The Tvind hypocrisy
The first impression I had was that it was freezing cold and wet, but otherwise it was peaceful and charming. At breakfast I met a lot of people from different countries. I was surprised at how many people were from Portugal. My Portuguese was colloquial Mocambiquan style and I had difficulty understanding the real Portuguese speakers. Their words were fast and sharp and they rolled their words from one into the other that it was difficult for me to isolate and distinguish the words in a sentence. Immediately I understood that my Portuguese needed serious improvement especially if I intended to make myself heard and understood effectively and correctly in Mocambique as the language of instruction, administration and mediation there was Portuguese. I met other people from Spain and Lithuania and Hungary and I was amazed that all these different people could come together in Denmark and that the preferred language of communication was English. This was my advantage and I enjoyed it although I imagined that if the language was Portuguese instead of English the chances of me attaining the level I desired would have been much greater. I was introduced to my classmate who is from Hungary. We were taken on a tour of the grounds and we spent the balance of the day socialising and eating and taking in the environment and atmosphere. The day passed quickly and by the time night time fell I felt quite relaxed and comfortable and I was enjoying everyone immensely. It was nice to be amongst people who had hearts aligned to mine. Maybe we came from different places and from different cultures and we followed different patterns of life, but we were united in our common desire to make a positive difference in the world. Education is the key to power. This place is a place of knowledge. It is a place of sharing. It is a place of change, change that will come within us as our personalities collide and we influence one another, as we learn new knowledge and we apply it to ourselves. The change will come outside us as we understand how to move within our environments. A change is as good as a holiday. I felt as if I was on holiday. I still feel like that today.
The first two weeks
Positions offered for painters and decorators. Tools and overalls and good company and meals are provided... So we prepared our classroom... In the beginning it was an empty room. We sanded down walls and windows and doors and we painted and we decorated and in between we ate great food that I must say really was great since I had been cooking my “one pot wonders” for myself for the best part of the last year. I thoroughly enjoyed the large selection of food available. And the highlight of my day became lunch and supper. I had to adjust my diet a little as the meat is not what we Muslims call halaal so I am not able to consume it. Instead I have become a part-time vegetarian and I am content with this as it grants me the opportunity to experience something new. There was an odd moment where I walked into the dining hall and a huge guy gruffly said to me, “You are the Muslim”. I said I was and then he went into the kitchen and returned carrying a large pot and again gruffly said, “This is for you, no pork it is cow”. Inside of me I felt sick, but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings so I graciously accepted his offering. Then after a while I went across and asked him his name and I thanked him for his kind concern and then I told him that it was not necessary for special food to be prepared for me as it was quite complicated and I was happy to eat whatever was provided. It is ok for me to eat what is within the limits of permissibility. I made a mental note that it is necessary for people to understand the meaning of halaal as Muslims constitute a sixth of the world’s population and halaal doesn’t simply mean that we don’t eat pork. It is more detailed and precise than that and people need to know that.
During the first week our teacher returned from being away and we were introduced and immediately I enjoyed him as he was a breath of fresh air that blew in from the place that I know. My painting and decorating was supplemented by me installing two air-conditioning systems into our classroom. I knew it was a good idea to drive here with my van as in my van is my tools and to do this job of installing air-conditioning systems needs special tools and I had them with me. It became clear to me that no matter where I went I always ended up working with mechanical and electrical devices. I was happy to be doing this task as I really detest painting and decorating. We worked and we chatted and we got to know one another. I think we got on very well and I looked forward to being together with my teacher and my classmate as we had some very interesting discussions that provoked thought. I had missed this kind of thing over the past many years. So often my inner self cried out in frustration yearning for people who had original thoughts and who wanted to share knowledge and understanding. Many people in Tvind were like this and I found myself constantly engaged in far ranging conversations. For the past three years I had kept close company and now being here I realised that I had somehow isolated myself from people and it was not good to be like that. It is necessary for us to interact and to share and to communicate our thoughts and learning’s to one another. I found myself being asked many questions about Islaam and it was great for me to able to share what I knew because as I was speaking I was reminding myself too. Are not my ears the closest to my own mouth? It works like that. As we speak we find ourselves defining our thoughts. Hypocrisy is a society killer. By speaking I understood that I was committing myself to the words. By speaking I was not only teaching others I was disciplining myself for if I did not live by the words then I would be a hypocrite and nobody trusts or believes a hypocrite do they? For my teachings to take effect I had to live them and I had to be the example for people to follow if indeed they chose to follow.
