The Shower

Or, more aptly, "the Bathhouse" would be a better name for the movie that I saw last night. The Gaborone Film Society partnered with the Chinese embassy to show a foreign film in the AV centre here on campus. A selection of Chinese desserts greeted us movie-goers as we entered the auditorium, along with varied piles of books regarding different "China" topics: food, music, politics, economics... A smörgåsbord of literature and cuisine. The wife of a Chinese embassy official greeted me; we had met at a former foreign film, one without all the bells and whistles of this event. The reason for such an exciting evening? The Chinese ambassador would be coming, and the Beijing Olympics would be the focus of the celebration.
The movie, which started after a brief power-cut ended (and the number of people who carry flashlights, or "torches" in the local lingo, was revealed to be surprisingly high), told the story of an old man, Mr. Liu, who owns a bathhouse in modern Beijing. Essentially a story of tradition versus modernization, one of Liu's sons, Erming, is mentally challenged, and helps his father in the bathhouse. The other son has moved to a big city, to work in a big company, and make "big money". He returns home when his father begins ailing, and must try to explain to Erming that the bathhouse is going to be torn down to build new skyscraper offices. The moving portrayal of the family makes "The Shower" a very touching movie.
In the first few minutes of the movie, someone very important-looking came and sat next to me. I like to think that he was the ambassador... And that leads me to thinking about Botswana. Only in this country would one be able to walk into an event hosted by the Chinese embassy, where the ambassador was going to be, and not have to have your bag checked or pass through security. No gun-toting guard.
And yet, if someone drunk wanders in front of your car at night and you hit them, you shouldn't stop. You must drive to the nearest police station, especially if you are in South Africa. Even if there are people dying on the side of the road, if you are in South Africa, you never stop. Or you will be the next dying person that the next car stops for.
But half an hour away from the border, on this little school campus, I can sit next to practically the entire Chinese embassy and they feel perfectly safe. Which they are.