Worlds Apart?
Africa. How do you reconcile two places that are on opposite ends of the world? How do you hold on to memories without forgetting? How do you let Africa impact your life when you're living in Canada?
We've been home for almost two weeks now and are already finding ourselves back into the "normal routines" of home life; routines we haven't had for 4 months. There are groceries to buy, repairs to do on the house, work to start again...and it's amazing how easy it is to slip back into these routines. It's easy to forget the places where there are only markets to buy food, or gardens to grow it; where repairs on houses means putting more straw on the top of your roof to stop the leak in your mud house; or where you're lucky if you have a job to do that will help you to provide for yourself or your family.
The lessons we have learned in Africa are lessons I think we will continue to learn throughout our lives. Although the fear is forgetting, Africa has made an impression on us that will be lasting, it has changed us. In many ways it will be impossible to forget.
We have seen the smiles of joy from children living in slums. We have seen the broken lives of orphans in Burundi. We have seen poverty, riches, and corruption. We have seen evil manifested in the demon possessed, in alcohol, in anger, and in poverty. We have seen many helping hands and kind hearts. We have seen spiritual revival in Uganda and Zambia. We have seen darkness and hardness in Mauritania. We have seen desert, and streams; hope and despair; poverty and riches; christian and muslim; black and white. We have seen people fighting for survival, for hope, for love, for a future.
Are we really so different here in North America? In some ways we are worlds apart and in other ways we are much the same. We are on different continents, but the same earth, we have different resources, but the same needs. The same sun rises and falls here as in Africa, the same rains come from the same clouds. The same God created us as them. The same Saviour came to save.
Africa, we won't forget you.
posted by Brian and Erin at 10:48 AM
2 Comments:
Wow,
Thanks for giving us a glimpse into your journey, both in Africa and now as you return home.
You will never be the same, even if you forget some of the details of the journey, you will still find yourself in a different place.
It is good to see you are still writing on your blog...There are a lot of people who have lived in different parts of the world and have come back.
My reflection....The memories are always with you but these memories are hard to share with other people....My worship times are so amazing, I am never sure what image God will remind me of as I worship Him....There are other times, when I least expect it, that a place, smell or touch will come back to me and I can relive an experience...The months of October and November are when I am homesick for my travels...I am not sure why that time of the year is so emotional (if that is how to describe the feelings)....
One of the greatest things about traveling and seeing so much is that back in our everyday North American life, we can sort out what we see.While we are traveling, I am not sure that we have the time to process all our experiences.
It is possible that we are not just a part of our small community but a larger community. I think that as we process these experiences we start to sort out what we can do in this new community.....take care...aunt mary anne
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