So it’s been a while since I have written a blog. I have had writers block. A "brain fart" if you wish to call it that. Whenever I would sit down to write one, nothing would inspire themes or what I wanted to convey. It was not that new and exciting things weren’t happening, it was just an empty mind. For that, I’m sorry. But I am back and ready to explain the crazy experiences that have been Africa for the last two months. It will take me a couple of blogs to catch up, but now I will begin.
I think that Africa was one of the places on the race that I was looking most forward to. I loved it so much the first time I went to Uganda 2 years ago that I was expecting some sort of firework show and tap dance to go off in my head when I landed here again. But it didn’t. I was expecting something to happen and I felt the same as I have felt landing in every other country that we have gone to. I was expecting it to be easy and feel as if I had come home once again.
I was a little discouraged when no fireworks occurred. The first week was hard. I didn’t understand why everything wasn’t rainbows and sunshine. It was hard to get used to a squatty potty again, it was frustrating when people ripped me off because I was white, it was dirty and I didn’t understand why I was so frustrated. Why were these things not easy?
Then it hit me…
I didn’t love Uganda the first time I went because it was easy and I wasn’t dirty all the time. All that stuff was there the first time I went too, but what made me forget about it was the things that overshadowed and blurred the negatives.
The friendships I built. The thrill of traveling. The new and the different. The joy that was seeing God in the faces of African children.
So I refocused. Now that I remembered why I loved this place, I found joy in it once again. I saw the joy in kids faces again, I saw the differences in Africa that makes it so charming and lovable.
Its faces like these that made me love it in the first place:
It was relationships like this:
The craziness that is traveling in cramped spaces down the road:
Picture of Some of my squad traveling to Tanzania
I have learned these last two months that I don’t think Africa is “home”. I don’t think it is where I am supposed to spend the rest of my life. It is an amazing country that I love and enjoy seeing the work that God is doing here, but not my forever sort of place. But who knows, God may call me back and I still have a month and half to see if something changes. But for now I love the fact that I get to be here right now to experience new things, meet amazing people and kiss giraffes!
Photo Taken By Rose Huber
