Now well into month eight of the Race, I have been living in community for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 228 days out of the year. I enjoy people, I like getting to know different personalities, and I love the challenges and joys that come from that.
However, community living is wearing me thin. During this month, my team is paired up with another team that is made up of seven girls. Our accommodations are all 12 girls shoved into one giant room, while the two boys have their own. (Sooo not fair!) The small annoyances that were once brushed over have now become royal pains that I can’t seem to ignore, which are only amplified within our four walls.
On the optimistic side, this has made me so grateful for the privileges that I have received throughout my whole life: my own bedroom, a closet full of clothes that I can call mine, my own toothbrush, my own pillow, my own computer, or my own individuality that is no one else’s but it’s owner’s.
At the same time that I’m ready to reclaim everything that is mine from those who I have been forced to share the same space with, and them with me, I’m reminded of the great generosity of the other group of people who surround me: the people of Swaziland.
The women and children welcome us anywhere we go with smiles and a huge hug. The men offer to hold a “Braii” (BBQ) in our honor. And the Go-Go’s (Grandma’s) are simply excited to see us inhabit the place they love.
Yesterday, my team and I walked an hour in the hot sun and dirt roads to get to a schooljust to love on some kids for a few hours and then walk the hour back up the hill, in the same, more intense, hot sun, toward our home. Where is MY car? Where is MY freedom? Where is MY entitlement?
Oh yeah, I gave that all up when I chose to follow God.
