The thoughts of a Barefoot Traveler

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There are moments in life sometimes where I need to stand back, realize what amazing blessings I have in my life. I (Lisa) have dreamt of this for so long, this dream of living and working in Africa. And here I am. I had prec-concieved notions and romanticized ideas of what it would look like. For some odd reason I thought it would be easy and fun all the time. I guess that's what I get for being an optimist. 😊

While there are definitley times where it is easy and fun, moments of difficulty, frustration and feelings of being uncomfortable occur more than I would like. It's the reality of living in a country different than my own.

The language barrier is one of the biggest hinderances living here. For some reason it did not even cross my mind before I came how much of a problem it creates on a daily basis. There are some amazing people here that we have met: Sister Olga and Sister Maria who work every day at the guesthouse where we stay. They make us breakfast, wash our sheets, clean our house and love us abundantly. They can speak some english, but I wish we could have deep, meaningful conversations with them other than just greetings. Adili and his wife Jennifer and daughter Karin, he is our bajaj driver who we have gotten to know really well. He invited us to his church and home, and has the greatest sense of humor. Once again, I wish I was fluent in Swahili, because it would deepen those relationships that much more.

The humble feeling of inadequacy occurs regularily as well. An example of this is when I visited a hospital, and sat in on a session/support group where they have parents come with their children who have disabilities and teach them exercises and techniques to help the child's muscles develop better. It was neat to sit in on it, but I felt so useless because I could not understand what they were saying, and also I have no knowledge that I could share with them in this department.

Discussion about the topic of development takes place on a regular basis here, and I have become less ignorant about the subject, but at the same time feel like I know less what about is the right answer. There is never a simple answer, but while these rich NGO's and people of government shuffle papers, have meetings and conferences, all driving their newest land cruisers and at the end of the day all that has been accomplished was more contesting ideas and talk. While some discussion is needed, I think sometimes that a small grassroots organization like Kidzcare makes more of an impact on people's lives here.

Being here has opened my eyes to what it takes to live in a place like this and more of an idea of what the development industry consists of.

Being here helps me appreciate the simply things in life that I have at home in Canada like fresh drinking water I can take from the tap, washing machines I can throw my clothes into, running water to take a shower, fresh vegetables that I don't have to worry about getting sick from and having good healthcare available.

Being here allows me to be thankful for the blessings I have of an amazing family who loves me, the best group of friends whom I consider my other family, half of whom are getting married, and of course my wonderful man who is here with me through it all. 😊

These are the wandering thoughts of a girl in Africa.

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Photos

Best of friends
Our good friend Adili, he was our driver for getting around in the city.