So, I have been out here traveling for seven and a half months now and just this week I began noticing a trend. Every time I learn something just by physically being somewhere, I realize how ignorant I was of that very thing. For example, people have told me that there are children in Africa who would be scared of me just because of the color of my skin. I did not believe that until I stood in the middle of a street with a kid crying at the sight of me. Then as I approached him to try to make him feel comfortable, he cowered behind his mother in fear and literally cried louder. I would have never believed you if you told me that would happen one day while you walked the streets of a small city in Africa.
Every day these things happen and I just stand back and thank God for the experience to be here and see the things I see every day. I don’t have to put coals in a pot and sit my cooking pan on top of it to cook a meal– one pot at a time—until my meal is done. I don’t have to use that same pot to boil water for a shower that I will then put in a jug and mix with cool water in a bucket, then ladle water over my hair and body to take a shower. I don’t have to fetch water in jugs each day by walking a distance and then carrying the jugs full of water back to my house—the water I will then use for bathing, cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, and with which I will make my coffee or tea. WALKING. FETCHING. CARRYING. CARRYING MORE. BOILING for a BATH. BOILING for drinking water. BOILING for COOKING. Pouring in THREE separate bowls just to wash dishes. POURING in pans to wash laundry. Then finding out all of the jugs are empty and you must begin the process again. WATER! In America, I turn the faucet to drink water or fill up my coffee pot, take a shower, wash my hands (this just doesn’t happen often here), or fill a pot for cooking. For laundry, I turn the knob on the washing machine. For dishes, I turn the knob on the dishwasher. All of these actions take less than one minute whereas the process of doing any of the afore mentioned tasks in Africa takes at the least thirty minutes and in most cases hours.
Yet, this is their normal way of life. The people who do this every day don’t think it is difficult at all. I am unsure of the author of the quote “Ignorance is bliss,” but I see the point in this statement. Where there is no understanding, there can be no appreciation. I am really learning to appreciate the things we have in America so much more than I did before I left. The thing that I appreciate even more than that though is the fact that we all do the same things as human beings, we just do them differently. Some are more advanced or expedient than others but we all cook, bathe, and clean.
After seeing these processes now in eight different countries other than America, I have learned that ignorance has a very high cost. Without knowing the differences, you cannot appreciate the differences. I appreciate the meals I eat here because I know it took fetching, carrying, and boiling water. It meant lighting the coals to make sure they are hot enough. Then after eating, someone has to clean the dishes with soap, rinse them and then rinse them one more time each in a bowl of still water, not running water. I appreciate when someone visits us from a neighboring town, because they either walked for miles or took a bus that stops twenty times on the way and what would take ten minutes in America took them one hour. I appreciate when a woman tries to sell me fruit on the street because I know that may be her only source of income to pay her bills and send her kids to school. I am thankful that I know longer am ignorant about these things. I hope and pray that I remember what I have seen and experienced as I go back to America in a few months and turn the water faucet, stand underneath a shower head, or make a whole entire pot of coffee. I’m no longer ignorant; I am thankful for differences and the ability to appreciate them. I can’t wait to see where I will move from ignorant to knowledgeable this week!
UPDATE: I have been fully funded for almost a month now, so if you still want to support me please do so through my paypal account using the e-mail [email protected] Thank you so much!!!
