We arrived in Africa on the last day of 2009. It was dark and the air was cool. We piled our packs on top of a shuttle van and smashed ourselves inside. We were tired, yet excited. It began to rain, and the van got stuck in some mud. We looked at each other with wondering eyes. And thus began our Africa leg of the World Race.
My team spent the month of January in Lira, Uganda. The sky was always blue and the people were ever friendly. For the first time on the race we whipped out our sunscreen and bug spray. We ate lots of beans and sweet potatoes; we slept under mosquito nets at night, and we learned an African tribal greeting (usually used by the ladies – it kind of sounds like AYE AYE AYEEEEEE).
We worked with a local church, which has an abundance of programs. We assisted with radio broadcasts, a youth conference, filing, creating a newsletter, teaching at small group Bible studies, visiting villages and praying for the sick, preaching at prisons, and leading worship. The people in this church are filled with overflowing faith and joy – I’ve never seen anything like it before. I’m convinced that if all Christians lived like this the world couldn’t help but turn to Jesus.
This month my team is in Mpeketoni, Kenya. It’s much more humid here – the Indian Ocean is only a few miles away. We are working with another local church – mostly we preach and teach and evangelize. The Bishop in charge has become like a father to us. He takes care of us when we are sick and prays for us when we don’t sleep well at night. The ladies here have volunteered to do our laundry for us, which is an incredible blessing. Usually the locals laugh at us when they watch us attempt to wash our clothes. We bathe out of buckets and continue to sleep under mosquito nets. Oh, and we eat lots of mangoes. Delicious mangoes.
It’s strange to think that back home the ground is covered in snow and the temperature is below freezing. February is usually my least favorite month of the year, because it always feels the coldest to me, but I don’t mind February in Africa [side note – February happens to be the hottest month in Kenya].
I like Africa. It’s greener than I thought it would be. The people are refreshingly kind. I like how they ride bikes everywhere. The women are so strong – physically and emotionally. They carry babies on their backs and water jugs on their heads – all in the heat of day with no complaints (I have much to learn from them). I like eating rice and chapattis and drinking orange Fanta – they love orange Fanta here. Roosters wake me up every morning. Bus rides are always an adventure. I can’t help but smile whenever I hear a child scream “muzungo” [translation: white].
For the first half of the race we all had our questions and assumptions of what Africa would be like. Would we be sleeping in tents or mud huts? Would we eat something absolutely unusual? Would we be wishing for snow and cold?
What I’ve learned is that each day in Africa is a new adventure with different answers than we could have ever expected. And we still have a month and a half more to go…
