Learning the Art of Helping: Building Blocks and Techniques (The Merrill Counseling) 5th Edition, (Ebook PDF) full chapter instant download

You might also like

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 44

Learning the Art of Helping: Building

Blocks and Techniques (The Merrill


Counseling) 5th Edition, (Ebook PDF)
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/learning-the-art-of-helping-building-blocks-and-techni
ques-the-merrill-counseling-5th-edition-ebook-pdf/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Learning the Art of Helping: Building Blocks and


Techniques 6th Edition Mark E. Young

https://ebookmass.com/product/learning-the-art-of-helping-
building-blocks-and-techniques-6th-edition-mark-e-young/

Career Development Interventions (Merrill Counseling)


5th Edition, (Ebook PDF)

https://ebookmass.com/product/career-development-interventions-
merrill-counseling-5th-edition-ebook-pdf/

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping


Professionals (2-downloads) (The Merrill Counseling
Series)

https://ebookmass.com/product/assessment-procedures-for-
counselors-and-helping-professionals-2-downloads-the-merrill-
counseling-series/

Trapped: Brides of the Kindred Book 29 Faith Anderson

https://ebookmass.com/product/trapped-brides-of-the-kindred-
book-29-faith-anderson/
Foundations of Addictions Counseling (2-downloads) (The
Merrill Counseling Series)

https://ebookmass.com/product/foundations-of-addictions-
counseling-2-downloads-the-merrill-counseling-series/

Orientation to the Counseling Profession: Advocacy,


Ethics, and Essential Professional Foundations (Merrill
Counseling) 3rd Edition, (Ebook PDF)

https://ebookmass.com/product/orientation-to-the-counseling-
profession-advocacy-ethics-and-essential-professional-
foundations-merrill-counseling-3rd-edition-ebook-pdf/

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping


Professionals (Merrill Counselling) 8th Edition – Ebook
PDF Version

https://ebookmass.com/product/assessment-procedures-for-
counselors-and-helping-professionals-merrill-counselling-8th-
edition-ebook-pdf-version/

Clinical Mental Health Counseling in Community and


Agency Settings (Merrill Counseling)

https://ebookmass.com/product/clinical-mental-health-counseling-
in-community-and-agency-settings-merrill-counseling/

Statistics: The Art and Science of Learning from Data


5th Edition Alan Agresti

https://ebookmass.com/product/statistics-the-art-and-science-of-
learning-from-data-5th-edition-alan-agresti/
Preface vii

growth. In this book, we describe six factors. The first is the therapeutic relationship,
which is covered in Chapter 3. It is so important that we decided to address this early in
the book. The remaining therapeutic factors include enhancing efficacy and self-esteem
(Chapter 13); practicing new behaviors (Chapter 13), lowering and raising emotional
arousal (Chapter 14); activating expectations, motivation, and hope (Chapter 14); and
new learning experiences (Chapter 14). Under each of these therapeutic factors, you will
learn more advanced change techniques such as role-playing, relaxation, and reframing.
Although these techniques are more complex, once you have established the founda-
tion with the basic building blocks, you will be ready to construct these more elaborate
methods.

MyCounselingLab ™

Help your students bridge the gap between theory and practice with MyCounselingLab . ™

MyCounselingLab connects your course content to video- and case-based real world

scenarios, and provides:


• Building Counseling Skills exercises that offer opportunities for students to
develop and practice skills critical to their success as professional helpers. Hints and
feedback provide scaffolding and reinforce key concepts.
• Assignments & Activities assess students’ understanding of key concepts and skill
development. Suggested responses are available to instructors, making grading easy.
• Multiple-Choice Quizzes help students gauge their understanding of important
topics and prepare for success on licensure examinations.
Access to MyCounselingLab can be packaged with this textbook or purchased standalone.

To find out how to package student access to this website and gain access as an
instructor, go to www.MyCounselingLab.com, email us at counseling@pearson.com,
or contact your Pearson sales representative.
The videos that accompanied the previous edition of Learning the Art of Helping
on DVD are now exclusively available online via MyCounselingLab . ™

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In my own journey, there have been many who have taught and inspired me to be
a better person and a better helper. I must acknowledge my teachers Rajinder Singh,
J. Melvin Witmer, Harry Dewire, and James Pinnell, my first supervisor, who took me
as a raw recruit in a mental health clinic, sacrificing his time and talent to teach me
as an apprentice. We shared a zeal and passion for the profession, and his wisdom
infuses every chapter of this book. I must also mention my friends who have encour-
aged me in my writing: Sam Gladding, Gerald Corey, Jeffrey Kottler, Adam Blatner, John
Norcross, and Jerome Frank. I appreciate the feedback from Linda Robertson, and my
friends at Ohio State University, Darcy and Paul Granello. Tracy Hutchinson, my col-
league, deserves special mention for reading every chapter and giving feedback at every
step. I also recognize the helpful comments of those who reviewed various drafts of the
manuscript: Beulah Hirschlein, Oklahoma State University; Shawn Spurgeon, University
viii Preface

of Tennessee at Knoxville; Sue Stickel, Eastern Michigan University; Barbara Thompson,


George Washington University; and Carrie Wachter Morris, Purdue University.
I would like to thank my editor, Meredith Fossel, for her confidence and support.
Finally, I recognize the contribution of my wife, Jora, who remains my most demanding
critic and my staunchest supporter.
BRIEF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Helping as a Personal Journey 1


Chapter 2 The Nuts and Bolts of Helping 27
Chapter 3 The Therapeutic Relationship 51
Chapter 4 Invitational Skills 79
Chapter 5 Reflecting Skills: Paraphrasing 103
Chapter 6 Reflecting Skills: Reflecting Feelings 119
Chapter 7 Reflecting Skills: Reflecting Meaning and Summarizing 137
Chapter 8 Challenging Skills 164
Chapter 9 Assessment and the Initial Interview 189
Chapter 10 Goal-Setting Skills 221
Chapter 11 Change Techniques 243
Chapter 12 Outcome Evaluation and Termination Skills 260
Chapter 13 Therapeutic Factors and Advanced Change Techniques: Part I 279
Chapter 14 Therapeutic Factors and Advanced Change Techniques: Part II 306

Glossary 343
References 348
Index 373

ix
CONTENTS

Chapter 1 HELPING AS A PERSONAL JOURNEY 1


The Demands of the Journey 2
Becoming a Reflective Practitioner 2
Using Reflection to Help You Overcome Challenging Helping Situations
and Enhance Your Learning 3
Using Reflection to Help Clients with Backgrounds Different from Your Own 4
Using Reflection to Accommodate New Information about Yourself 4
Learning to Reflect Through Exercises in This Book 6
How a Helper Develops: Perry’s Stages 8
The Dualistic or “Right/Wrong” Stage 9
The Multiplistic Stage 9
The Relativistic Stage 10
The Development of Expertise 12
Implications of the Concept of Expertise for Training Helpers 12
The Challenge of Development 14
Taking Responsibility for Your Own Learning 14
Finding a Mentor 14
Finding the Perfect Technique 15
In Limbo 15
Accepting Feedback and Being Perfect 15
Following Ethical Guidelines 16
Individual Differences 17
The Perfect Helper, or When Do I Quit Developing? 18
Who Can Be an Effective Helper? 19
The Legacy of Rogers 19
Courage to Confront 20
Other Research on Effective Helping 20
What Can You Bring to a Client? 21
Video Exercises 23
Summary and Suggestions 24
Exercises 25
Small Group Discussions 25
Written Exercises and Self-Assessment 25
Homework 25
Journal Starters 25
x
Contents xi

