A little reflecting...

I have been lucky enough to have done quite a bit of travel thus far in my life, but up to this point all of my travels have been relatively short trips. This is now my 11th week in Africa, which makes this the longest amount of time I have ever spent away from home. Knowing that, I thought this would be a good time to do a little reflecting. Here are a few random things that came to mind…

I have been unbelievably blessed in my life. I knew this before I came to Africa (it’s one of the reasons I chose to come here), but living here really has driven this point home. There are billions of people living in this world with unsafe water conditions, little or no health care, and inadequate opportunities to receive an education. Why was I part of the lucky minority born in a developed country into a family that could give me everything that I needed? It’s a tough question, and I’ll spare everyone from launching into a novel where I try to find the answer!

It just takes a little to make a difference. There is so much wrong in this world that it can be overbearing. Africa especially seems to shoulder a disproportionate load of misfortunes – wars, dictators, famine, genocide, malaria, AIDS…the list could go on for quite awhile. What frustrates me about this, however, is that people have a tendency to be so put off by the problems that they overlook the opportunities. And it really doesn’t take much to capitalize on these opportunities. For example, some students in the Gilbert School District are going to be doing some fundraising to bring school supplies and mosquito nets to students in rural Uganda. It doesn’t seem like much to donate $7 for a mosquito net, but that net could make the difference in whether a child is healthy enough to receive an education or not.

We are more alike than different. Whether we live in a congested developing city like Kampala, a mud hut in rural Uganda, small town Iowa, or a major metropolitan city, we all share certain common desires. We want to our families to be healthy; we want to live without fear; we want a dependable income that will supply those basic needs and provide a comfortable existence; etc. The settings in which we find ourselves can be vastly different, but when it comes down to it, it really isn’t that hard to relate to one another.

Nine months is going to go by quicker than I can imagine. I have been here for over 10 weeks – that’s nearly 2 ½ months already. In other words, I am already ¼ of the way done with my time in Africa! It’s going by quickly, and the remaining time is also going to fly by. It has definitely been frustrating at times, especially with all of the logistics that I have had to go through upfront. However, I’m starting to see some payoffs, and that’s very encouraging. I just hope I can make the rest of my time here be worthwhile!

Ironically, the same week that marked the longest stretch of time I had spent away from home also held one of the events that I most wanted to be home to attend: Fall Festival. As one might expect, I had to battle with some homesickness during the past week. However, I had some help from family and friends in dealing with it. Tracy and my parents gave me updates about Fall Festival late each day (for anyone who didn’t make it out – it was a gorgeous weekend and probably our best festival yet!), and I got some very nice emails from several people.

Still, homesickness is a part of this experience and is part of the inherent challenge of living in Africa for an extended period of time. I have heard the first few weeks in a foreign country described as the honeymoon period, where everything is new and fascinating. Every task is a new adventure (especially in a country like Uganda). As time goes by, however, the tasks/adventures become more routine. And after awhile, the excitement of living in a totally new place starts to fade. This is when the challenge really sets in – it becomes a little harder to laugh off the traffic jams, internet malfunctions, electricity outages, etc each time. That’s the point I’ve reached. I find myself getting more and more frustrated when I want to try to accomplish something but am stopped by breakdowns and inefficiencies.

So what am I doing about it? I’m trying to work the system as best as I can! Case in point: I am in the process of buying a car (crazy, I know)! My host family was looking to sell their car, so it actually worked out perfectly. I will keep the car for the rest of my time over here and then sell it right before I leave. The car is a Toyota Corsa (picture a Toyota Corsica and shrink it a little). It’s small and gets pretty good gas mileage (that was a requirement for me since gas costs the equivalent of $7-$8/gallon over here) which should make it easy to sell off when I’m ready to leave.

I have been driving the car for nearly a week now, and I can already tell that it will be worth the investment! Now I don't have to worry about navigating the taxi park at night and have much more independence to go where I need to go, when I need to go there. Driving, however, definitely is an experience over here. First of all, everything is reversed for me since they drive on the left side of the road here. I’m getting used to it, but it still feels weird to have to look up and left to check my rear-view mirror. Also, the turning signal is on the other side of the steering wheel, so I will frequently turn on my windshield wipers instead of signaling to turn. Secondly, I am convinced that 95% of the drivers over here have never had any type of driving lesson. If they have, they immediately threw out whatever they learned when the lesson was finished. The rule of the road here is every man for himself. Coming from small-town Iowa, this is about the exact opposite of what I know. To say that my first couple times on the road were stressful would be more than an understatement! However, like I said, I’m slowly getting it figured out. My strategy is to just drive like a grandma and bring back the concept of “defensive driving” that my dad taught me back when I was 14!

Anyway, time to get back to my other projects.

Cheers!
Chris


Pic: Sure I know what I'm doing...



Pic: He likes the car too