Africa

In 2012 I went to Africa.

It is the only time I have ever been out of the country.  It was also the first time I had ever traveled out of the southern U.S.

Africa was not ever a place that I thought I would go.  I had not ever wanted to go to Africa.

Prior to that trip I was a follower of Christ and in a spiritual crisis.  I thought God was telling me to go to Africa so I went.  I am glad that I did, it changed my life.

I went to Africa with the idea that I was going to there to help the African people.  I thought there would be some grand moment of revelation or of God speaking to me.  Why else would God tell me to go to Africa?

From the moment I got off the plane, I began to fall in love with Africa, with Nairobi Kenya, where our plane landed.  It was strange to me, to set foot on soil so far from home, literally on the other side of the planet.  The soil was sandy and reddish, not unlike the soil I have seen in pictures of Mars taken by the rovers.  It might as well have been Mars.

There was a 100 foot cactus growing up like it was a shade tree, in the middle of the round-about near the airport exit.  There were scores of large white birds on the roof, the telephone poles and in the trees.  I had not ever seen or heard of birds like these, but they looked like they were big enough to eat a toddler if they were so inclined.

There were military personnel, police officers and security officers everywhere with M16 looking rifles, not across their back but in front, ready to open fire in the blink of an eye.  There is definite sense in the air that you don't want to cause trouble with anyone.

Africans have a very different outlook on how to drive and navigate traffic.  They are not put off by litter the way we are here in the U.S.  When they saw another large group of fat Americans, us, they see opportunity to earn money.  But the ones I encountered all wanted to do something for me to earn the money.  In the seventeen days that I was there, I only encountered one beggar.  One person who said "Please, give me some money".  I saw more people than I could ever count were living in desperate poverty.

We did not stay very long in Nairobi, we were headed to a rural village named Tawa.  We were a church group, we did churchy things.  We went to church.  We visited the orphanage and schools.  We visited people in their homes.  We hiked up mountains.  We saw incredible sights of plants and animals.  We met wonderful and amazing people.  We ate new and interesting food and learned new tastes.

We were in an impoverished region, a region devastated by drought.  Of the farms that had not been abandoned, all of them were struggling to produce enough food to sustain themselves.  It is a common story in this region to hear that the man, unable to produce enough to sustain himself and his family, abandons the farm and the family to go to the city to find work and start over.  In these conditions, I was surprised to not find one single person was sad, depressed, or unfriendly.  They live every day of their lives truly struggling to survive.  But each time we gave something intended to be a free gift, they would insist on also giving in return.  Even if we didn't present them with a gift, they insisted that they give to us a gift of some sort.  I tell you with out exaggeration, every single person we came across met us with a smile and was truly generous.  There were no beggars in Tawa.  No open hands looking for something, only open arms and warm greetings.

I do not mean to suggest that this place is perfect.  It is a desperate place, where the struggle to survive is real, it is intense and unrelenting.  I am saying that these people do not have the problems of self pity, selfishness or greed like we have here in the U.S.  And after reading this you perhaps think to yourself "Well I am not like that!"  Yes, you are.  I was and I am.  Compared to other Americans, perhaps you are not.  Compared to the Kenyans I met, yes you are.  We all are.

Visiting the poorest of the schools we would see, we met a small child that has haunted me ever since.  We noticed one child standing off at a distance from all the teachers and children.  He did not say or do anything to draw attention to himself.  He was not trying to hide.  He just kept a good distance away from everyone.  We asked about him and the teachers had him cover over to us and they told us his story.

The father had abandoned the family.  The mother was unable to feed all of her children and so to ease her burden, she beat this child to drive him away so she would not have to see him.  He had at one time been a student at that school but it had been some time ago.  At first the teachers were giving the child some of their food and gave him water from the water tank there at the school.  But as the drought had gotten worse they were no longer able to spare the food.  The foundation of the water tank failed and the back half of the water tank broke off and fell down the hill side so they were no longer had water available.

There is no power grid in Kenya.  There is no water water pipes delivering water everywhere in Kenya.  If you want water you have to go find it.  Most of the creeks had long since dried up.  There was a river near by but it was very, low and also polluted with waste.  Most people in Tawa have to walk 20 to 40 minutes to access water from the river.  There are some wells that have been drilled but you must pay money to get water from the wells.

So here is this small child, he looked like maybe he was four years old.  He is literally dressed in rags, he as an infection in his eye.  He has no food.  He has no water.  He has no medicine.  He has nothing.  He has nothing in truest, cruelest sense of the words.

Here in the U.S. when we say "There is nothing to eat" what we mean is there is nothing that we want to eat or there is nothing that we are willing to spend the energy to prepare so we can eat it.  There is food to eat, we're just either to lazy or picky to eat it.  In Tawa, no food means there is - no food -.  Really and truly, no food.

This little boy was actually eight.  He lives in Tawa Kenya, so he looks like he is four to me, another fat American.  This little boy had no food, no water.  But on this private bust that we rented, driven by the driver we hired, is a 5 gallon igloo cooler that is filled with crystal clear, clean iced water.  And in my seat is two packages of crackers that I brought along for a snack.  Of course I had already had a nice large breakfast before we left where we were staying that morning.

We have seen pictures in magazines, in movies and on TV of starving children in Africa.  I sometime felt sad for them but usually did think much about it.  It is a completely different situation when a starving child is looking you in the eye.  A child that is not so unlike my own children.  Everything that I knew understood about life or the universe or my place in it changed in that moment.  Everything changed, everything in the same magnitude as none, like no food, no water.  I continue to be changed each day.  This child is with me, reminding me that I need to change.

In that moment I was overwhelmed by the amount of need in the world.  I was overwhelmed by how ridiculously insignificant I am, how powerless I am to do anything about the suffering in the world, the suffering of children like my own precious children.  But then I realized that it is not for me to solve the problems of the world, it is up to me to do something.

Do Something!  Do what?

I can change my attitude.  I can change the way I look at people and situations.  I can change the way I live my life, how much I consume, what I consume.  I can focus on giving more than I take.

In Tawa, people were giving from the heart.  We were giving out of our abundance.  In Tawa, the most important thing between any two people is the interaction, the relationship between them.  We were so wrapped up in task lists, times, places and events.  People were secondary.

It is up to me to change.  Make people and my relationships with them most important.  Give what ever I have to give, to whoever needs it, and give it freely.  I am not the smiley type but I can be kind and polite.  I can listen when people want to speak.

If I can learn to want less, to need less, there can be more for people need but have nothing or do not have enough.

I may not make one iota of difference in the world but it won't be because I have not tried.  Trying is doing something isn't it?