Chapter 2 THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF HELPING 27


Defining Some Important Terms 28
What Is Helping? 28
Psychological Helping 30
Interviewing 30
What Are Counseling and Psychotherapy? 32
Coaching 33
How Is Professional Helping Different from Friendship? 33
What Can You Expect from a Helping Relationship? 34
Learning Basic Skills and Common Therapeutic Factors 37
Therapeutic Building Blocks 38
The Importance of the Building Block Skills 40
Stages of the Helping Process: A Road Map 40
Relationship Building: The Heart of Helping 42
Assessment Stage 43
Goal-Setting Stage 44
Intervention and Action Stage 44
Evaluation and Reflection Stage 45
Summary 47
Exercises 48
Group Exercises 48
Small Group Discussions 49
Written Exercises and Self-Assessment 49
Self-Assessment 50
Homework 50
Journal Starters 50

Chapter 3 THE THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIP 51


The Importance of the Therapeutic Relationship in Creating
Change 53
The Unique Characteristics of a Therapeutic Relationship 55
What Clients Say 56
How Can a Helper Create a Therapeutic Relationship? 57
Relationship Enhancers 57
Other Factors That Help or Strain the Therapeutic Relationship 63
Facilitative Office Environment 63
Distractions 64
Appearing Credible and Taking a Nonhierarchical Stance 64
xii Contents

Therapeutic Faux Pas 66


Transference and Countertransference 67
Summary 74
Exercises 75
Group Exercises 75
Small Group Discussions 75
Written Exercises and Self-Assessment 76
Homework 77
Journal Starters 78

Chapter 4 INVITATIONAL SKILLS 79


Listening to the Client’s Story 81
Nonverbal Communication Between Helper and Client 83
Nonverbal Skills in the Helping Relationship 84
Eye Contact 85
Body Position 86
Attentive Silence 86
Voice Tone 86
Facial Expressions and Gestures 87
Physical Distance 87
Touching and Warmth 88
Opening Skills: How to Invite 90
Encouragers 90
Questions 92
Summary 97
Exercises 98
Group Exercises 98
Small Group Discussions 100
Written Exercises 101
Self-Assessment 101
Homework 101
Journal Starters 102

Chapter 5 REFLECTING SKILLS: PARAPHRASING 103


Reflecting Content and Thoughts, Reflecting Feelings, and Reflecting
Meaning 104
Reasons for Reflecting 106
Contents xiii

The Skill of Paraphrasing: Reflecting Content


and Thoughts 107
How to Paraphrase 108
When to Paraphrase 110
Common Problems in Paraphrasing 112
Simply Reciting the Facts 112
Difficulty Hearing the Story Because of “Noise” 112
Worrying about What to Say Next 113
Being Judgmental and Taking the Client’s Side 113
Being Judgmental of the Client 114
Summary 116
Exercises 116
Group Exercises 116
Small Group Discussions 117
Written Exercises 117
Self-Assessment 117
Homework 118
Journal Starters 118

Chapter 6 REFLECTING SKILLS: REFLECTING FEELINGS 119


The Importance of Understanding Emotions 120
The Skill of Reflecting Feelings 120
Why It Is Difficult to Reflect Feelings 121
How to Reflect Feelings 122
A Formula for Reflecting Feelings 122
Improving Your Feeling Vocabulary 125
Common Problems in Reflecting Feelings 126
Asking the Client, “How Did You Feel?” or “How Did That
Make You Feel?” 126
Waiting Too Long to Reflect 126
Turning the Reflection into a Question 127
Combining a Reflection and a Question: The Error of the Compound
Response 127
Focusing on the Wrong Person or the Wrong Topic 127
Letting the Client Ramble 129
Using the Word Feel Instead of Think 129
Undershooting and Overshooting 130
xiv Contents

Parroting 130
Letting Your Reflecting Statements Go On and On 131
Summary 133
Exercises 133
Group Exercises 133
Written Exercises 135
Self-Assessment 135
Homework 136
Journal Starters 136

Chapter 7 REFLECTING SKILLS: REFLECTING MEANING


AND SUMMARIZING 137
Meaning, Uncovering the Next Layer 139
Why Reflect Meaning? 141
Challenging the Client to Go Deeper: The Inner
Circle Strategy 142
Worldview 144
How to Identify Meaning Issues with a Client 145
Reflecting Meaning 145
Using Open Questions to Uncover Meaning 148
Summarizing 149
Focusing Summaries 149
Signal Summaries 150
Thematic Summaries 150
Planning Summaries 151
The Nonjudgmental Listening Cycle 151
When Do You Use Each Skill? 151
Why Is the Cycle Described as Nonjudgmental? 153
A Questioning Cycle Typically Found Early in
Training 154
Summary 158
Exercises 158
Group Exercises 158
Small Group Discussions 159
Written Exercises 159
Self-Assessment 161
Homework 161
Journal Starters 163
Contents xv

Chapter 8 CHALLENGING SKILLS 164


When Should We Use the Challenging Skills? 166
Giving Feedback 167
Why Is Feedback Important? 167
The Johari Window 168
How to Give Feedback 169
Confrontation 172
Why Should Inconsistencies Be Confronted? 172
Cognitive Dissonance and Confrontation: Why Confrontation
Works 173
Types of Discrepancies 173
How to Confront 175
Steps to Confrontation 176
Other Ways of Confronting 177
Evaluating Confrontation and Client Response 180
The Client Acceptance Scale: Gauging the Client’s Response to
Confrontation 180
Problems and Precautions 183
Summary 185
Exercises 185
Group Exercises 185
Small Group Discussions 187
Written Exercises 187
Self-Assessment 188
Homework 188
Journal Starters 188

Chapter 9 ASSESSMENT AND THE INITIAL INTERVIEW 189


Why Assessment? 190
Testing as an Assessment Tool 192
Assessment Is a Critical Part of Helping 192
Reasons to Spend Time in the Assessment Stage 193
Categorizing Clients and Their Problems 196
Organizing the Flood of Information: Making a Diagnosis 196
Beginning Assessment Methods 198
The Mental Status Examination 198
Observation 200
Questioning 203
xvi Contents

Genograms 204
Conducting an Interview Using a Brief Intake Form 207
When to Refer Someone for In-Depth Testing 216
Summary 218
Exercises 218
Group Exercises 218
Small Group Discussions 218
Written Exercises 219
Self-Assessment 219
Homework 220
Journal Starters 220

Chapter 10 GOAL-SETTING SKILLS 221


Where Do I Go from Here? Set Goals! 223
Why Must We Set Goals? 223
When to Set Goals 224
What Are the Characteristics of Constructive Goals? 224
Goals Should Be Specific 225
Goals Should Be Stated Positively 226
Goals Should Be Simple 227
Goals Should Be Important to the Client 228
Goals Should Be Collaboration between Helper
and Client 229
Goals Should Be Realistic 229
Resources for Identifying and Clarifying Goals 231
Who Owns the Problem? The Technique of Focusing on
the Client 232
How to Focus on the Client 232
The Technique of Boiling Down the Problem 234
Constructing Measurable Goals 236
Long-Term and Short-Term Goals 237
Summary 240
Exercises 240
Group Exercises 240
Small Group Discussions 241
Written Exercises 241
Self-Assessment 242
Contents xvii

Homework 242
Journal Starters 242

Chapter 11 CHANGE TECHNIQUES 243


Giving Advice and Information 245
Giving Advice 245
Giving Information 248
Brainstorming 249
Creativity and the Art of Helping 249
What Is Brainstorming? 250
How to Brainstorm 251
The Skill of Alternate Interpretation 253
How to Teach a Client to Use Alternate Interpretation 253
Summary 256
Exercises 257
Group Exercises 257
Small Group Discussion 258
Written Exercises 258
Self-Assessment 259
Homework 259
Journal Starters 259

