I've only been back in the States for a week and a half (has it really been just that long?), but as early as Day 2 of being back, I started to wonder when (or whether) reverse culture shock would hit me. Really, I had wondered why it hadn't already when Bryan and I arrived in South Africa, which is just about as Western as any city in the US. But "finally," about a week ago when I was at Hokie Grill at Virginia Tech with Bryan and Chris, I all of a sudden felt like I'd been hit by a Mack truck...
Nothing's the same.
No one's clothes have holes in them.
Everyone smells like they've had a shower within the last 48 hours.
The floors and windows and tables and people and plates and clothes and faces and books and feet and finger nails and...everything's all so remarkably clean.
Beyond internalizing how extremely clean my toes were, what really hit me was that things just are. There are many worlds on this earth; we call places like Zambia the "third" and places like the US the "first." They've always been there, the poor will always be with us, and neither the poignancy of my conviction nor the number of tears I cry are ever going to change the fact that the dichotomy in this world doesn't make a bit of sense. No super-hero tendencies of mine to "change the world" or "make a difference" are going to be revolutionary; and although there is certainly power in words spoken with grace and in love, what I say about what I see is less important than what I choose to do about it.
After about a week of digesting that little bit, I think God prepared me to go to Africa and to deal with the brokenness, the dirtiness, the painful slowness, everything that many people think are the "hard" parts of living and experiencing the culture in a third world country. Really, culture shock when I arrived in Africa didn't happen drastically or suddenly. Every so often I'd get a jolt of, "whoa, this is reality" - but when I saw orphans, it was okay, because I was there with them. I saw depravity, but that was okay too, because I knew it was there under the surface all along. I saw malnourished kids and negligent parents and dying dogs, but it was okay, because I could see it in front of my face, I wasn't hidden from it, I wasn't hiding from it: it was real. It was in front of me in its entirety - no walls, no masks, no curtains to hide behind. It was okay because, even if I couldn't do anything about it, I was in some very small way, simply by physically being there, a part of it. I didn't have an "off" button or a remote to switch the channel. The same eighty kids with the same stained and torn clothes that they had on today would be at the school, simply waiting for me to play with and hug them, tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. They live a five minutes' walk from where I was sleeping. So even though we lived in the lap of luxury on base - we basked in running water, electricity, microwaves, fridges, washing machines, and plenty of food - I couldn't possibly escape reality. It was literally right outside our front door.
So now? Well, now I'm not there. There's not a strong enough word to describe how devastatingly different two places can be. Back on an American college campus (Virginia Tech a week ago, now at UNC and Duke), it seems like the TV is stuck permanently on "off" mode, and I've lost the ability to switch it back on again.
I'm wondering, though, if I'm bystepping some of the initial "normal" stages of culture shock (hostility, initial period of coping, and finally acceptance and reintegration - from what I'm told). I guess I got the "hostility" stage out of my system last summer, when I was in Houston hanging out with homeless men and women at Church Under the Bridge. I was upset at myself and my family for living in such relative excess and unnecessary luxury when there were people who didn't even have blankets who were sleeping under bridges five minutes down the road. I seemed to skip that stage of culture shock this time, though. I certainly know that people aren't bad simply because they have money to buy food, they're able to wear clean, un-tattered clothing, and they have laptops and iPods and cell phones (I have all of these as well!). I know, too, that God wants us to give generously and, at the same time, to enjoy the gifts he's given us - time, resources, and people all included. It's also, obviously, not like everyone who hasn't gone on a mission trip is oblivious to what's going on in the rest of the world. That's not it at all. I'm simply emotionally and spiritually coming to understand that there is a reality in Mongu that is so dissimilar to the kind of reality that I'm used to here in the States, so drastically different and so remote from the one I grew up in, that I have to wonder how the world can support such different ways of life without imploding from the strain of accommodating them both.
Before this summer, I knew, mentally and in theory, the extreme discrepancy between poor and rich in this world. Now I know it by experience. Now I truly realize the reality of the fact that the homeless in America live like kings and queens compared with the rest of the world - that the statistics are, in fact, painfully true - and that, no matter how much I'd prefer it to be otherwise, they are not an exaggeration.
Although I'd love to say that it doesn't make a difference in your life whether you go experience a third world country in its entirety for yourself or not, I think it does. So now the question remains: what am I going to do about it?
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
the last few things I learned in africa
Hello, all!
