This was African day at the World Race training camp.
We slept in tents during the 7 days training camp. It was to prepare us for how we will live most of the time during the World Race.
The women were told that they would serve the men their food at the tables and then it would be their turn to eat. In certain parts of the African culture the women eat their meals sitting on the floor and they don’t associate with the men during mealtimes.
Eight of us would eat together during mealtimes We would eat from one platter of a small amount of food and we all had to share. Everyday brought different foods to try from the different countries we will be traveling.
I thought I was going to starve!
Eating off the same platter with eight people didn’t go well with me. I teach food service safety for disaster response and don’t enjoy not knowing if the people, who will be digging in the same plate of food as me with their bare hands, have or haven’t washed their hands. This is something I am really going to struggle with! Maybe I will get the opportunity to teach people how to handle food safely.
Men hold hands?
Men in the African culture show signs of being friends by holding each others hands. Unlike the Western culture where romantic couples and woman and children hold hands as a sign of affection or authority.
They are preparing us for the different cultures we will be seeing during the 11 months journey to 11 countries.
During the training camp they would have us get up early in the morning and pack our tents up and hike for thirty minutes to another site pretending we were in another country.
Wait, I need heart surgery?
The main focus at the beginning of the camp was to allow God to work in our hearts to prepare us for the 11 month journey. my Daddy began working in my heart pulling out pride and jealousy. Clay has to be soft in the potter’s hands for him to be able to mold it the way that he wants to. That is the same with us. Is your heart soft in the Potter’s hands so that He can mold you into what He designed you for?
But, Lord, you are our Father.
We are like clay, and you are the Potter
Your hands made us all.
Isaiah 64:8