Chapter 12 OUTCOME EVALUATION AND TERMINATION SKILLS 260


Evaluating the Effectiveness of Helping 262
Basic Outcome Evaluation Methods 263
Use Progress Notes to Track Improvement on Goals 263
Use a Global Measure to Detect Overall Improvement 264
Use a Specific Measure 265
Use Subjective Scaling and Self-Report to Measure
Improvement 265
Use Another Person to Monitor Change 265
Use Client Satisfaction Scales 266
Use Goal-Attainment Measures 266
Use Program Evaluation 267
Termination 268
How to Prevent Premature Termination 268
How to Tell Whether Termination is Needed 270
How to Prepare a Client for Termination 271
xviii Contents

Dealing with Loss at Termination 271


The Helper’s Reaction to Termination 272
How to Maintain Therapeutic Gains and Prevent Relapse Following
Termination 272
Follow-up 272
Fading 273
Contacts with Paraprofessionals 273
Self-Help Groups 273
Self-Monitoring Activities 273
Self-Management Skills 274
Role-Playing for Relapse Prevention 274
Letter Writing 274
Summary 275
Exercises 275
Group Exercises 275
Small Group Discussions 276
Written Exercises 276
Self-Assessment 277
Homework 277
Journal Starters 278

Chapter 13 THERAPEUTIC FACTORS AND ADVANCED CHANGE TECHNIQUES:


PART I 279
REPLAN and the Therapeutic Factors 280
R = Establishing and Maintaining a Strong Helper/Client Relationship 281
E = Enhancing Efficacy and Self-Esteem 281
P = Practicing New Behaviors 281
L = Lowering and Raising Emotional Arousal 281
A = Activating Client Expectations, Hope, and Motivation 281
N = Providing New Learning Experiences 281
Treatment Planning and the REPLAN System 281
Steps in Treatment Planning Using the REPLAN Model 282
The Therapeutic Factor of Enhancing Efficacy and Self-Esteem 283
Sources of Low Self-Esteem 286
Silencing the Internal Critic: The Technique of Countering 288
How to Counter 288
Problems and Precautions When Teaching the Countering Technique 290
A Variation on Countering: Thought Stopping 290
Contents xix

Practicing New Behaviors 291


Role-Playing 292
Elements of Role-Playing 293
Three Phases of Psychodramatic Role-Playing 293
How to Conduct Role-Playing 294
Problems and Precautions with Role-Playing 295
Giving Homework Assignments 295
Reasons for Using Homework 296
Examples of Homework Assignments 296
Problems and Precautions with Homework 298
Summary 301
Exercises 301
Group Exercises 301
Small Group Discussions 303
Self-Assessment 304
Homework 304
Journal Starters 305

Chapter 14 THERAPEUTIC FACTORS AND ADVANCED CHANGE


TECHNIQUES: PART II 306
Lowering and Raising Emotional Arousal 308
Reducing Negative Emotions 308
Reducing Anxiety and Stress 308
Raising Emotional Arousal and Facilitating Expression 313
Techniques That Stimulate Emotional Arousal and Expression 315
Creative Arts 315
Activating Client Expectations, Hope, and Motivation 317
The Demoralization Hypothesis 319
Increasing Expectations 319
Encouragement 321
How to Encourage 325
Providing New Learning Experiences 328
Definitions of New Learning 328
What Client Problems Are Helped Through New Learning? 329
Resistance to New Learning 329
Common Methods Helpers Use to Provide New Learning Experiences
for Clients 330
The Technique of Reframing 333
xx Contents

Summary 337
Exercises 337
Group Exercises 337
Small Group Discussions 338
Written Exercises 338
Self-Assessment 340
Homework 340
Journal Starters 341

Glossary 343
References 348
Index 373
C H A P T E R

1
Helping as a Personal Journey

MyCounselingLab ™

Visit the MyCounselingLab site for Learning the Art of Helping: Building Blocks and

Techniques, Fifth Edition to enhance your understanding of chapter concepts. You’ll


have the opportunity to practice your skills through video- and case-based Assignments
and Activities as well as Building Counseling Skills units, and to prepare for your
certification exam with Practice for Certification quizzes.

The Demands of the Journey How a Helper Develops: Perry’s


Becoming a Reflective Practitioner Stages
• Using Reflection to Help You • The Dualistic or “Right/Wrong” Stage
Overcome Challenging Helping • The Multiplistic Stage
Situations and Enhance Your Learning • The Relativistic Stage
• Using Reflection to Help Clients with The Development of Expertise
Backgrounds Different from Your • Implications of the Concept of
Own Expertise for Training Helpers
• Using Reflection to Accommodate The Challenge of Development
New Information about Yourself • Taking Responsibility for Your Own
• Learning to Reflect Through Exercises Learning
in This Book • Finding a Mentor
1
2 Chapter 1 • Helping as a Personal Journey

• Finding the Perfect Technique • Other Research on Effective Helping


• In Limbo What Can You Bring to a Client?
• Accepting Feedback and Being Perfect Summary and Suggestions
• Following Ethical Guidelines
Exercises
• Individual Differences
• Small Group Discussions
The Perfect Helper, or When Do I • Written Exercises and Self-Assessment
Quit Developing? • Homework
Who Can Be an Effective Helper? • Journal Starters
• The Legacy of Rogers
• Courage to Confront

THE DEMANDS OF THE JOURNEY


Learning to be a professional helper is a journey that takes years. Besides gaining a
basic fund of knowledge about people and their strengths and challenges, one must be
constantly learning and updating knowledge just as a physician needs to know about
new treatments and new diseases. But helping is also a personal, “interior” journey
because you must be committed to understanding yourself as well as your clients. In this
book you will learn the essential counseling skills, but it is not enough to be skilled; at
every turn, you face self-doubt, personal prejudices, and feelings of attraction, repulsion,
and frustration. You will experience self-doubt when your clients encounter complex
and unfamiliar problems; you will experience attraction and repulsion because of your
personal needs and prejudices based on your cultural conditioning. Moreover, all helpers
become frustrated at times when clients fail to reach the goals we expect of them. These
reactions can be roadblocks on our journey if they interfere with the ability to form a
vibrant client/helper relationship or when we see the client as a reflection of ourselves
rather than as a unique human being. Irvin Yalom, in his book Love’s Executioner (1989,
pp. 94–95), describes his treatment of an obese woman who is depressed. From the
moment he meets her, he is disgusted by her body and realizes his reaction is extreme.
It makes him think about the rejection he received for being Jewish and white during
his childhood in segregated Washington, D.C. He thinks that maybe his repulsion is a
historical attempt to have someone to reject as he was rejected. It makes him wonder why
he cannot accept fatness even though he was able to easily counsel people who were
criminals when he worked in a prison. All of these reactions flood into his mind before
the client ever even opens her mouth. Becoming aware of our prejudiced responses to
others is part of the journey of the professional helper. This journey is difficult because
it requires that we simultaneously try to focus on the client while keeping a close watch
on our own tendencies to judge, to boost our egos, or to force our viewpoint on others.