This week's been a perfect time for me to sit down, reflect on the past few weeks, and - of course! - continue and finish up my (very) long list of African take-aways. Hope yall enjoy :)
Learnings from Shungwe:
47. You know the fish is fresh if it throws itself off the plate.
48. All-night parties in the African bush are immeasurably crazier than frat parties, no questions asked.
49. Be prepared to answer questions about the rape of Dinah, whether divorce is biblical, and the end of the world...they might just sneak up on you.
50. Kapinta (the world's tiniest and most odor-ific fish) has one of those smells that you don't just "get used to" over time...even after a 15-hour bus ride.
...and from Livingstone:
51. Make friends with hotel gardeners. One may just turn out to be a gamekeeper who goes by "Dr. Doolittle" - and if you're lucky, he'll lead you to giraffes and zebras.
52. When your camera breaks in a foreign country, just make friends with people who look like they have a good eye for pictures. You'll end up with some pretty amazing shots!
53. An "African tan" means you look Jamaican on your arms, chest, and shins but Irish everywhere else. (Sigh.)54. Giving random plastic trinkets to guys who won't leave you alone is an awesome way to come home with legit African keepsakes.
55. Always be prepared to catch your boyfriend should he almost fall off Victoria Falls.
56. Jumping off a bridge attached to another person is at least twice as complicated as jumping solo.
...and even South Africa:
57. You can make fudge anywhere in the world...3 countries, 5 cities, and counting!
58. You know you've crashed guy's night when you've got 3 kinds of meat on the table, Hangover 2 playing in the background, water and beer as your only sources for hydration, and four guys hanging out by the grill.
59. Close your windows while going greenlaning - the sand'll getcha.
60. Go to Pringle Bay.
61. Baboons are pests on steroids. Incriminating evidence: When you're away for the day in South Africa, it's highly advised that you close and lock all your windows. Why, you ask? Because baboons will toss their babies into windows left ajar, the babies will raid your kitchen and pass the goodies back out to mom and dad, and you'll return to a nicely ransacked house. Beautiful.
62. "Borrowing" a King Protea is only okay if you're with a licensed South African tour guide.
63. It is standard in South Africa to deny women visas to the US (but if you're male, you're good to go). That's why, in South Africa, women outnumber men 8 to 1.
64. South African wine is worth the price of a plane ticket.65. Clothes dryers, shaving cream, and paper towels are highly underrated.
66. "It all comes together with a Castle."
67. Good can, indeed, come from 8-hour layovers in Joburg.
So if you ever go to Africa, make sure to keep those in mind! Love yall so much :)
Stephanie
This week's been a perfect time for me to sit down, reflect on the past few weeks, and - of course! - continue and finish up my (very) long list of African take-aways. Hope yall enjoy :)
Learnings from Shungwe:
47. You know the fish is fresh if it throws itself off the plate.
48. All-night parties in the African bush are immeasurably crazier than frat parties, no questions asked.
49. Be prepared to answer questions about the rape of Dinah, whether divorce is biblical, and the end of the world...they might just sneak up on you.
50. Kapinta (the world's tiniest and most odor-ific fish) has one of those smells that you don't just "get used to" over time...even after a 15-hour bus ride.
...and from Livingstone:
51. Make friends with hotel gardeners. One may just turn out to be a gamekeeper who goes by "Dr. Doolittle" - and if you're lucky, he'll lead you to giraffes and zebras.
52. When your camera breaks in a foreign country, just make friends with people who look like they have a good eye for pictures. You'll end up with some pretty amazing shots!
53. An "African tan" means you look Jamaican on your arms, chest, and shins but Irish everywhere else. (Sigh.)54. Giving random plastic trinkets to guys who won't leave you alone is an awesome way to come home with legit African keepsakes.
55. Always be prepared to catch your boyfriend should he almost fall off Victoria Falls.
56. Jumping off a bridge attached to another person is at least twice as complicated as jumping solo.
...and even South Africa:
57. You can make fudge anywhere in the world...3 countries, 5 cities, and counting!
58. You know you've crashed guy's night when you've got 3 kinds of meat on the table, Hangover 2 playing in the background, water and beer as your only sources for hydration, and four guys hanging out by the grill.
59. Close your windows while going greenlaning - the sand'll getcha.
60. Go to Pringle Bay.
61. Baboons are pests on steroids. Incriminating evidence: When you're away for the day in South Africa, it's highly advised that you close and lock all your windows. Why, you ask? Because baboons will toss their babies into windows left ajar, the babies will raid your kitchen and pass the goodies back out to mom and dad, and you'll return to a nicely ransacked house. Beautiful.
62. "Borrowing" a King Protea is only okay if you're with a licensed South African tour guide.
