April 11, 2009 at 1:43 pm (Uncategorized)
Today is a busy day, but a good one. Mark and I returned from Lome last night after going to run errands for our teammates and attending a meeting at the U.S. Ambassador’s house. This morning we woke up, had breakfast with our girls, and then headed out to take two men from AED (the clinic where I volunteer) to the All Church Retreat. Roderique and Pina explained the services that are offered by the clinic and gave some brief info about HIV. People seemed very interested and there were some very good questions asked. I am encouraged to see people from our churches (which are in remote settings) make connections with resources that are available to them. Many times people here just go without help because they have no idea of where to go to find it.
The All Church Retreat was greatly encouraging. I love seeing all of those beautiful people together, sharing in fellowship and joy with one another. I am humbled at how so many people walked hours and hours on end to be together, and at the unity and sweet spirit that is so evident among them. It is hard for me to believe that these churches are so young because so many people have such great faith and wonderful testimonies. I often feel like they are far beyond me!
After bringing my friends from the clinic back I met with Capitaine and got an update on some children that had been abruptly moved from our area. He was able to find them (they are now living in Ghana) and speak with their current guardian about their health needs. He found out that they are in good health right now but the are not receiving ARVs. At least we have the peace of mind of knowing that they are ok for now and we know where to go to check on them. Please pray that the guardian will do what needs to be done to care for their needs and keep them healthy, and that it won’t take one of them getting seriously ill to convince him that ARVs are necessary.
In a few minutes I am off to teach music at our school (always a highlight of my week) and then the girls and I will gather some gifts (sent by our friends at Singing Oaks) to give to the orphans at AED and at the orphanage for Easter. I feel so blessed to be here and to be a part of these great things God is doing here. I pray that the people around me will feel those blessings, too.
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April 3, 2009 at 5:48 pm (Uncategorized)
Chocolate, coffee, Oreos, a good movie, and laying around in bed during the middle of the day. I’m not kidding, it’s kind of therapeutic when practiced occasionally.
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April 1, 2009 at 9:52 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: culture shock, culture stress
We have been living in Africa for five months now, and I am feeling the stress of culture shock. I find myself having strong emotional reactions to things and trying now to let it show because I know that whatever it is is probably not a big deal in reality. For example, the other night our team had a big dinner together and one of the things I was supposed to bring was cheese. This was a monumental problem to me. How much cheese should I bring? If I bring too much will it be wasted? If I bring too little will people not have enough to enjoy with their dinner? Do I have any grated cheese left? If not will I have to thaw out the new cheese and grate it? When will I have time to do that? Thawing and grating cheese is so annoying to me. How long should it I let it thaw before I cut it into chunks and how do I keep it from getting so mushy that it melts into a clump of grated cheese? Normally I would worry about myself for obsessing over cheese like that, but in this case I know that culture shock can do weird things to one’s psyche!
Fortunately, my dear husband sat down and lovingly made me face up to the fact that I’ve been hoarding chocolate. We talked through it together and I have come to the conclusion that it’s ok to eat and indulge in the chocolate and Oreos that we recently received in a care package. When they run out, they run out and it will be ok. We talked about depending on the old familiar things to bring us comfort and how trying to live off of those things or allowing ourselves to make those things so important is as much of a trap as not being willing to give those things up to move here in the first place.
So, I commit myself anew to enjoying the blessings that life here has to offer. I will enjoy the chocolate that was sent to us and not worry about the absence of chocolate once it runs out. There are really so many things I love about life here, and if we were to move back to the States (which on bad culture shock days looks like the Promised Land) I would miss Africa. I commit myself to enjoying Africa while I’m here instead of wishing I was somewhere else (which would only last until I got there, then I would wish I was back here.)
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