BECOMING A REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER


Because of the challenges caused by our personal reactions and unique client characteris-
tics, we believe that helpers need a method of integrating new learning and coping with
moments of indecision and doubt. In this book, we teach one method of dealing with the
dilemma of understanding the client and monitoring the self. This is an approach called
Chapter 1 • Helping as a Personal Journey 3

the reflective practitioner. Being a reflective practitioner means that you make a com-
mitment to personal awareness of your automatic reactions and prejudices by taking time
to think back on them and perhaps record them in a journal or discuss them with a su-
pervisor or colleague. In other words, the reflective practitioner consciously reviews what
has happened and decides on a plan of action. Jeffrey Kottler (2004) considers reflection
to be not only a necessary characteristic of an effective helper but also a form of training.
Reflection trains one to be open to contemplation, to consider alternative plans of action,
to become resourceful, and to be inquisitive in one’s lifestyle as well as in one’s work.
You may find that your teachers ask you to use reflective methods in class and
on your own. For example, the teacher might use Socratic questioning (asking leading
questions), journal writing, watching and then reflecting on video segments, utilizing
small groups to react to case studies, or even reflecting teams (Griffith & Frieden, 2000;
Magnuson & Norem, 2002; Willow, Bastow, & Ratkowski, 2007). Just as every client will
respond to the same technique or skill in a different way, you, as a student, will react to
different learning situations based on your history and favored learning styles. Some stu-
dents learn best by listening and then reflecting, others need to write down what they are
learning, and some do best when they can have hands-on experience and then talk about
the theory. Thus, you will respond differently to different assignments throughout your
program of study based on your individual preferences. Still, reflection can help you even
when a teacher’s method does not suit your learning style. You can record what is said
and then write your reaction and rebuttals in the margins. You can come to class with
questions and concerns based on last week’s lesson. In short, the method of the reflective
practitioner challenges you to be more than a receptacle of knowledge. It asks that you
chew everything before you digest it, rather than asking you to remember and give back
just what you have heard or read.

Using Reflection to Help You Overcome Challenging Helping


Situations and Enhance Your Learning
If you are engaged in a course of study to become a professional helper, you will be con-
fronted with many new experiences both in the classroom and when you actually meet
your clients. For example, a client may be hostile and uncooperative. Your training may
tell you to encourage clients to articulate their concerns more fully. But sometimes this
seems to make the client even madder. The process of reflection can help at such times
when tried and true methods are not working. Let me give an example from my own ex-
perience. When I was first learning group counseling, I read in several textbooks that cli-
ents should never receive both group and individual therapy at the same time. As I began
to practice group counseling, I found support for this rule in the fact that when clients
received both treatments, they did not contribute to the group, saving their most personal
issues for their individual sessions. One day, I received a new client for my group who
had undergone a number of very traumatic events and was still in individual counseling
with another therapist. She performed beautifully in group, and she felt that individual
counseling was a vital support in her life. She seemed to be profiting from both treat-
ments. Normally, I would insist on the client dropping out of individual counseling while
she attended my group, but now my rule of thumb was in jeopardy because it did not
seem to be limiting her progress or the group. In fact, she was applying the insights of in-
dividual counseling to her interpersonal world! I went to my supervisor with my dilemma,
4 Chapter 1 • Helping as a Personal Journey

and she helped me put my old rule and my new experience together. With her help, I
constructed a revised rule: “Most of the time, clients will not benefit from both forms of
treatment; however, there are times, especially when the client is in need of a great deal
of support or has been traumatized, when both modalities might be beneficial.” I have
found that the process of reflection allows me to better accommodate new information
rather than rejecting it out of hand. You will undoubtedly experience similar moments as
you study the skills of helping. You may be shocked when you discover that the meth-
ods you have always used to help your friends are not recommended in a therapeutic
relationship. At times like these, reflection can help you meld old and new information.

Using Reflection to Help Clients with Backgrounds Different


from Your Own
An important and frequent challenge occurs when you encounter people who are com-
pletely different from you in one or several ways: culture or ethnicity, socioeconomics,
education, race, religion/spirituality, and family rules and relationships. For example, you
will encounter family situations where people openly express their thoughts and feelings
and others where they rarely if ever reveal their inner lives to each other. Because of
your own upbringing, you might be shocked or you might disapprove. If you undertake
the challenge of becoming a reflective practitioner, allow yourself to register surprise and
all the other emotions as you encounter these novel situations. Later, take time to think
back on what you know and what you have learned and compare it with your new ex-
perience. Through reflecting, you will be better able to separate your personal prejudices
about what seems normal and perhaps look at the situation from an alternate viewpoint.
The ability to see another perspective is enhanced when you have the opportunity to re-
flect with teachers, fellow students, and supervisors. Growth means that we expand and
are able to see multiple viewpoints. That is why we think of helpers as expanders rather
than as “shrinks.”

Using Reflection to Accommodate New Information about Yourself


Perhaps more than any other profession, helping requires helpers to become aware of
their own personalities, preferences, values, and feelings. Reflection can help you inte-
grate new discoveries that you make about yourself. It allows you to carefully consider
the feedback you are getting from supervisors, teachers, fellow students, and even your
clients. In the course of your training, others will comment on your interpersonal style
(the typical way you interact with others), your words, and even your gestures and pos-
ture. You will frequently become defensive, rationalizing your mistakes, discounting the
giver of feedback, or blaming the client for a lack of progress. These are natural reflexes
to the threat of feeling uncertain, impotent, or incompetent. The reflective practitioner is
one who examines and reflects on critical incidents and strong personal feelings in the
course of supervision, rather than making excuses or blaming others. He or she learns
from difficult clients, unpleasant interactions, failure of a technique, and unexpected suc-
cesses (Gordon, 2004). So being a reflective practitioner also means having the courage
to ask for feedback from others and then to reflect on how you can work more effectively
in a particularly difficult situation (Schön, 1983, 1987).
The following discussion describes some ways that you can be proactive in reflect-
ing on your practice, including asking for supervision, developing a support group of
Chapter 1 • Helping as a Personal Journey 5

fellow learners, becoming a client yourself, and keeping a personal journal. In addition,
this book contains a number of exercises to help you learn more about the process of
reflection.

ASK FOR SUPERVISION Supervision is the practice of a helper and a supervisor sitting
down to review the helper’s problems and successes with his or her clients. In supervi-
sion, you will reflect on possible courses of action, ethical issues, and personal reactions.
Everyone in the helping field needs periodic supervision whether he or she is a student
or a long-time practitioner. Professional helpers are required to be under supervision
while they are students and during their postdegree internships. Lawrence LeShan (1996)
reported that his own mentor still sought supervision for herself, even when she was in
her 80s, indicating that the reflective process is necessary at all stages of the journey. This
approach abandons the view of supervision as a dependent relationship and guidance
as the main reason for the supervisory relationship. Supervision’s real value is that it is a
time set aside for you to listen to yourself as you explain it to someone else. As a student,
you may have the opportunity to ask supervisors and faculty members to look at your
videos and discuss cases with you. Make use of this valuable opportunity to reflect on
your work. Schön (1987) indicates that having a “master teacher” is important, but it must
be in a setting where you have the chance to face real problems, try out various solutions,
and make mistakes. This is called reflection in action.

DEVELOP A SUPPORT GROUP OF FELLOW LEARNERS Another golden opportunity for re-
flecting on your new learning is to develop a supportive group of co-learners with whom
you can discuss your personal reactions. Many therapists in private practice are members
of such groups. In some training programs, students are part of a cohort or group that
goes through every class together. If you are not part of a cohort, you can still develop a
supportive group that meets regularly, shares information, and studies together.

BECOME A CLIENT Another way of building in a reflective component is entering a


counseling relationship as a client. More than half of therapists enter therapy after their
advanced training and about 90% consider it to be very beneficial (Norcross, 1990). Many
universities offer free counseling to students, and this can be a way for you to experience
what it is like to sit in the other chair. You should be aware that some schools restrict
their counseling centers to people who are in critical need.

KEEP A PERSONAL JOURNAL One of the most popular methods for reflecting is to keep
a personal journal. Journaling about one’s problems, feelings, relationships, and dreams
has dramatically increased in recent years. Some helpers even use journals as a therapeutic
technique (Stone, 1998). They write their reflections to clients in letters or client and coun-
selor journal together and compare notes. There is also a boom in online Internet journals.
For example, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has an online journal
for those experiencing grief and loss, which can be downloaded from their website. There
is even a magazine called Personal Journaling. Personal journaling is also available on
your smartphone using applications such as iJournal, Maxjournal, and Momento.

