Lesson 2: Friendship

Last week in church our guest speaker told a story from when he and his family were serving in Tanzania. His wife borrowed an egg from a neighbor. A few days later, she sent her African house worker to repay the neighbor for the egg. The African said "No, because then you're saying you don't want to be her friend; you don't want to be indebted to her."

Something we learned at orientation is that Kenyans will ask you for the clothes off your back if you seem to have enough and they don't. It's not because they're rude - trust me, they're all but - it's just that they understand sharing. For the most part, their mindset is to share what they have with those who need.

In college my roommates and I had our own cabinets. We had our own food and it was clear who's it was. Now I'm sure none of us would've bit each others' head off if we took someone's goldfish, but our mindset (well, mine at least) was "I had to buy this with the money I earned/was given by my parents... I don't have an endless supply, so I can't just go around sharing what I do have." I'm almost sure that the cabinet idea was mine.. if not, I'm sure I was strongly for the idea. I tend to have a very strong sense of "what's mine is mine, and if I borrow something from you I'm paying it back because I don't want to feel like I needed you or am indebted to you." It sounds cold, and not that I was a heartless, selfish person... but maybe at least selfish.

This culture is very different from the only other culture I've ever known. There are things I love here more and things I love in America more. This is one of the things I've loved; I've loved learning to be more welcoming, more patient, more giving, more willing to let my kids ransack my kitchen, and understanding that to lay down one's life for a friend also means putting my selfishness behind me and giving them stuff if that's what they need.

Last week after school I was looking forward to nothing more than going home and taking a nap on my couch; it had been a VERY long day. About 3 minutes after walking in the door, a group of my 8th graders came and took over my house. My instant reaction was disappointment. But within minutes I realized napping's lame, and hanging out with awesome students is a way better option. Sacrificing our time, our naps, our food, our money, our clothes, our car, our particular way of doing things is hard, but it's almost always worth it when it builds up relationships with those God has put us around.Students cooking in my kitchen... strangely enough, this is going to be one of the things I miss the most: kids stopping by to get candy, cook food, jump off my roof, have spontaneous parties, etc...

Let There Be Blogging (Lesson #1)

For some reason Blogger.com wouldn't work for me for weeks. I think it was a conspiracy, but maybe not. Either way, it works now, and I intend to take full advantage of it before I leave. Which, by the way, is in 16 days...

I have this idea (whether I follow through with it is another story) that I'll blog about lessons I've learned since being here.

Lesson #1: America has plenty.

Duh, right? My hope is that you don't see this as a knock to America, but as a challenge.
I haven't spent my days here roaming the streets of the slums; I haven't been living in a grass hut like I sort of wanted; I haven't struggled for clean drinking water or worried about whether my livestock would live through the drought. I haven't rummaged through the trash looking for discarded treasures or begged on the streets for more money. But this year, just like any other, so many have.

We all know that Africans struggle financially to pull together a living. We all know that people live the above lives every day. We even know that this happens in America. But why? It's easy to glamorize (also, I just spelled that "glamourize" because my English students have apparently brainwashed me) the fact that Africans live in poverty because of corruption and a lack of opportunity. It's easy to blame the homeless Americans on substance abuse and mental instability. But where is the Church's responsibility in all of this?

Someone just told me about a church that has been actively living the Gospel. They gave (according to my source, so this could be wrong...) $300,000 to children in India - it was their church's "just-in-case" fund. Something like 150 families joined the foster care program because they had studied James and were convicted by the verse that tells us to take care of the widows and the orphans. These people sacrificed their money, time, emotions, and so much more to live out the Gospel.

And guess what. They survived.

As I've talked to people here about "culture shock" on going back in to my home country, the thing I hear the most is "you start realizing how much we spend on useless things, and how much that could be used for ministries around the world." Spend $100 on a shirt? Why not; it's way cute, I've earned this money, it'll make a good impression, etc. Forget the fact that $100 could feed children for months. Forget the fact that even $6.50 could give a woman in the slums a whole new future by buying her the materials to start a chapati business. Forget the fact that buying a sewing machine for a woman here could take her off the streets and give her work that glorifies our Father instead of breaking His heart. We've all heard the statistics. Or maybe we haven't. Maybe we've just been told them, but our ears and hearts have been blocked and hardened. I can't even count the times that I've heard about how much $30/month could give a child, or how much could buy a well for clean drinking water that would save thousands of lives, or how much a few dollars to pay school fees would change a life; and still I have turned my head, still I have closed my wallet.

I heard a statistic some time back that America spends more money on trash bags than something like 80 countries COMBINED spend on food. Granted, I don't have the source in front of me, so my numbers may be off, but the fact still remains: America wastes. A lot. So do other nations, but that in no way lessens our responsibility. A very conservative mindset would tell us that we get to spend our money the way we want, because we've earned it. But if we're truly following God, and we believe that He has BLESSED us with our jobs or however He's provided for us, then how is this our money? How does the fact that we have a job give us the right to over-indulge while the world starves? Maybe we can't feed the world on our salary, but I'm sure we could feed a child; especially one who knows how to live on as little as so many do. We may not be able to employ an entire nation, but maybe we can help employ one person. We don't have to try to save the world; we just have to be willing to serve and help it when God asks.

I'm in no way perfect. I waste money. I waste food. I'm sure that I'll go back to America and still buy a pair of $40 jeans, especially since so many of mine have died since living in Africa. But my prayer is that God will make my heart sensitive to the needs around me. And my prayer is that He will do that to our country as well. America is a nation that is filled with blessings everywhere you look. I hope we'll let God use what He's given us to bless others as well.