This quote comes from page 129 of the book Friendship at the Margins: Discovering
Mutuality in Service and Mission (Resources for Reconciliation) by
Christopher L. Heuertz and Christine D. Pohl.
I read this book for the theology class I participated in
over the internet this year. I read this particular piece while in Zambia, but
thought it would better fit in a blog towards the end of my service.
What a powerful quote. I wanted to share this because it
targets a topic that brings forth a strong emotion as well as something I feel
needs to be spoken about. The emotion and feeling I am referring to is
frustration. Frustration tends to bring its friend Anger along as well.
Moving back and forth from the third world to the first can be
and usually is difficult. I find myself becoming frustrated at others comments
and complaints. I become angry that they can’t see or understand what I have
and I am annoyed when my experiences and lessons are so hard to explain and for
others to grasp.
However, then I reread this quote. The grace and generosity
we show our family and friends should be shown to all and vice versa. The care
I show the people of Zambia and Tanzania should be what I show to my family and
friends at home. Just because my family and friends are better off doesn’t mean
they deserve less. It’s just that these people deserve more. They deserve more
than what they currently have and that isn’t much. This concept can become
entangled in our minds and we can find ourselves becoming frustrated with others
for having something we do not.
 |
| Thanks Phoenix Group! |
We need to straighten our thought process. Is it good to
hoard, follow greed, become gluttonous and focus on only ourselves? No, I would
argue it’s not. Though, why I like this quote so much is that it helps us see
that even though you are better off it doesn’t mean you deserve less. You and
they are both beautiful creations which deserve the same. What we can see is
that they don’t have the same and, therefore, they deserve more.
This is why I was very happy to hear from my friend Adam.
Adam is the one I will be visiting in Europe during the month of May. Adam owns
a company called Phoenix Group. He made a donation to my service and with that
donation I was able to buy notebooks, pens, pencils, whiteout paste, scissors
and mathematical sets for both primary and secondary school children. In fact,
I bought so much I cleared out half the shop as well as made the largest
purchase the store has seen. It made me happy to be able to bring this to both
the public school in Hanga as well as Saint Benedicts. The kids were overjoyed.
Thank you for your donation, Adam.
Once again, you don’t deserve less, it is they who deserve
more. By providing school supplies for hundreds of children we are
acknowledging this and helping.
Father Gregory, who I believe to be close to 100 years old
though no one knows for sure (his birth year was never documented, but he tells
me he was a grown up in 1928) has not only absolutely obliterated the life
expectancy in Tanzania (50 years), but is one of the founders of Hanga Abbey. He
enjoys speaking with me and constantly tells me that I am living a “life of
adventure” and is happy to see me in Tanzania. The man is very kind.
Yesterday, he came to me and asked if I could help him. He
is trying to create a path or road to the nearby waterfall so the abbey and
villagers are able to access it for water and electricity. He is in need of
$100. I know I said that I hoped to be done with traveling into Songea, but I
think this reason is worth a trip to the ATM.
It can be difficult to admit, but I feel it is hard for many
of us to give away our goods and resources to others because, well, we want it
for ourselves. This is natural, but when we actually see what life is like for
these people we are able to realize that they do deserve more.
Another great quote that I feel covers this well is, ““In
response to the excuse offered by those with resources that they don’t know
anyone in help, Wesley explained, “One great reason why the rich, in general,
have so little sympathy for the poor is because they so seldom visit them. Hence
it is that…one part of the world does not know what the other suffers. Many of
them do not know, because they do not care to know: they keep out of the way of
knowing it; and then plead their voluntary ignorance as an excuse for their
hardness of heart.” Voluntary ignorance is as dangerous as it is easy. Choosing
not to see and avoiding thinking about the consequences of our decisions or
lifestyle do not make us blameless. Opening our eyes to the global realities
and moving beyond our areas of comfort can become avenues leading to deeper
discipleship, compassion and justice.”” (Heuertz & Pohl, p. 58, 2010).