OTHER METHODS FOR REFLECTING Some researchers (Gordon, 2004; Sax, 2006) have
compiled lists of opportunities for reflection. These opportunities, which were submitted
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
same place again and again till the skin heals
in a raised scar.
It is essential that the director of an
ethnographical museum should be a good
man of business, even in Europe; but the same
man, if he would collect successfully in Africa,
must be more acute, patient, and
unscrupulous in bargaining than any
Armenian. I have already had occasion to
mention the unexpected difficulties met with
in this direction, and need not, therefore,
express my feelings now, but the Makonde are
certainly not disposed to make my task an
MAKUA WOMAN easy one. The black crowd is moving up in
WITH KELOIDS ON close order.
BACK
“Well, what have you got?” asks the
collector affably enough. By way of answer a
worn-out wooden spoon is put into his hand, probably fished out of
the rubbish-heap, as being quite good enough for the mzungu.
“Mshenzi!—you heathen! You may just take your treasure back
again. Let me see what else you have. Where is your mask?”
“I have none, sir?”
“Oh! indeed—then I will give you time to look for it. Come back to-
morrow, and mind you bring your mdimu, and don’t forget your
snuff-boxes.”
MAKUA WOMEN WITH KELOIDS

This scene would be repeated a dozen times or more in the course


of an afternoon; in some cases the penitential pilgrimage was
efficacious, in others the men never turned up again. Since noticing
this we have adopted a different procedure, and now simply render
the village headman responsible for the production of the articles.
This makes matters quite easy, and every evening, Knudsen, the
boys, and the more intelligent of the carriers have their hands full
making the inventory and packing the day’s purchases.
This country well repays the collector, though East Africa is
considered a rather dull ethnographical area compared with the
Congo basin, North Kamerun, and some other parts of West Africa.
It is true that one must not be very exacting as to the artistic quality
of weapons and implements produced by these tribes. I was all the
more surprised to find among the specimens of wood-carving,
collected in my district, some veritable little gems. The dancing-
masks are for the most part mere conventional representations of
human faces (those of women being distinguished by the pelele and
ear-ornaments), or of animal heads. A few specimens in my
collection are supposed to be portraits of celebrities—some heroes of
the late insurrection, a young girl famous for her beauty, and sundry
others, but on the whole, it cannot be denied that they are very
roughly executed. Of a somewhat higher type are the statues of the
Ancestress alluded to in a previous chapter. They leave, it is true, a
great deal to be desired on the score of anatomical knowledge and
harmony of proportions, but, on the other hand, some of these
figures are, so far as I know, the only ones from Africa in which the
feet have been worked out in detail.

MAKONDE WOMEN WITH ELABORATE KELOIDS

But it is above all the mitete, the little wooden boxes in which the
people keep their snuff, their medicines, and sometimes their
gunpowder—which show real taste and a style and execution which
can pass muster even from our point of view. The ornamentation
which the elder generation of men carry about on their skins in the
form of keloids is applied to the lids of these boxes. Some of them
take the shape of heads of animals: various kinds of monkeys, the
gnu, the bush-buck, and other antelopes, but oftenest the litotwe.
This is a creature of all others likely to catch the artist’s eye and
tempt him to reproduce it. It is a large rat, about the size of a rabbit,
and with a head which, by its shape, suggests that of the elephant, or
at least the ant-eater, the snout terminating in a long delicate
proboscis. At Chingulungulu Salim Matola caught one of these
creatures for me, but it escaped before I had time to sketch more
than its head.
AFRICAN ART. CARVED POWDER, SNUFF AND CHARM-
BOXES FROM THE MAKONDE HIGHLANDS

Human heads, too, are found among these


carvings, and are executed with the same skill
in technique. Most of them have the hair
dressed in a long pig-tail, and the face still
more cicatrized than the Makonde; these, I
learn, represent members of the Mavia tribe. I
cannot discover whether they are the work of
local artists, or of the Mavia themselves. The
vendors either give no answer at all when
asked or say, as all natives do when ignorant
of the origin of an article, “mshenzi,” that is to
say, “some unknown person away at the back
of the bush.” However, this does not affect our
critical judgment.
In the practice of one kind of art the
Makonde seem to be deficient. As has been my
custom elsewhere, I occupy all my spare time
in long walks, in order to observe the natives
in their own homes. This, however, is not so MAKONDE MAN WITH
KELOID PATTERNS
easy as it was in other places. I think it would
be possible to walk over the whole Makonde
plateau without finding a single settlement, so closely are the little
hamlets hidden away in the bush. But we have here an ideal guide,
Ningachi, the teacher, whose name means, “What do you think?”
Ningachi is a very decent, honest man, but thinking, in spite of his
name, does not appear to be his strong point. Indeed, he has but
little time for thought, being my courier and interpreter, and in that
capacity kept busy from morning to night. He has even made himself
useful by walking enormous distances to fetch plump young fowls for
our table.

YAO WOMEN WITH KELOIDS

Under Ningachi’s guidance we inspected more than one Makonde


village. They are picturesque—not even envy can gainsay that; but
not one of the wretched, airy, round huts, in which the generations of
these people dream away their dim lives is comfortable even
according to the modest standard of the native. They are not even
plastered with clay, in the usual fashion, and this of itself makes
fresco decoration impossible. In one sense this fact is a relief to me,
when I think of the miles I have tramped at other times, on hearing
of beautifully painted houses in such or such a village. Painted they
were, but the beauty was a matter of taste. We do not admire the
scrawls of our children, and just such—clumsy, rudimentary, utterly
devoid of perspective—are these beginnings of native art. In fact,
wherever artistically untrained man gives way to the universal
instinct of scribbling over all accessible surfaces, whether blank walls
or smooth rocks, the result is very much the same, whether produced
by the European tramp or street-boy, or by my Wangoni and Makua.
The mention of sketch-books suggests what will probably be my
most enduring monument in this country—if, indeed, the people
here in the south, or even my own men, preserve any recollection
whatever of the Bwana picha (the man who takes photographs),
once the expedition is over. If they do so, I feel it will not be my
unpronounceable name (my Wanyamwezi once, and only once,
succeeded in saying “Weure,” and on that occasion laughed so
consumedly, that I gave up all further attempts to accustom them to
this uncouth word), nor my title (Bwana Pufesa = Herr Professor)
nor the magical character of my machines, which will keep my
memory green, but the many books of thick white paper in which
they were allowed to scribble to their heart’s content.