Apart from lots of talking we also studied and I read the book “Total Control of the Epidemic (TCE)” and I loved it. The systematic no nonsense approach made sense to me. The logic was excellent and I became hopeful about us taking control of the AIDS epidemic. I had been surrounded by AIDS in Southern Africa. Zululand is the most densely populated part of Africa with Africans and it is the place they say has the highest infection rate. I knew this already since I was a young man. Once I was travelling on a bus from Durban to Empangeni and on the seat next to me I met a doctor and he worked at the local “African” hospital in a township called Ngwelezana. He told me about his work and about Aids and I always remember this one statistic. He said that 45% of African females, in the Ngwelezana district, between the ages of 16 and 19 are HIV positive! That was back in the early 90’s. When I was working up in Tanzania I sometimes flew on business to a gold mine in a district called Kahama. Kahama was incredibly rich in gold resources. They said they were yielding up to 72g per tonne of ore. In SA a good yield is 18 to 22g per tonne! So Kahama they said had a vein of gold stretching for 170kms and so they built a gold mine at each end of the vein. The town of Kahama was adjacent to the mine and it was not uncommon for the expatriate miners to visit the town’s prostitutes. I was told that the women in Kahama were all HIV positive and that an Australian man had contracted the disease there. I was astonished by how people can be so foolish as to risk their lives for a moment’s pleasure, but such is life and such are the facts that we have to deal with. TCE was great. We need it. Well done to those who developed the idea put it into action. Whatever I can do to help I will. May God bless them for their efforts! Ameen.
We also studied the DmM program which is also great as I was expecting to do that and I was looking forward to learning about the subjects that were very close to my heart. The DmM is a database of knowledge relating to specific topics and subjects about epidemis diseases and poverty and relevant economics and politics etc. I already had lots of firsthand knowledge and I also had studied these same topics, but from different angles too. As much as I like the DmM system I was disappointed by how slow and outdated the system was. So much time was wasted messing around with gliches like the letters you typed on the keyboard would appear seconds after you had typed them and when you viewed PDF’s they took very long to load and sometimes the system would freeze up. It was very frustrating and was slowing me and my classmate down. I also noticed, bear in mind I have only just began with the system, but anyway I noticed that the information is outdated and the solutions are not complete. How arrogant are we to expect the developing nations to follow our pattern of development? Can we not see that our system actually doesn’t work? It may, in the short term seem to be working, but in the big scope of things it actually is not sustainable. Socialism doesn’t work. Communism doesn’t work and Capitalism is the worst of the two as it breeds a false sense of democracy and equality. In fact the Capitalists are the biggest hypocrites! So why should Africa go from the frying pan into the fire?
A question: Can the original thinkers please stand up? We need you. It looks like we are stuck in a time warp. Technology is miniaturising and repeating itself. The drugs are getting stronger, but nowhere is there a solution that doesn’t leave a mess! Or is there?
The first common weekend, at Frederikshavn
We left after supper and drove up to Frederikshavn which is up near the most northern part of Denmark. There was another school there similar to the one I was in a Tvind. The DI programme is such that students are placed in small groups at different schools. I was supposed to have gone there instead of Tvind. The journey up was pleasant although it really is annoying that the window washer water freezes. Did anyone invent a defrost system for the windscreen wipers yet? Surely that is more important than sending a man to Mars isn’t it? Shouldn’t we be sorting out all the issues on our planet before we go beyond our borders? In any case the trip was nice. Me and my teacher and my classmate we chatted so much and it was good for us to get to know each other like this. We stopped along the way for coffee and ice cream and when we eventually arrived at Frederikshavn it was after 9.30pm. The teacher responsible for Frederkshavn moaned because she expected us sooner, but it was not like anything was happening for when we did meet everyone in the common room I saw that they were playing games and just hanging out. We met the rest of our team and we socialised a bit and then it was bedtime. I was lucky; no one wanted to share a room with me so I had my own space. I think maybe my beard is scary...
