Zikomo Kwambiri.
"Thank you very much," in Chichewa.
That's what I would like to say right now.
Thank you to all the people who helped me get to Malawi. I never would have made it without those of you who bought a raffle ticket, sat with me at my garage sale, bought jewelry from my fundraiser, donated money, and prayed for my safe travel.
Thank you to the people of Malawi who showed us how true the nickname, "The Warm Heart of Africa," really is.
Thank you to British Airways & South African Air for not delaying any of your flights.
Thank you to Brian for being such a wonderful traveling partner.
If the experience of raising money and traveling to Africa has taught me one things, it's to be grateful and thankful always.
When I returned home from Africa there was definitely some culture shock. Working in an American restaurant will do that to you after you've just spent any amount of time in a country where the vast majority of people live on less than $1.25 a day. I found myself becoming a little jaded about our culture.
Thoughts like, "Oh, you'd like your fourth refill of ice water brought to you right this minute? Isn't it nice that you don't have to walk two miles in the African heat to hand-pump water from a well, water that isn't even clean, water that will probably make you and your children sick? Isn't that nice?!"
Yeah, I had a lot of thoughts like that during my first couple of days of being back to my regular life. I like to call then my: run-on-sentence-rants. I was feeling almost ashamed of my own culture, which was making me feel like my time in Africa was a distant memory.
After reading a book called, "Unearthed," and talking a bit with Brian I was able to reason with myself a bit. I was able to really figure out what it was that was bothering me so very much. It wasn't that we have so much here, although it does seem unfair, it isn't even that we expect the finest things. What bothers me so much is how ungrateful we have become. I don't honestly believe that just because there are parts of the world where people only eat rice and beans that we should only eat rice and beans. I like nice things just like everyone else. The problem is that we don't appreciate how good we have it, we just want more of it.
I realize that it is not fair of me to be the judge of our culture... especially since I am a product of it. So, as always, I found clarity in a book I'm reading. The book is called, "The Postmistress," and it is wonderful. I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to read, except that I needed to read this specific page today. The story is complex, but one of the characters is a female WWII correspondent who has just returned to New York after spending time in Europe. She wants to quit, she's had enough and has become sufficiently jaded by her experience. She feels like the people in America are too far removed from the war and will never really understand. These few lines directly relate to my experience:
"People can't imagine what they haven't seen," he answered. "That's why they need you."
"You signed up to see what they haven't," he observed. "You can't blame people for it."
So today I challenge you to think about some thing in your life that you you are thankful for, something that maybe you take for granted. Maybe even something so small as clean water.
Africa taught me many things, but the biggest lesson I learned was to be thankful.