THE LITOTWE

It was at Lindi that this artistic activity on the part of my native


friends first manifested itself in all its intensity. Barnabas especially
was indefatigable; every day, proud and yet anxious as to my
judgment, he brought me fresh masterpieces, only one of which is
reproduced in these pages, the herd of elephants on p. 190, but this
alone is quite sufficient to characterize the artist. Can we deny him a
certain power of perception? and is not the technique quite up to
date? It is true that the animals, taken separately, have with their
short legs a somewhat unfortunate likeness to the domestic pig,
while their heads suggest the chameleon; the upper line of the trunk
is seen in three of them behind the left tusk; and the mtoto, the baby
elephant on the right of the picture, has no body, leaving off just
behind its ears. But, nevertheless, the man not only knows
something about perspective, but knows how to apply it, and that by
no means badly.
With all his artistic virtues, Barnabas has one failing. He is no
mshenzi, no raw unlettered savage of the bush, but an educated, even
a learned man. By birth a Makua, from a distant part of the interior,
he has passed all the examinations in the Government school at
Lindi, and now attends to the stamping of letters and the weighing of
parcels in the little post-office of that town. In his spare time he
writes for the Swahili paper Kiongozi, published at Tanga.
Barnabas, therefore, cannot be considered as a representative of
primitive art. But not one of those who have produced my other
specimens, whether carriers, soldiers or savages from the interior,
has ever had pencil and paper in hand before.
Marine subjects appear to be in high favour.
My askari Stamburi (Stambuli, i.e.,
Constantinople) is a smart soldier while on
duty, off duty a Don Juan; and now he shows
himself possessed of an unsuspected gift for
marine and animal painting. He is a
landsman, born far inland on the Upper
Rovuma and has therefore succeeded better in
depicting the adventure of the Matambwe
fisherman (p. 347) than he has with the Arab
dau (p. 25). The latter is, indeed, drawn
accurately enough; it has just anchored; the
sail is bent to the yard; both flag and rudder
are shown. We have in addition three paddles,
floating above in the clouds. These are
intended, so the draughtsman tells me, for use
“BWANA PUFESA” if a calm comes on. But what is that
(THE PROFESSOR). amidships? Has the vessel sprung a leak, or,
FROM A DRAWING BY
ONE OF MY ESCORT
indeed, two? No—they are the two hatchways.
Stamburi knows that such openings exist on
the ship and therefore it is his duty as an artist
to put them in. Having no knowledge of perspective, he simply turns
them round through an angle of ninety degrees, so as to bring them
into full view from the side. Genius recognizes no limitations.
WANGONI WOMEN AT NCHICHIRA

The Matambwe fisherman in the other


picture has just anchored his boat at the bend
of the river, and then cast his line with the
uncouth iron hook. A few minutes after, he
feels a jerk,—then, a mighty pull—a broad,
round object swings through the air and lies
on the grass. The fisherman is just letting the
line run deliberately through his hand to draw
the booty up to him, when some monster,
probably of unearthly origin, dashes at his
fine, large turtle. It is only a common snake,
after all, though an unusually large one, and
the old man is not going to give up his spoil so
TWO NATIVES. tamely, but is holding on to the line for all he
DRAWN BY PESA is worth.
MBILI
Most of these drawings represent incidents
actually witnessed by the artist, and the
figures, whether of men or animals, are intended for portraits of real
individuals. Some, however, are purely genre pictures, such as the
woman pounding at the mortar under the eaves of her hut (p. 165),
and the mother with the baby on her hip (p. 345), which are typical
figures from everyday life, with no attempt at portraiture. So, too, the
two natives drawn by Pesa mbili are not intended for anyone in
particular. The fact is that, on the day when this was executed, at
Mahuta (October 21st), I had been chiefly occupied with the study of
keloids, and a number of men had been induced to remove their
garments and submit to my inspection. This stimulated the
headman, who was more intelligent than most of his companions, to
attempt the reproduction of two such figures.
The majority of the other drawings, not only represent actual
incidents, but are derived from the artist’s personal experience. The
drawing of the s.s. Rufiji (p. 18), done from memory, far inland, by
the Swahili Bakari, has a huge shark in the foreground, because it is a
reminiscence of a voyage in that vessel, when he saw that particular
shark at a certain place which, no doubt, he could point out with
unerring accuracy. When the carrier, Juma, brought me his
“Monkeys breaking into a plantation” (p. 168), he accompanied it
with this explanation—“But, Bwana Mkubwa, that is my shamba,
and I threw stones at the monkeys, and drove them away; there were
seven of them—great big ones.”
Of portraits in the strict sense, “Bana Pufesa” (the Professor), by
one of the soldiers (see p. 368) and the stilt-dancer on p. 237 by my
cook, Omari, both belong to the early days of the expedition, when I
had not yet lost the charm of novelty, and the Bondei man had only
seen one masquerader on stilts. Poor as Omari’s work is in other
respects, he on this occasion showed considerable courage in
attempting to represent his subject in full face, which a beginner very
seldom ventures to do. That my right eye should be seen wandering
through space like a star, is not surprising; that eye exists, and
therefore it must appear in the drawing.
A number of these drawings depict whole scenes from native life in
the district I have traversed. Here we have the chain-gang (p. 26), to
the number of seven men, marching slowly through the streets of
Lindi, five of the convicts with large tins on their heads, the last two
without loads. They are going to fill the bath in some European’s
house, an unpleasant task, because of the high ladder which has to be
climbed, in doing which the heavy chain drags uncomfortably at the
back of the man’s neck, but the soldier on guard behind is very strict,
and there is no shirking.
It is true that the large whip is not really part of his insignia, being
due merely to a stretch of the artist’s imagination, but he always
carries a loaded rifle, I am told, since a recent mutiny, in which the
guard was murdered. A likwata dance (p. 45) appeals to us as a
much more cheerful subject, especially when the Bwana picha is
engaged in conjuring the scene on to one of those remarkable glass
plates which are contained in his three-legged box, and on which all
the black women are white and their white peleles jet black. The
white man’s caravan, too, is a tempting subject. How proudly the two
boys, Moritz and Kibwana, are carrying their master’s guns, while he,
seated on his nyumbu, the old mule, is just turning round to survey
the procession behind him. The Imperial flag flutters merrily in the
morning breeze at the head of the long line of carriers laden with the
cases and boxes on which they are beating time to the march with the
sticks in their hands, all of them in the highest spirits, true to the
character of Pesa mbili’s friends from distant Unyamwezi. (See p.
104.) Another pleasant subject is the hunt commemorated by Salim
Matola (p. 77). In the sportsman armed with a bow the artist has
depicted himself striding along after his dog, in hot pursuit of a
buffalo. Kwakaneyao, the brown dog, is a keen hunter by nature—his
name means that he will drive away every other dog who may
attempt to dispute the quarry with him. In spite of this, however,
Salim Matola, by way of taking an extra precaution, before starting,
rubbed his companion’s teeth with certain roots, and gave him a
piece of the last-killed bush-buck to eat. Thereupon Kwakaneyao
rushed off into the pori like an arrow, so that his master could
scarcely keep up with him.

