Sitting in a small Swazi church with a sleeping two year-old in my lap, the words being spoken rang true.
The pastor was talking about overcoming fear and he used us as his example.
He said, “For these Americans to come here took courage. It took faith. Because in America they’re told that, in Africa, there’s nothing but poverty and death. That if they come here, they’ll be eaten by a wild animal. They’ll be bitten by something poisonous, robbed or contract a deadly disease. This is all they knew of Africa and yet they came. So for them, it took courage.”
At his description of their home, the entire congregation chuckled.
He proceeded with his point but as the laughter died out, my mind stayed with these words. Because he was absolutely correct – I just hadn’t thought of it in those terms before. And as I looked out the window over an endless landscape of lush green mountains and a waterfall that fed into a crystal blue lake, it wasn’t difficult to remember back to when I was sure that all of Africa was made of nothing but dirt and rocks. No life, no vegetation, no beauty. Everyone ran around naked and ate mud here, right?
And although there are places in Africa where the poverty is great and the need can be overwhelming, I’m still struck by the untouched beauty of this continent each and every day.
A smile played on my lips as I recalled the countless times Asians and Africans alike have told us what they’re brought up believing about Americans.
We’ve heard everything from “We thought all American women were easy, that they’ll have sex with anyone at any time, no questions asked” to, “It’s so nice to see that there are still Christians in America! We didn’t know there was anyone left there who truly followed Christ!” Each time I hear one of these blatant untruths, I can’t help but stare open-mouthed, blink and say, “WHAT??”
But the truth is – my misconceptions of them were just as off as theirs were about me.
And the problem is, we do this all the time. We take ONE person’s experience with a person, place or people group and accept it as truth without taking the time to find out for ourselves. And what I’ve found to be true on this journey has been wildly different from what I’ve been led to believe my entire life.
Yes, there are snakes and poisonous creatures that live in Africa. Yes, the HIV rate affects more people’s lives here than in the States. And yes, most of the world lives more primitively than what I’m accustomed to.
But what’s also true – and more important – is that no matter where we’ve gone, when I tickle a baby’s belly, he squeals with joy. Little girls like to play with each other’s hair and have their nails painted. Women love to be hugged and told they look beautiful. Men want to work hard to provide for their families as best they can and hope to achieve their dreams one day.
At our core, we’re all more similar than we are different – and the similarities are what make us human.
As I sat listening to this Swazi pastor speak to his congregation about overcoming their fears, it was hard to believe that not so long ago coming here was one of mine.
Today, take the time to let someone change the misconceptions you have about them. You might be surprised to learn that you’ve had it wrong all along.
