to his mobility as a person with cerebral palsy, and braced them against the back of the driver's seat.
Ben was intrigued by Toka's right earlobe. It had been progressively elongated, apparently since his childhood, to the point where he could wrap it completely around his ear and tuck it neatly in the back of where his earlobe normally would have been if it hadn't been stretched.
What remarkable adaptability, Ben noted.
Toka, Ben learned, was a Masai but had forsaken the nomadic traditions of his people to become a guide for Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. His father hunted with a spear, and now Toka was driving a Rover with a rifle strapped to the door beside him.
The Land Rover suddenly veered off the track for no apparent reason, and Ben grabbed the back of Toka's driver's seat for support. His crutches slid to the other side of the Rover, hitting the right side door with a thud. Toka glanced at Ben with his deep brown eyes, and Ben smiled to indicate it was OK.
Then Ben saw the carcass. The vultures feeding on the rhino flew up over the Land Rover as it drew closer and circled the body. The lifeless hide looked hollow and small compared to the snout.
"Poachers," Toka exclaimed and pointed to the missing horns -- a detail Ben would have missed, if he wouldn't have pointed it out. Toka shook his head as the Land Rover returned to the track, hopping across tire grooves in the earth made by an earlier vehicle while the soil was still soggy.
As he jostled in the Rover, Ben watched Toka's ear and wondered how he kept his elongated earlobe in place. He also marveled at how he had made the jump from nomad to guide.
But, Ben mused, how will he cope as his corner of the world opens up to more poachers with no sense of responsibility and more tourists with a pretentiousness not useful in East Africa? How will he handle more travelers with mobility problems in a land where convenience is not yet a necessity?
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” ―Vivien Greene
The bumpy track turned into a gravel road, smoother and less dusty. Toka was alternately watching the road and searching the northwestern horizon into what seemed endless miles of flatland.
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"Wildebeest," he announced matter-of-factly to the group and pointed to a small cloud of dust rapidly building and approaching the road ahead. Ben stretched to look over his left shoulder and saw the faint outlines of the charging herd.
"Dry season now," Toka explained. "Wildebeest go to higher ground. More water."
Ben could see they were going to cross the road in front of the Rover.
But, he was unprepared for the stampede that surrounded the Rover as it continued northward, without pause. Toka seemed unconcerned. The wildebeest, pounding the Serengeti floor and stirring up clouds of dust on a full run, avoided the Rover as it plowed ahead. The vehicle opened a hole in the herd as it crossed the road. To Ben, their odd, bearded, buffalo heads seemed too large for their horse-like bodies.
Here and there, yearling calves -- smaller, more tan than brown and without beards -- crossed in front and in back of the Rover. And, then, there were the more mature bulls -- less agile but still able to keep up with the herd.
Suddenly, it was over. It was quiet, except for the grinding of the Rover toward the crater and the group’s hope of seeing the tour’s first elephant.
As the Rover again left the road and started a gradual incline to the crater's rim, it passed another rack of bones. It was a Wildebeest, Toka said, which didn't make it. The bones, bleached to a sickening gray, had been picked clean by jackals and hyenas.
At the base of the crater, Toka parked the Rover under the broad, drooping branches of an acacia tree and pointed to what appeared to Ben an ordinary, nearby hill. It was a short walk up a fairly steep incline dotted with short shrubs.
Ben retrieved his crutches from the floor of the Rover and proceeded up the rim, but he rapidly fell behind the others in the group who were anxious to see their first glimpse of an elephant in the wild. Ben felt confident he could make it, but he knew it would take some time.
Toka came up behind Ben and tapped him on his shoulder.
"Ride?" he asked and pointed to his back.
Ben declined. He knew he could make it on his own, but Toka persisted.
"I know," Toka said. Ben could see earnestness and understanding in his eyes.
Toka took Ben’s crutches, laid them on the ground and hoisted Ben onto his back. Ben wrapped his arms around Toka’s neck and his feet around Toka’s haunches.
Toka was not a big man by Western standards, but the pair made it up the hill, just in time for Ben to meet his group on the rim. Toka quietly pointed down into the crater's wide but shallow floor and pointed out two elephants, surprisingly close, dwarfing the acacia trees around them.
Looking back at that 1973 adventure, Ben now values this observation from Charles Darwin:
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives but rather that which is most adaptable to change.”
Ben’s takeaway tip from his story: Welcome change with courage and humility.
Here’s to mature-adult living!
Jim Hasse, ABC, GCDF retired, author of “52 Shades of Graying”
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Dear Jim,
Even though you've been forced to adapt in ways most of us haven't had to, we all adapt as we age from infant to senior. Some of us are better at adapting than others as you've indicated in your previous stories. Kudos to you for daring to experience global adventures that many without disabilities have been frightened to try. You're a wonderful example of YES! Thank you.
Brenda
Between 1978 and 1993, I helped senior management plan and execute the communication strategies for 15 mergers and acquisitions -- strategies based on how I perceived stockholders, employees and customers would think about and react to changes which would affect their livelihoods.
By working with senior management to align 3,000 new dairy farmer members, 300 new employees, 80 new truckers and 40 new customers with our organization’s vision, values and direction, I helped our organization become the surviving (and thriving) company in a major restructuring of the Midwest dairy industry.
I learned that my key responsibility was to ask questions, gather opinions and summarize my findings for senior management so it could effectively guide the organization with authenticity. I was a listener.
As a listener, it didn’t matter so much what I personally thought -- until I put on my hat as a communication counselor/advisor to the CEO and my colleagues at the vice presidential level.
At that point in each merger or acquisition, I needed to quickly switch roles. I needed to help top management chart a communication plan which would help our organization gain support for the change.
I needed to be adaptable.
Looking back, I now realize a communication failure during any one of the most important mergers or acquisitions could have jeopardized the survival of my employer – and my job.
* When have you adapted to new circumstances in your life that have turned out to be positive for you personally?