THE BUSH COUNTRY AND ITS FAUNA. DRAWN BY SALIM


MATOLA
The same Salim Matola shows us this pori with its characteristic
animals in another drawing which, sketchy as it is, reproduces the
character of the country with the utmost accuracy:—the scattered,
straggling trees, and the harsh, tall African grass between them,—the
dark green tree-snake in the tamarisk on the left, a hornbill on the
right, and in the background a small antelope. In short, this is in its
way a little masterpiece.
The Makua Isaki illustrates the superstitions of his tribe in the
little picture reproduced on p. 212. The comical little bird there
depicted is the ill-omened owl (likwikwi), which, crying night after
night, brought death to Marquardt’s little daughter. No native likes
to see or hear it.
The little sketch on p. 305 is a scene from Makonde life.
Mtudikaye, “the hospitable,” and her daughter Nantupuli, who has
not yet found a husband, though not for want of seeking, are taking
their turn to fetch water, as all the men are busy breaking up ground
in the bush, and, burdened with the carrying-poles and the great
gourds, have just accomplished the long, rough walk to the stream at
the foot of the plateau. The two banana-trees with their heavy
bunches of fruit, mark the place for drawing water: from the stepping
stones in their shadow one can get it much clearer than by standing
on the trampled, muddy bank.
Now we come to science. My men must have a marked
topographical instinct—otherwise it is difficult to explain the large
number of maps with which they have overwhelmed me. I have
reproduced only one of these (p. 9) the first, which quite took me by
surprise. The author is Sabatele, an unsophisticated child of nature
from the far south-west of our colony—the southern end of Lake
Tanganyika. He produced it at Lindi, quite in the early days of our
expedition. It gave rise to a great discussion, carried on with the aid
of Pesa mbili, the headman and other representatives of intelligence.
In a quarter of an hour we succeeded in identifying all the mysterious
signs, and I discovered to my astonishment that the orientation of
this first cartographic attempt was quite correct, and the topography
only wrong as regards some of the distances. Pointing to the curious
object marked in my reproduction, I received the unhesitating
answer “Mawo-panda”—Kinyamwezi for Dar es Salam. No. 2 is
“Lufu”—the Ruvu of our maps, the large river always crossed by
Wanyamwezi carriers on the main caravan road. No. 3 is explained
as “Mulokolo”—that is to say, Morogoro, the present terminus of the
great central railway, which will put an end once for all to the old
caravan traffic of the Wanyamwezi and Wasukuma. The
Wanyamwezi have a difficulty in pronouncing “r” and usually
substitute “l” for it. The contrast between these sturdy fellows and
the softness of their speech is a curious one.
No. 4 is “Mgata,” the Makata plain between the Uluguru and the
Rubeho mountains, the whole of which is a swamp in the rainy
season. “Kirosa” is the sound which greets me when I point with my
pencil to No. 5. “Of course, where there is no ‘r’ they pronounce it,” I
grumble to myself, delighted all the time with the splendid trill
produced; “therefore we must set it down as Kilosa.” No. 6 is the
“Balabala”—the caravan road itself. No. 7 is “Mpapwa,” the old
caravan centre, once the last halt on the inland march before the
dreaded Marenga Mkali, the great alkali desert, and hostile Ugogo.
Conversely, on the march down to the coast, it meant deliverance
from thirst and ill-treatment. Hesitatingly I place my pencil on No. 8,
which according to the drawing, must mean a stream of some sort,
though I know of none in that neighbourhood. In fact, the name
Mutiwe, which Sabatele now mentions, is quite unknown to me; it is
only on consulting the special map that I discover it, flowing past
Kilimatinde—N.B., when it contains water, which, needless to
remark, is not always the case. It must have impressed itself on
Sabatele’s memory as a water-course—otherwise, why should so
matter-of-fact a fellow have remembered the spot?
Now, however, we have reached the heart of German East Africa
and find ourselves in regions well known to my followers. No. 9 is the
lofty altitude of Kilimatinde, and No. 10 is called by Sabatele
Kasanga. I take the name for that of Katanga, the copper district far
to the south in the Congo basin, and shake my head incredulously,—
it is impossible that the young man can have travelled so far. On
cross-examination it comes out that he is from the Mambwe country
at the south end of Tanganyika, and his Kasanga is identical with our
station of Bismarckburg. No. 11 is my original goal Kondoa-Irangi,
and No. 12 is the post of Kalama, in Iramba. At Tobola, as my map-
maker calls Tabora, he even enters into detail. No. 13a is the present
Tabora with the new boma,—No. 13b is “Tobola ya zamani,” Old
Tabora, with the former boma. Nos. 14 and 15 are respectively Ujiji
on Lake Tanganyika and Mwanza, on Lake Victoria; these two
trading centres are Sabatele’s “farthest west” and “farthest north,” as
he explains to me with proud satisfaction.
Even without counting his comrades’ performances in the same
kind, Sabatele’s route-map is not an isolated phenomenon; on the
contrary, whole volumes have already been written on the subject of
cartography among the primitive races. Yet this unpretending little
sketch is by no means without psychological interest. We are
accustomed to look at every map from the south, considering the top
of it as the north. All my native maps are oriented in the opposite
direction—they look at the region represented as if from the north
and place the south at the top of the map.
This is likewise the case in the original of the one here reproduced,
which I have turned round through 180 degrees, merely in order to
bring it into agreement with our maps. The distances between the
various places are wrong, as already remarked, but otherwise it is
wonderfully correct, considered as the work of an entirely untrained
man.
The last of the native drawings reproduced is a combination of
landscape-painting and topographical diagram—in it Salim Matola
has represented the mountains of his home at Masasi (p. 65). None
of my attempts to photograph this range were successful. When, in
my excursions, I reached a spot far enough off to see it as a whole, it
was even betting that the air would be too hazy; and when near
enough to see any of the hills well, I was too near to get a good view
of all.
Salim has therefore supplied this want, and by no means
unskilfully. It is true that the native hunter on the top of Chironji,
and his gun, are both out of all proportion to the height of the
mountain itself, and the vegetation also errs in relative size (though
not in character), but everything else is right:—the series of gigantic
peaks—Mkwera, Masasi, Mtandi, Chironji, is given in the proper
order, and, on the left, the smaller outlying knobs of Mkomahindo,
Kitututu and Nambele. The steepness of the individual mountains is
well rendered, as also the rounded dome-shape of their tops;—
perhaps it would not be too much to say that Salim has tried, by
parallel and concentric strokes, to indicate the
structure of the gneiss.
The early rains appear to follow me
wherever I go. At Newala they began at the
end of September; at Nchichira, a few weeks
later, and here at Mahuta they set in with
considerable violence at the end of October.
Fortunately I was able, before they began, to
enjoy the natives even to excess. The Makonde
have for the last few weeks, been celebrating a
veritable series of popular festivals on a small
scale, on the fine large arena within the boma
enclosure. As these festivities were quite
spontaneous, I was able to feel assured of
their genuinely native character. More than
once I saw the stilt-dancers, with their
gigantic strides, rigid, masked faces and
waving draperies, stalking through the crowd.
One afternoon, a dancer, cleverly disguised as
a monkey, earned universal applause by his
excellent imitation of the animal’s movements
and gestures. The African is fond of laughing
—perhaps because he knows that this reflex
movement displays his magnificent teeth very MAKONDE WOMAN IN
becomingly, but on this occasion the gambols HOLIDAY ATTIRE
and somersaults of the mimic furnished a
sufficient excuse for the echoing volleys of
mirth.
MAKONDE HAMLET NEAR MAHUTA