After breakfast we new DI’s presented ourselves to everyone and then we heard presentations from two DI’s who had just come back from Africa. One lady told us about her time at the Teachers Training College (TTC) and other works in Inhambane in Mocambique and another lady told us about her time at TTC in Malawi. Inhambane was is familiar to me as I have been there many times and I stayed there for a while. It was nice to be reminded of Mocambique and when she showed us the pictures I reminisced and felt my heart becoming softer. A senior teacher also presented his trip to visit the DI’s in Mocambique and Malawi. I really laughed at his style of presentation. It was vibrant and exciting and interesting and he is a natural comedian. It would be nice if I could somehow become like this in my presentations. I always imagine myself to be boring and monotonous. After the days works we played some football and I somehow managed to pull a muscle in my thigh. This has never happened before and I learned that it is not a good idea to do anything active without warming up first. That’s another reason why I prefer Africa. It’s not so cold and so the muscles are always warm and relaxed and there are less aches.
In the evening the team of Frederikshavn surprised us with a valentine’s party which I think was very kind and thoughtful of them to do so. It was fun to watch everyone enjoying themselves. Even we played a game, they wrote everyone’s name down on individual pieces of paper and then everyone had to take a paper and the person whose name was on it they had to treat them especially nice. I took a paper and on it was my own name haha so I went to bed.
The next day my classmate and I were on breakfast duty so we first cleaned up the mess from the party and then we prepared breakfast and then we all met in the Study room and we were divided into groups and we were given subjects to research and present. My teams subject was the European colonisation of Africa. We worked togetherand I think we produced a decent result although so much more could have been said. My team said that I had to be the presenter, but in reality it was me and another young lady who was is from Kenya who presented together. Two of our team members one from Spain and the other from Hungary seemed to be restricted by language although the Hungarian lad made a strong effort and during the course of producing the article I explained many things to him and he seemed to understand things very quickly. His mind is sharp and quick and it is easy to see the intelligence there. The Spanish chap seemed more shy, but, I am hoping that he will try more in the future as his opinions and thoughts are very valuable to us. I think that our presentation was well received. The other presentations were very good and I was interested to see the differences in the presentation styles. I think we were the most formal, but the others were equally if not more effective. At the end of the sessions I came away more aware and informed.
After we had all said our farewells and before we left Frederkshavn for Tvind we took a small detour and showed my classmate the beach. The trip home was like the trip there, but we discussed the weekend’s events and it looked like all of us were happy and satisfied and overall I would say that it was time well spent and if I had to do it again I would happily do so. The people here are very special. Each one has a passion and a desire and we are united by our compassion and I hope that somehow we can manage to help one another to grow and we can find success in this life that will bring us understanding and peace.
