2/26/2008

Habari Zenu!! ( in Swahili=Hello, how are you all??),

This evening as I sat enjoying a Serengeti Lager, catching up with Irene and Helen and listening to CS & N sing Southern Cross, I hoped to collect my thoughts and feelings regarding the amazing experiences I have so far been blessed with during this adventure in faith. I found that there is just too much information to digest. So I changed course and took advantage of a rare and unexpected opportunity to chat with Marv. Although our conversation had absolutely nothing to do with anything in or about Africa, afterward I found some clarity. What I have concluded is that I cannot draw conclusions about anything. About what we may have to offer these proud people—about what I can bring home to share—about our western time-centered lifestyle versus the Maasai relationship-centered culture or about what God’s plan for me is from here.

What is obvious is that truly God is present here- In the Maasai people, in the long-term missionaries at Maasai Girls Luther SS and Selian Lutheran Hospital, and in the amazing yet diverse Bethel mission group putting up with my eccentricities (so far). These are the lessons I have learned so far.

· So far I have much more to learn from all of these people than I can possibly offer to teach them.
· The international language of humor is successful whether you speak the language of understand the culture. Praise God I can still rely on my primary tool for communication. By the way, when you are wearing a Tanzanian surgical mask (used for protection from inhaling TB during hospice visits) you will look exactly like Daffy Duck--and the Tanzanians think so too.
· The relationship –centered culture of the Africans, and specifically the Maasai, is remarkable. Something I hope I can at least somewhat integrate into my own approach to life.
· I was moved by the serenity of the Maasai people. Although suffering from TB and HIV, when I visited with the Hospice team, I did not observe any bitterness or anger. No anger directed at God. No anger directed at their spouses or families. No anger…
· Maasai children are generally even tempered, respectful of elders, are prone to show off in front of adults, have contests to see who can pee the farthest, love to have their pictures taken, love to play Simon Says and will haul off and whack their siblings when no one is looking! The children helped me feel right at home!

“I say to my feet, do you remember Africa? I say to my hands, do you remember Africa?”
--Peter Mayer