63. It is standard in South Africa to deny women visas to the US (but if you're male, you're good to go). That's why, in South Africa, women outnumber men 8 to 1.
64. South African wine is worth the price of a plane ticket.65. Clothes dryers, shaving cream, and paper towels are highly underrated.
66. "It all comes together with a Castle."
67. Good can, indeed, come from 8-hour layovers in Joburg.
So if you ever go to Africa, make sure to keep those in mind! Love yall so much :)
Stephanie
Monday, September 19, 2011
the long road from shungwe to blacksburg
Hi again, beautiful friends - and hello, America!
I'm back on U.S. soil, alive, well, and not even that jet-lagged - woo hooo! Since I last enjoyed a legitimate internet connection in Mongu, I think I've covered more ground in the past three weeks than I ever have before in my life. Bryan and I started out in Shungwe, middle of nowhere, very very much Africa just days after my last post. A 3-hour roller coaster ride later, we arrived in Mongu (Western Province, Zambia). Quick turn around: just days later, we took an 8-hour overnight bus and another 7-hour day bus to get to Livingstone (Southern Province, Zambia) to see Victoria Falls. Fortunately, we only had to endure a quick and painless flight to travel to the beautiful city of Capetown, South Africa. We sure made up for it a week later though...only after an 8-hour layover and 20 hours in the air did we finally return to the home of the Hokies: lovely Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America. I think I have enough frequent flier miles to last me for a few years/decades!
So to start from the very beginning (a very good place to start)...
Shungwe was quite an interesting little village. Only eight of us traveled out to the floodplains, four from Hope Church and four of us makua interns: Muyunda, Paul, Catherine (Zambian), and Una, and also Bryan, Wes, Catherine (American), and me. Initially, our goal was to stay in Shungwe with enduna (chief) Roberts and use a boat we brought along with us to travel down the Zambezi to visit Liyoyelo. As we soon found out, the enduna had met with some members of the Zambia Project before and was very supportive of the gospel (and of any short-term teams who wanted to visit his village). He actually went with us to Liyoyelo to see the enduna there. Incidentally, that visit turned into a bit of a flop, unfortunately: we waited a total of four hours to meet with Liloyelo's enduna, all to learn that he had chosen to take a nap instead.
Enduna Roberts, on the other hand, was so enthusiastic that we were staying in Shungwe that he insisted we make camp quite literally in his front yard, which just so happened to be right next door to a house that hosted a party that week. But this was no ordinary party. Apparently in Zambian culture, when a village girl "comes of age," the whole town gets together for a three day, full-out, crazy-intense fiesta that would put any college frat party to shame. A lot of compromising things go on that week, including rampant drunkenness, grandmas pulling out dance moves that I've never seen before, family squalls, and some pretty intense brawls. On the third night we were there, the partying started at dusk and went on all night - and we're talking aaaall niiiiight loooong. Because of that, though, the next day actually turned out to be a pretty legitimate test to see how many people were very serious about their committment to what they'd heard about the gospel that week. Three or so guys, plus the enduna, sought us out that next day to ask some amazing questions, from "If Adam and Eve were the first people God created, then who was Cain afraid of after he killed his brother?" to "If there's one God and one Bible, why are there so many denominations?" So although we only had a small core group of people who were interested in hearing what we had to say that week, they showed a genuine interest in learning about the Bible and actually applying it to their lives, immediately. It was awesome.
After we returned to Mongu, Lihana and Lloyd took us to a crocodile farm, where they raise...wait for it...11,000 crocs!
We then said our good-byes to all our friends at Hope Church and at Mutoya, hopped onto an overnight bus to Lusaka (man, that was rough...I'm still trying to get the fish smell out of my clothes), took a day bus to Livingstone, and spent three full days enjoying Victoria Falls.
We walked (and swam!) along the lip of the falls (i.e. the water just before it falls down the precipice) with Raphael, a guy who we'd gone to the bush with from Hope Church...
...jumped 111 meters off a bridge on the "tandem swing"...
...got to know and hang out with some awesome backpackers...
...and just plain soaked up God's amazing creativity!
That Sunday, we flew to Capetown to visit the Zambia Project missionaries' sending church, The People's Church (TPC), barely making it in time for their Sunday night service. I know I must have been a little bit biased towards any scenery different than Mongu - paved roads, mountains, and beaches, for starters - but Capetown literally looks like heaven on earth. It was by far the most beautiful place I'd ever seen - and certainly ever visited! If you're ever in Africa, please go...you definitely won't regret it!
