A wise friend once said "Africa ruins you." Anyone who has been to Africa for any period of time will completely agree with this on some level. Being in Africa changes you in ways you never expected and opens yours eyes to more hurt and pain than you could ever imagine experiencing. The things you hear about or only see in pictures become very real images. You witness the death of babies due to the lack of good medical centers, you see children unwanted and abandoned multiple times, you see starving and malnourished children who will die within that year, you see children carrying jugs of dirty water because they'd have none without it, etc. They are real people and their lives change you and the way you see this current world.
We've been home for around 6 weeks now and have established as normal a routine as possible. But the reality is, Africa is on our hearts. Each day we are reminded of this place we have grown to love so dearly. Now having been to Africa two times in the last 3 years, it has ruined us. We think and talk about it all the time like it's a disease. By the way, this disease is totally contagious. If you're around us long enough you just might choose to go on a mission trip, sponsor a child, adopt, build a water well, etc.
Everyone's symptoms to the African disease vary; but we all have one thing in common, to the American culture we are just plain weird. Some of these so called strange things I still find myself doing include not being able to dump a clean glass of water down the sink. Water is like liquid gold and you don't realize it's value until you see people drinking brown water. I constantly see in my head people standing along the streets selling bags of dirty water. Since I know these people on another continent are consuming dirty water, how could I possibly waste my clean water. Thanks to the African disease, I also cannot physically spend money on myself, it's like pure torture. Let me preface this with the fact that the Dutch blood running through my veins also causes me to be very cheap, so now I won't spend a dime unless it's a good investment or a gift for someone else. There are people around the world that don't have food, how could I possibly spend money on something that is not absolutely necessary?! To see more strange things people with this disease do, you should read this blog a friend wrote: When Africa Makes You Weird
A couple weeks ago we had the opportunity to have a Ugandan stay with us for a few days. This was her first time visiting the United States, so seeing our world through her eyes changed our perspective even more. She consistently told us how big our very average middle class home was. When our kids didn't want to finish their pizza, she ate it for them. And honestly, I wouldn't expect anything different since she's seen many children literally starve to death. This is why I tell my kids, "we waste nothing." Her finishing their food was more of a shock to them and truly a great life lesson. What surprised us the most was our Ugandan friend's reaction when we took her up to the mountains. There are dead pine trees laying around everywhere thanks to pine beetles. She was completely disgusted and offended at this waste of good burning wood. Wood is a life line around the world as you need it to cook food, boil water, etc. In many parts of the world there is a great lack of wood, so our forests filled with dead beetle kill trees is a complete waste of good resources and appalling to an African. It truly was a blessing being able to see our world through her eyes and it added more symptoms to our African disease.
If you haven't gathered this from our disease I've been describing, Africa changes you. It changes the way you view the world, it changes how you spend your money, it opens your eyes in ways you could have never imagined, and shows you things that truly do matter. One small encounter can do so much, that red dirt corrupts our American views, and those beautiful smiles and sweet voices shouting "mzungu" forever stay embedded in your mind. So many people have been forever changed: When God Changes All Your Plans
All I can say is we are "not of this world." God has placed these beautiful places in our hearts and we are forever changed.
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| Rwanda "The Heart of Africa" |
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| Kenya |
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| Uganda "The Pearl of Africa" |