New entry:
Things continued on the DI program. We learned on the DmM in the mornings from 9.30 am until 1pm and then we took lunch in the dining room with all the other students who were studying on different programs. In the afternoon sometimes I was on technical duty at the windmill. Tvind is famous because in the 1970’s a group of teachers got together and financed and constructed this windmill as an expression of their desire that the government of the day not establish nuclear power generation systems in Denmark, but instead opt for wind generated electricity. To the Danes Tvind is a bastion of hope and an inspiration and a place of remembrance of a time when the government policies were influenced and changed by the common purpose of the small people. I didn’t like working on the windmill particularly. It was cold and actually quite treacherous work and also the windmill is now old and outdated. In my mind I can imagine that in a few years it will probably be taken offline and then I think that they should come together again and build the world’s biggest windmill, but I doubt that will happen as it appears to me that the people of Tvind have somehow lost their roots. I’ll tell you what I mean by this because we have now reached the point in this story where the crux of the matter is imminent. The lady who is responsible for the windmill and the ancillaries of its purpose and function, she said to me that I should watch the video they made about when the windmill was constructed. Dutifully, my fellow windmill co-worker; a lovely chap from Lithuania who had recently returned from 6-months in Zambia, he and I we watched the movie one evening and it was very very interesting. In the video I saw many people wearing the Imaama. The Imaama is a head / shoulder shawl that is worn by the Arab people and I also have a few of them and wear them sometimes as they are very functional and comfortable. However, the reason the Danes were wearing the Imaama was to express their sympathy and alliance with the Palestinians who back in the 70’s were fronted by Yasser Arafat who wore the traditional red and white chequered Imaama. So for me as a Muslim to see the Danes wearing the Imaama and to also be told by them that they were sympathetic to the cause and plight of the Palestinians and also that it is recommended in Danish schools that the children read the Holy Quraan, for me it was strange that I became the victim of the Tvind establishments attempt to smother the light of Islaam and remove me from the DI program!
It was my understanding when I joined the DI program that our main aim and purpose was to come together to learn and make common effort to alleviate the plight of the impoverished nations in our world. That is what Humana professed to be about and that is what attracted me and that was why I had sacrificed so much of my time and money to come here. Within a few weeks of my being at Tvind I was brought into a meeting with a man who didn’t say what his job description was, but by the way he spoke at me it seemed that he was a senior influence at the place and he in no uncertain terms voiced his displeasure at what he called my “relationship with Islaam”. He went on to speak at me for quite some time and he belittled me and insulted me and all the while my teacher who I imagined to be my friend actually sat by and said nothing positive in my favour. The conclusion of the meeting was basically that I should shut up and not say anything to anyone about Islaam. In fact it would be better if I hid my faith. Of course to any Muslim this is an impossible situation. We know and understand that the responsibility of guidance is that we are to share our knowledge with everybody and actually it is incumbent upon us to defend our faith when it is being violated. Violated indeed was Islaam in my presence on many occasions. Allusions were made during presentations that Islaam is unjust and that Islaam oppresses women and other things so I could not and never would sit idly by and allow this ignorance to continue. In my own way with words of eloquence and kindness and with patience and wisdom I corrected the falsity and brought the light of truth into the discussions. I was surprised by how many students were affected by this and I discovered soon that I was a person who was quite popular and people enjoyed being with me and around me and that I was used as a knowledge base for not only Islaam but Christianity too.
Tvind was not only a place that trained teachers and development instructors, but Tvind also is a place that harbours and houses and educates teenagers who come from difficult backgrounds and also people who suffer from mental problems. It was part of my course that I should work with some of these people in order to gain knowledge and experience that would help me when I went to Africa to work with the impoverished. During my time at Tvind I became friends with a young man who I knew to be the saddest looking person there. I made effort to make him smile and we became good friends and he asked me more than anyone else about Islaam. It turned out that he had already read a biography of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and he had a copy of the Holy Quraan in Danish and he was reading it regularly. We spent a lot of our free time together. I felt for him because I too had some difficulties when I was growing up. I soon realised that actually this young man had accepted Islaam and he was a Muslim. I taught him what I could and I encouraged the correct and true understanding of Islaam. I taught him the Arabic alphabet, and how to make perform ablutions for prayer and how to perform salaah and most of Surah Faatiha. I had a weekend off so we took a trip a couple of hundred kilometres away to the city of Arhus; which is the second biggest city in Denmark and we visited two mosques, one Turkish and the other Somalian. I could see and feel that he was positively affected by the influence of Islaam and I understood that Allaah had brought us together that he could learn something of Islaam from me. To me it was an honour that I be used as an instrument of teaching at the hand of the Almighty for I am certain and sure that nothing occurs in the universe without the express will and permission of our Divine Creator – no matter what the unbelieving people think! When the heart opens up to the faith of truth and purity so too do the senses become attuned to the reality and fact that we are enveloped in the power and the might and the glory of The One in whose hand my heart is kept.
