DISCLAIMER: Because I am doing a class this summer that
revolves around my internship, there are going to be a few times that our blog
posts are a little less about playing with kids and pythons, and more about
issues like poverty mentality and learning Swahili. I totally understand if you
want to skip this post and wait for our next blog, which will surely be more
interesting. But in case you want to hear about the nitty-gritty of internship,
or in case you have plenty of time to read my ramblings, this post is for you.
We are almost to week marker 2 of leaving home for Tanzania.
We have seen the city of Mwanza, the town of Geita, even down to the (tiny)
village of Makiwasha. Our time has been spent learning about the ministry that
the Geita team members are involved in, and trying, often unsuccessfully, to
help them in their work. Every other day we have Kiswahili classes, with Bible
study and culture lessons on our off days. For those of you who think you don’t
know any Swahili at all, you are wrong! Anyone who has seen the Lion King is
already a pro. Rafiki (the wise old baboon) means friend, Simba means lion, and
Hakuna Matata really does mean “No worries”, although you will seem like an
idiot here if you try to use that with native speakers.
One of the classes that I have enjoyed has been culture. One
of the first things that Brett said to us in class this week was that “A
stranger has big eyes but doesn’t see very far”. As someone who has traveled
quite a bit, I like to think that I am somewhat culturally aware. I try to
abide by the appropriate dress even though I am getting a little tired of
wearing dresses everyday, and I know that you should never just snap pictures
of people, especially if they can catch up with you. But I sometimes fear that
my “cultural awareness” really does blind me to the people behind that culture.
It is easy to come to Tanzania (or Haiti, or Mexico, or wherever else), and see
cute kids in rags and people who we assume must need our help because we are
the Wazungu (essentially “white people” in Swahili). What I have failed to see
for a long time are the people like Yohana, our new friend from Makiwasha.
Yohana is a follower of Christ in a world that I would lose sight in. He is a
smart and kind man who provides for his family, welcomes guests into his home,
and shares the Gospel with his neighbors. He does’t see his relationship with
Christ as something for Sunday mornings (which is Africa are more like Sunday
marathons), and he doesn’t see himself as poor. He knows that God has blessed
him, and because of that, he continues to live his life in the best way he
knows possible. I am not going to go on a tangent about what the American
church could learn from that, but it is certainly something to keep in mind.
I think I meant for this post to include more about poverty
mindset and how I see connections of poverty mentality from here back to
Oklahoma City, but that is another post at a different time. For now, I will
leave you with a list of some #FirstWorldProblemsInAThirdWorldLife that Kelcy
and I have been coming up with the past few nights. (No promise that these are
under 140 characters, as well as no promises of them being funny to anyone but
us. Also, please note the sarcasm of each of these.)
-Uhg, I
hate having to sleep under a mosquito net every night to prevent me from
getting malaria!
-Malaria
prevention medicine EVERY DAY?
Reeeeeally?
-That
security light outside of our house makes it sooooo hard to go to sleep at night.
-OMG, is
that a Chaco tan line or dirt line?
-My
tanlines are so uneven because of the various clothing regulations of
conservative Tanzanians.
-UHG. This
huge portion of rice that they are feeding us that could probably feed a family
of four is soooo bland.
-WHATEVER. This purified drinking water tastes SO BAD.
I promise the next post will be more fun, maybe about intern games or baby geckos everywhere. For now, remember, YOGTAO TIA- You only go to Africa once, This Is Africa. It's sort of like YOLO, but different.