A DIABOLO PLAYER ON THE


MAKONDE PLATEAU
Another man, a muscular fellow of middle height, seemed to be a
popular all-round comedian. He first showed himself a skilled
contortionist—in fact, he might have appeared without hesitation in
any European circus. He next gave an equally masterly performance
on the swinging trapeze, four strong men holding up a long pole
which served as the axis of his evolutions. Finally, he distinguished
himself as a clown. In accordance with the mental constitution of the
race, however, the comic effect was produced, not so much by facial
expression as by his attitudes and the movements of his legs, as will
be seen by the cinematograph records I took of his performance. To
complete the proof of his versatility, he appeared in the second part
of the programme as the hero of a pantomime. This was a “problem
play” of sorts,—the husband a blockhead, the wife (played as in the
classic drama of antiquity, by a man) an artful coquette,—the lover, a
Don Juan, approved in all the arts of seduction. The foundation of
the drama, as will be seen, is so far cosmopolitan, but the naturalness
and simplicity with which all the incidents of actual life took place on
the stage was genuinely primitive and African, and equally African
was the imperturbable gravity of the public, who obviously followed
the progress of the action with the deepest interest. There was no
silly laughter at the wrong time; no one made audible comments.
If anyone is still inclined to doubt that the original and
uncontaminated culture of our primitive peoples is rapidly perishing,
I would request him to consider the following.
Again it is a lively afternoon: dancing, singing, and games going on
everywhere. I am fully occupied, as usual, but all at once, my
attention is directed to a figure apparently pursuing an individual
activity by itself. The arms move rhythmically up and down, holding
two sticks about half-a-yard in length, united by a string of twisted
bark. Suddenly the arms are abruptly thrown apart, the right being
stretched upward, the left spread sideways, and like a bomb a still
unrecognisable object descends out of the air, is cleverly caught on
the string, and runs like a frightened weasel backwards and forwards
between the ends of the sticks. Immediately afterwards it has again
vanished in the air, but returns repentant to its owner, and the
process continues. I feel that I have somewhere seen this before, and
rack my brain for some time—at last I have it. This is no other than
the game of diabolo, which as we read in the German papers, is
pursued with such enthusiasm in England and
other countries where games are the rage.
When I left home, it was still unknown to my
compatriots, who, in this as in other matters,
limp slowly but steadily after the rest of the
world; but I venture to prognosticate that it
will begin to flourish among us when other
nations have dropped it as an obsolete
fashion. Now, too, I can recall a picture of the
game seen in a shop-window at Leipzig, and if
I compare my recollection of this with the
action of the man before me, I must confess
that this solution of the technical problem
could not be bettered. The narrow wedge-
shaped notch cut all round the convex surface
of the wooden cylinder gives free play to the
string without appreciably diminishing the
weight of the whole.[69]
Had I not been aware that the rain is the
only cause for the daily falling off in the
number of my visitors, I should here, too, have
reason to consider myself a mighty magician;
but, as it is, the people tell me frankly enough
that it is now time to attend to their fields. To DIABOLO
be candid, the leisure thus obtained is not at
all unwelcome. I am, indeed, satisfied, more
than satisfied, and have several times caught myself passing over
with indifference the most interesting phenomena in the life of the
people. There are limits to the receptive power of the human mind,
and when overtaxed, as mine has recently been, it altogether refuses
to take in further impressions.
Only Ningachi and his school never fail to excite my interest. Our
baraza is the second house on the south side of the boma, beginning
from the east. The first is the alleged abode of some Baharia; but in
reality it seems to be a large harem, for women’s voices keep up an
incessant giggling and chattering there. In the third house lives His
Excellency the Secretary of State to the Viceroy, in other words the
officially appointed clerk to the Wali. He is a Swahili from Dar es
Salam, and an intimate friend of Moritz’s, but his relations with the
pillar of my migratory household have not prevented my giving the
rascal a good dressing down. For some time after my arrival, I was
unable to get a proper night’s rest, on account of the perpetual crying
of a baby, evidently in pain, which was audible from somewhere
close at hand. Before long, I had traced it to its source and cited
father, mother and son to appear in my consulting-room. Both
parents, on examination, proved to be thoroughly healthy and as fat
as butter; the child, about a year old, was likewise round as a ball, but
covered from head to foot with sores in consequence of the most
disgraceful neglect. And this man can read and write, and is,
therefore, in the eyes of statisticians a fully accredited representative
of civilization, and looks down with abysmal contempt on those who
do not, like himself, lounge about in white shirt and embroidered
cap.
But now as to the fourth house. On the first morning, I saw,
without understanding the meaning of the sight, some six or eight
half-grown boys assembled in front of it about half-past six. My first
thought was that they were going to play, and, as I watched them,
they arranged themselves in Indian file in the order of their height.
They were then joined by a man in a white shirt, and, at a sign from
him, vanished, one after another, in the same order, under the
overhanging eaves. A sound reached my ear soon after, which, it is
true, was in itself nothing extraordinary; a deep voice reciting words
immediately taken up by a chorus of high trebles,—but something in
the quality of the utterance induced me to approach within earshot
without knowing what attracted me. Standing at a distance of a few
feet from the house, I became aware that I was actually listening to
German words. An elementary lesson in arithmetic was taking place.
“Und das ist eins—and that is one,” began Ningachi, and the class
echoed his words. Then followed, in like manner, “and that is two,”
“and that is three,” and so on, up to thirty-one, which appeared to be
the limit of the teacher’s arithmetical knowledge, as far as
numeration is concerned, for he then proceeded to exercises in
addition and subtraction. Having listened to these lessons on many
successive mornings, I have reluctantly been forced to the conclusion
that they are a mere mechanical drill. The pupils are at once
embarrassed if asked to point out at random any figure in the series
so neatly written out on the blackboard by their teacher, and in the
sums they appear to be hopelessly at sea. “Two minus eight is six,” is
a comparatively venial error. Ningachi himself does not feel very
happy when going through this routine, but says that he was taught
so in the Government School at Mikindani, and is bound to teach in
the same way himself. It was no great consolation to the honest
fellow to hear that there are cramming establishments elsewhere.
I finished my notes on the Makonde
language in an astonishingly short space of
time. Like a god from the machine, my pearl
of assistants, Sefu, suddenly appeared from
Newala, and in conjunction with him and
Ningachi I have been able to convince myself,
in the course of seven very strenuous days,
that Makonde is most closely connected with
the neighbouring idioms, and that it is
probably only the absence of the “s” sound
which has led other writers to describe it as
very divergent from Swahili and Yao. The
want of this sound, however, I feel certain, is
intimately connected with the wearing of the
pelele in the upper lip. I suppose all of us
ASKARI IN FATIGUE have, at one time or another, suffered from a
DRESS badly swelled upper lip. Is it possible, under
such circumstances, to articulate any sibilant
whatever? This theory, indeed, supposes that the men originally
wore the same lip-ornaments as the women. But why should this not
have been the case? The Mavia men wear them even now, and the
Mavia are said to be very closely related to the Makonde.
Only with the Wamwera I have had no luck. I have never lost sight
of my intention to return and spend some time in the country of that
tribe; but the Wali, Sefu, and other well-informed men tell me it is
impossible. They say that the Wamwera, having been in rebellion
against the Government, were unable to plant their fields last season,
as they were in hiding in the bush.
“The Wamwera,” they say, “have been at war with the Germans,
and so they were living in the bush, for the whole of the planting
season, and could not sow their crops. They have long ago eaten up
the little store they had hidden, and now they have nothing more;
they are all suffering from hunger, and many of them have died.” My
next suggestion was that we should provision ourselves here and
make for the Rondo plateau, but my advisers were very much against
this plan. They said the people in their despair would fall upon us
and fight with us for our supplies of corn. Well, I thought, if the
mountain will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the
mountain, and a few days later, there appeared, summoned by
special messengers, the two Wamwera alleged to be the most learned
men in the tribe. They were two elderly men, emaciated to skeletons,
without a trace of calves, or any other muscular development, while
their sunken cheeks and hollow eyes bore eloquent testimony to the
terrible sufferings they had undergone. We waited patiently while
they were getting fed—they devoured such quantities of porridge that
their stomachs protruded like large skittle-balls from their bodies. At
last they were in a fit condition to be questioned.
In spite of their reputation for wisdom, there was not much to be
got out of Machigo and Machunya; a few dozen clan names, a longer
list of simple words—that was all. Every attempt to ascertain by their
help the forms of verbs or any of the mysteries of syntax was an utter
failure. Probably it was not intelligence so much as intellectual
training that was wanting; anyone who should attempt to ascertain
the structure of the German language with the assistance of a
bullock-driver, would doubtless fare no better than I did.
I dismissed the old men after a short time without resentment—in
fact, I loaded them with presents, and, cheered by the consciousness
of their unexpected gains, they stepped out manfully on their road
northward.
With the departure of the two gaunt professors of Kimwera, I have
really got rid of my last scientific care, and that is just as well, for, as
I have already remarked, my appetite is more than satiated. I have
accomplished a respectable amount of work in the past few months. I
have taken more than 1,200 photographs; but the non-photographer,
who imagines the art to be a mere amusement, will scarcely place
this to my credit; and only the expert can appreciate the amount of
exertion and excitement represented by the above number of
negatives in a country like this. I have already alluded to some
difficulties; these have only increased with time, for the sun is every
day higher in the heavens, and the intensity of the light between

You might also like