I’m finally here in the motherland. The place where my roots come from. It’s so crazy how accurate the landscape here is, it looks almost exactly how I pictured it to be. The skies here are so incredibly blue, there is hardly any pollution in the air. Everyone here walks, rarely do you see any cars or motorbikes. We’re in Zimbabwe during their winter right now, so at night it is freezing. Africa has three seasons. Summer, winter and rainy season. Thankfully, winter and rainy don’t collide and we just missed the rainy season. The small mountains that surround Harare are still slightly green, but the fields are yellow. Most of the crops that we see are pumpkins, cabbage and sugar cane. We have two highways that are paved and all of the other roads are dirt roads that have TONS of potholes, without fail. We ride to town in a van so every ride is guaranteed to be very bumpy.
Our host this month is the Maza Family. They live on a pretty big piece of land in the small town of Kadoma, Zimbabwe. My team and I love spending time with the family. We cook dinner over a fire in front of the house every single day. The process can take up to 4 hours, but our dinners here are so delicious! They remind me of Grandma’s soul food cooking. Their staple food is called satza and it consists of cornmeal with the consistency of grits. It’s not my favorite, but we eat it with almost every meal. My team and I camp outside in our tents, thankfully my sleeping bag keeps me really warm at night (shoutout to REI). I’ve had to completely eliminate my thoughts from complaining this month. It’s such an easy thing to do, but the Maza family has really opened up to us and this is how they live every day. They are so happy here, too. It’s crazy how many comforts I am currently missing, but I know that I’ll have access to all of those things in less than three months.
So when I mentioned that Africa is really hard, this is what I mean. First, after a few days of being here my stomach was very sick. I had really bad diarrhea and I was throwing up, I think it might have been from the water even though we were only drinking bottled water. Also, every time we switch continents, by body has a hard time adjusting for at least a week. Now that time has passed, I am feeling a lot better but not 100% yet. Spiritually, it’s been really hard to find time with God, I’m constantly surrounded by people. Almost everyone is an extrovert so I hear constant chatter and constant opinions being thrown around left and right and I’m overwhelmed. I just really want to find a quiet place to escape to at times and it’s nearly impossible right now. Please keep health and safety in your prayers over our team.
Being African-American, I thought that coming here would feel really special. I thought I would have this magical awakening of being in the land of my people. I thought I would be welcomed with open arms and treated just like family. Which I have really, and it has felt really special being here, but oftentimes it just reminds me of my family. Which makes me miss them a lot. I guess you could say the homesickness has finally kicked in. In a way, Africa felt like I was coming home for the first time, to a place that I finally belonged. It’s pretty amazing being in a land where I’m not a minority for the first time in my life. The people here understand my hair, and I see so many natural mannerisms here within myself and my family. I guess my problem is that since this whole journey has begun (the World Race and being in my 20s) I’ve been searching for a place that I feel connected to, and a place where I belong. Finding a place to call home has always been a dream of mine. Which may come off as a surprise to many, but one of my favorite quotes is, “Grow where you are planted.”
For a long, long time Portland felt like home. I could relate to so many people in that city, it’s literally a city of dreamers where you come as you are and are accepted for it. It’s filled with coffee enthusiasts, small business owners, delicious food everywhere you turn and like-minded artists like myself. It was home, and when I went back to California to visit my family, that was a place to visit the people that I love the most, in a town that I grew up in. After college, I knew that I wanted to be a nomad for a while, to see the world, explore new cultures and experience my relationship with God in a new way. So here I am, on the World Race. However, I’ve learned that I will always be a nomad. Yes, eventually I will settle down and start a family of my own, but as far as a home goes, I know now that I’ve been searching for the wrong thing in the wrong places. There are so many things to enjoy in the places that I live and travel to, but I’m called to make disciples and to love the nations (even my own) and God said that I can do that anywhere. I’m so grateful that He’s brought me to the nations, this planet is such a vast and incredible world. I’ve left my heart in so many places and with so many people. It’s been a beautiful journey, but I’ve learned that my home is not to be found here or there. My home is found in Jesus, and thankfully He is with me wherever I go, on earth as it is in heaven.
