“I need Africa more than Africa needs me.” I wish I could say that I came up with this quote on my own, but I got it from a teammate’s shirt. After being in Africa with her for about three months now, I’ve seen the shirt quite a few times, but this past week it really struck a chord with me. I began to think to myself, ‘how in the world could I ever need Africa?’ Africa is a place stricken with AIDS, poverty, child run homes, civil wars, hunger, thirst, and many more tragedies that no human should ever have to live through; what could Africa possibly have to offer me? I’m an American, I am in great health, I eat more than my fair share in a day, I have never seen war in my front yard, I go to school for free, and compared to these people I don’t have a care in the world. I, like many of you I’m sure, have gotten caught up in living the westernized “ideal life”. You know, the idea that the more you have the happier you are, and once I realized this, I began to realize that I really do need Africa more than Africa needs me. The people here, though they are in poverty, have more pure joy than most Americans I’ve ever seen. They refuse to buy into the lies that say they need tangible things to be happy. They refuse to let their circumstances dictate their joy. The people here rely on the things that really matter like family, friendship, real love, and God to be happy simply because they have no other choice. After seeing kids playing soccer with a ball of trash tied up in string, women sitting on straw mats in the hot sun sharing stories and laughing, or a child buying one orange and sharing a slice with each of his friends because they don’t have the money to buy their own, an American like me really begins to understand what life is all about. Love and faith carry these people through the tragedy that they call everyday life, but if you think about it, what is more tragic; their pure joy through any circumstance, or our never-ending journey to find happiness through cars and clothes and nice houses? I’ve found my answer in the smiling faces of little girls carrying their younger siblings on their backs, the laughter of women who aren’t sure of how they will feed their families dinner, boys playing soccer barefoot with a trash ball, and sanctuaries full of praise, just to name a few. I DEFINITELY need Africa more than Africa could ever need me.
