Although we were only gone for only a few weeks we had a very busy schedule bouncing from cities, villages and countries trying to complete all the goals of our intended mission. In summery I belive we had a sucsesful journey without running into any sickness or major problems. This is a large blessing considering the proximity to danger we encountered in a few areas.
I often struggle coming home after experiencing such a powerful journey. After seeing so much desperation and so much need, and then coming home to this great country that has been blessed with every possible resource. I am beginning to see things in a different light after this trip. A light that does not speak to the conventional clichés of “Rich and Poor.” Instead I am coming home with the pain of the Genocide on my heart. With the distance cry of small children of a refugee camp which is home to hundreds of thousands of hungry people. I come home with the faces of children orphaned by war and widows losing their innocent husband to political hatred. Still I drive the streets of this beautiful Canadian country that I call home and that is where I find the most struggle.
I see generation of young people desperate for purpose and meaning. I see a lack of community and direction. I come back eager to share with my friends and family the hard ships of these wonderful people that are a world away from us. I can not relay this heart felt message because everyone here is in just as much need. This time I come back to the third world country. I come back to a unmotivated, unfocused, spiritually lost country that has access to every possible resource they would need. No one wants to hear about these things over seas because they have their own problems.
Well Africa does have its own share of political, physical and environmental problems. They deal with these issues on day to day basis, not as an individual. Not as a family. But as a community, as a body of people that are aware of their suffering and have come together in hopes of making a better life for not only themselves but their fellow man. One thing that sticks with me is the saying I was told “you are an Africans friend until proven otherwise.”
How long will we sit in our homes on top of countless amounts of opportunity in our potential, in our hopes and dreams in our children and in our venerability. In my opinion all it will take is people to understand and recognize that we are in need and we simply do need to come together. We can also all be friends until proven otherwise. And that our community of family and friends does not need to end within our cities, or within our country. It can carry across all corners of the world. And I can attest there is more then enough need in our dying world, the question is simply when will we wake ourselves up and come together as life has called us to do.
