Being in Africa the past three months has given me a new perspective on Africa. Growing up I always thought that Africa was this poor place where everybody is starving and very poor because that is portrayed on TV in America. Well that is not necessarily the case, but there is some truth in the commercials that we see.
Africa is full of so much culture and history. It is a country with some of the most beautiful scenery and wild animals walking around. There are a lot of things about Africa I will miss. The kids are amazing here. There are so polite and they love muzungu’s. They come running out of nowhere saying, “muzungu, muzungu, how are you? What is your name?” Then they plant their running nose right in my clothes. I will miss that a lot. The people are very friendly and they will always give me their best when I visited their house. They are always willing to talk to me and listen to what I have to say. African zumba class was fun at times. I’m talking about church. Worship was crazy and long. They would worship for about an hour or two. It is full of dancing and jumping around. They know how to worship the Lord. Some of my funniest times are when I joined in and danced with them. I want say that I loved sitting in four or five hour services, where there was so much screaming that I thought I was going to be deaf afterwards.
African people act so much like black Americans. At times I would chuckle to myself because it was so similar. I came to the conclusion that black Americans are from Africa. One time in Kenya, I was about to go out for ministry and my pants were wrinkled. My Kenya mother made me take them off and get them ironed. My mother was the same way growing up. That’s just a soft example, but there are plenty more and that blog may come later.
There are some things that I will not miss. One of the things that I want miss is always trying to be cheated all of the time. There are some honest people in this country, but a good majority of the time I had to bargain to get a fair price. Sometime it was fun bargaining though, but sometimes it was not fun. I will not miss them having this concept that I was rich and that I was obligated to give them money just because I was from America. I guess I can thank American TV for this image that they portray about us.
It was cute that the kids called us muzungu, but at times it was frustrating that the older people addressed us by muzungu. Now there were times I could blend in because all Africans are not really black. There are some Africans my skin color, but as soon as I opened my mouth they instantly knew I was not from Africa.
In all, I have enjoyed Africa. There were some bad things, but I believe the good outweighed the bad. I have so many memories that I will take with from Africa. Going on a safari at Masai Mara, rafting the Nile River, meeting so many great people, my contact from Kenya, and there is so much more that I will miss. Africa has been a challenge and stretch for me in so many ways, but it has been a great experience and I would love to come back one day.
Now I am getting on a plane today for Hong Kong. My squad and I will be there for a couple of days to get our Chinese visas. On the 2nd of October, I will get to spend my 26th birthday while I’m there. I really not a big birthday celebrator back home, but this year I’m pretty stoked about it because I get to spend it internationally in a country I’ve never been before. This has been truly a blessing and very thankful for this gift.