So now I'm in Virginia! Next stops in the near future are West Virginia, North Carolina, NYC to see the fam (YAY!!!), Florida, and finally home sweet home: Texas. I don't think I'll ever be able to put into words how much I appreciate and truly depended on yall's unflagging support, prayers, and encouragement while I was in Zambia. Many of yall I'll be able to thank and hug in person, and I love that - I can't wait to see you all! - but to all my friends who I can't see just yet, you're constantly in my thoughts and I hope to at least speak with you soon. I can't wait to hear all about what God's doing in all of yall's lives, how school is going, how first jobs are working out, what the UMC is up to, how Houston and Nashville are, everything. Although we're no longer an ocean away, I still miss yall terribly! So for now, "muciale hande" ("stay well")!!!
In His peace,
Stephanie :)
I'm back on U.S. soil, alive, well, and not even that jet-lagged - woo hooo! Since I last enjoyed a legitimate internet connection in Mongu, I think I've covered more ground in the past three weeks than I ever have before in my life. Bryan and I started out in Shungwe, middle of nowhere, very very much Africa just days after my last post. A 3-hour roller coaster ride later, we arrived in Mongu (Western Province, Zambia). Quick turn around: just days later, we took an 8-hour overnight bus and another 7-hour day bus to get to Livingstone (Southern Province, Zambia) to see Victoria Falls. Fortunately, we only had to endure a quick and painless flight to travel to the beautiful city of Capetown, South Africa. We sure made up for it a week later though...only after an 8-hour layover and 20 hours in the air did we finally return to the home of the Hokies: lovely Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America. I think I have enough frequent flier miles to last me for a few years/decades!
So to start from the very beginning (a very good place to start)...
Shungwe was quite an interesting little village. Only eight of us traveled out to the floodplains, four from Hope Church and four of us makua interns: Muyunda, Paul, Catherine (Zambian), and Una, and also Bryan, Wes, Catherine (American), and me. Initially, our goal was to stay in Shungwe with enduna (chief) Roberts and use a boat we brought along with us to travel down the Zambezi to visit Liyoyelo. As we soon found out, the enduna had met with some members of the Zambia Project before and was very supportive of the gospel (and of any short-term teams who wanted to visit his village). He actually went with us to Liyoyelo to see the enduna there. Incidentally, that visit turned into a bit of a flop, unfortunately: we waited a total of four hours to meet with Liloyelo's enduna, all to learn that he had chosen to take a nap instead.
Wes doin his camera thang in the floodplains on the way to Shungwe
After we returned to Mongu, Lihana and Lloyd took us to a crocodile farm, where they raise...wait for it...11,000 crocs!
Bryan, Lihana, Lloyd, and me at the croc farm
We walked (and swam!) along the lip of the falls (i.e. the water just before it falls down the precipice) with Raphael, a guy who we'd gone to the bush with from Hope Church...
me clinging to Raphael as we crossed the river above Vic Falls
Bryan and me at one of the pools at the top of the Falls
...jumped 111 meters off a bridge on the "tandem swing"...
some bridge, huh?
we made it!
...saw lions, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, snake birds, and hundreds of elephants in Chobe National Park in Botswana...
...got to know and hang out with some awesome backpackers...
...and just plain soaked up God's amazing creativity!
That Sunday, we flew to Capetown to visit the Zambia Project missionaries' sending church, The People's Church (TPC), barely making it in time for their Sunday night service. I know I must have been a little bit biased towards any scenery different than Mongu - paved roads, mountains, and beaches, for starters - but Capetown literally looks like heaven on earth. It was by far the most beautiful place I'd ever seen - and certainly ever visited! If you're ever in Africa, please go...you definitely won't regret it!
Lucy, a friend from Mongu, took us wine tasting at vineyards just outside of Capetown
yep - there are places in the world that look this beautiful!
penguins in South Africa! who'd'a thunk?
view of Capetown from the top of Lion's Head
So now I'm in Virginia! Next stops in the near future are West Virginia, North Carolina, NYC to see the fam (YAY!!!), Florida, and finally home sweet home: Texas. I don't think I'll ever be able to put into words how much I appreciate and truly depended on yall's unflagging support, prayers, and encouragement while I was in Zambia. Many of yall I'll be able to thank and hug in person, and I love that - I can't wait to see you all! - but to all my friends who I can't see just yet, you're constantly in my thoughts and I hope to at least speak with you soon. I can't wait to hear all about what God's doing in all of yall's lives, how school is going, how first jobs are working out, what the UMC is up to, how Houston and Nashville are, everything. Although we're no longer an ocean away, I still miss yall terribly! So for now, "muciale hande" ("stay well")!!!
In His peace,
Stephanie :)
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