Another time it was arranged by my teacher that I spend some time with one of the young men who was suffering from mental disabilities. I was informed that he had extreme anger management issues and it was not uncommon for him to display the anger by physically hitting someone or by throwing objects around. He and I were to sit for a couple of hours before lunch and he was to tell me of his experiences of his two trips to Malawi. We chatted for a while whilst we enjoyed tea and we got on alright. I found him to be mild and well mannered. After a while he asked me directly, “Who is Muhammad”? I took the time to explain briefly Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) lineage and his relation to the other prophets. I told him a little bit about his history and the message that he brought. I knew already, as I said, that this young man had issues with anger so I took the opportunity to tell him how our prophet (peace be upon him) taught us not to get angry and that he (peace be upon him) said that if we get angry we should drink some water as the water cools the fire of anger and that if we are standing and we feel anger we should sit for a while and if we are sitting when we feel anger then we should lie down for a while. I also asked him if he would like to learn some words which we use to defeat anger and remove it from us. He said he would like that very much so I taught him to say “a’oothoo billah” (I seek refuge in God) and I wrote it down for him on a piece of paper that he put away in his pocket. It seemed to me that we got on quite well and a few times after that meeting we met and even travelled to some places nearby and he and I never had a moment’s anger or displeasure between us.
There were many times during my time at Tvind that I spoke to people and I encouraged learning and reflection and sharing and understanding and I taught people that Islaam is peaceful and tolerant and that we need to discover the common things between us and work on understanding one another. Another young lady joined my Arabic lessons, she was from Lithuania and she had been to Morocco and she wanted to learn to read and speak Arabic and she displayed an eager interest in learning to understand. Actually whilst I was at Tvind I had a room that was in a common house with a common kitchen and a common sitting room. I and my two Arabic students would sit in the sitting room in the evenings after supper and we would learn Arabic and discuss some of the Quraan and Islaam. Not once in my time at Tvind did I ever promote animosity or did I break any rules or did I be anything but a kind and patient person. I tried my very best to be a good Muslim and whenever I had the opportunity I would bring light upon a dark situation. I had the feeling that a lot of people loved me and respected me and whenever I would sit for lunch in the common dining area people would choose to sit with me and eat. I never asked for any special favours from anyone and neither did I expect any so I was absolutely astonished when I was told late one evening, after having been on the course for 5-weeks, that there was to be another meeting the next day about my “relationship” with Islaam.
I attended the meeting and I was surrounded by my teacher to my right, a young girl of no more than 21 on my front right, a senior student from the teacher training program who had been promoted to the status of teacher next to her and moving anti-clockwise round the table there was also my teachers wife who worked in promotions and one of the teachers who worked with the difficult teenagers and finally to my left the lady who was responsible for the windmill and whom I had worked under. It was an ominous gathering, but I was calm yet expectant as I had been wondering since the night before whatever this meeting could be about. I soon found out as they assaulted me with allegations and insinuations and haggled between themselves as to whether they were a secular institution or not. I was surprised at the level of discussion as it seemed to me as if I was being charged for a crime, but the evidence they brought wouldn’t hold a drop of water. Everything was either hypothetical or circumstantial with them drawing conclusions on my intentions. I was flabbergasted how they each and every one of them told me who I was and how I thought. I said to them that it is better to think kindly about people and look for the good qualities and try to overlook the short-comings. It was like talking to snow! It didn’t matter that my course studies were perfect or that my teacher conceded that I would do a very good job in Africa or that my work in the afternoons was without fault. I soon realised that these people were not only driven by paranoia but also they were acting irrationally. The message was basically the same as before that I should give up speaking about Islaam and I should have realised that I was causing schisms amongst some of them and that my very presence was undermining some of their authority. They said to me that I had to leave the course and get away as fast as possible from them. They refunded my course fees and so the very next morning I left Tvind and set off upon my return journey back to East London.