Choosing to live a better more simple and wiser lifestyle
can have great effects on the world and the ones we share it with. Choosing to
visit the poor and to work alongside them can have life altering and worthwhile
lessons we could not learn elsewhere. Choosing to give a small portion of your
wealth (whether that is money, a particular skill, time, etc.) to another who
is in need can do so much and help in ways you never knew. We are blessed and
we should share that blessing with others because they too deserve the same as
us.
 |
| On a walk to Nocagugu |
As I mentioned in my last post, an older woman by the name
of Kersti (pronounced Casty) has arrived. I helped orientate her to the
village. On Sunday she asked if we could go on a walk and I said yes. As we
were walking I found out two main things about Kersti. The first was when I was
speaking about my Dad’s job. I told her that he works for the company Le
Creuset which sells high-end cookware and is based out of France. Oh, she
raved. She told me how much she loved Le Creuset and how she has so much of it
back home. It sure is popular, Dad!
The next was when I explained everything my siblings were up
to. She told me that my parents had instilled good values in us (which I agree)
and I responded in my sarcastic and joking tone “Well, we are the Kerbers” as
if we are super special. Kersti asked me to repeat my last name and when I did
she just stopped and said “Well, the Kerbers are pretty special because I’m
one.”
No joke, folks. I am walking next to this 67 year old German
woman in Tanzania and we share the same last name. She spells it Körber, but
she says it is pronounced the same. It’s obvious my last name is straight out
of Germany.
To my surprise another woman showed up on Monday. Her name
is Valery and she is from Miami, Florida. She is 32 years old, is a nurse,
backs Trump 100% and does not have a favorable view of Minnesota because of the
speeding ticket she received there a few years back. Even though I am not a
Trump supporter and love Minnesota, I suppose we are all entitled to our own
opinions. Valery told me she had climbed Kilimanjaro before arriving in Hanga
and so I was excited to speak with her about it. Valery is a nice woman and I
have enjoyed her company, however she has some very strong viewpoints that are…mm…towards
the negative end of the spectrum. It was a little bit of a bummer to hear she
didn’t enjoy the climb as much as I, but I suppose we all have different
experiences.
I do not want to spend much of my time on negativity, but
there are lessons to be learned. I have showed Valery around, taught her how to
clean her clothes by hand and discussed the regular day in Hanga as well as all
the need-to-know pieces to life here. I have enjoyed it all so much so to hear
her complain about it was a little tough. “What did you expect,” kept entering
my head, but I know the change can be hard. In fact, she dislikes it here so
much she asked her boyfriend to book her on a flight back to the U.S. tomorrow.
He did so.
 |
| Enjoying life on Kilimanjaro! |
So, her month long stay has been shortened to three days. I
guess Africa isn’t for everyone.
While walking around she asked if we could go to the
supermarket to buy some chicken breast so we don’t have to eat rice and beans.
I told her there is no supermarket here like in America. She said that we must
be able to buy chicken breast, though. I told her you may be able to buy the
whole chicken. That is, the chicken which is alive. Ha, just being honest.
It hasn’t been all bad, though. We did have fun cooking
dinner for the guest refectory last night. We decided to buy some eggs, tomato,
onion and pepper and scramble it all together. It turned out to be quite good.
The sisters enjoyed it as well. All the vegetables make for a colorful end
product and so we named the dish ‘The Parakeet’. Parakeets are colorful, aren’t
they? The others don’t know what a parakeet is so it also makes the dish sound
super creative J
haha. That was a lot of fun.
The one downfall at dinner was when Kersti and Valery were
speaking openly about how they have been suffering through the rice and beans
and lack of variety in food. They both have been here less than a week and they
were complaining about how they miss their pastas, wine, pizzas, and all the
other stuff one can get in the first world.
The reason I mention this is because you all must hear how
this sounds, right? They are openly complaining about how hard their past two
days have been in front of people who have lived this way their entire lives! I
was thinking in my head “AHH am I the only one that hears how terrible and
self-centered this sounds!”
I do not mention this to be critical, but rather as a lesson.
We must open our eyes and ears to this and be able to learn from it. If we do
not we will never be able to move forward in our help.
If you are blind of
your own actions and your words fall deaf upon your ears then the struggle to
learn will be much greater due to the inability of simply being conscious of
yourself.
In helping others you will most likely face a challenge or
two, but to be oblivious of the fact that there are others who have encountered
worse is an unfortunate misstep in this process.
In addition, by being aware of your actions and words we
should not become self-absorbed, but rather self-aware. In order to understand
ourselves and situation better we must be aware of how we react and the things
we say to better ourselves and the people around us.
I would agree that it is normal to focus in on oneself and
it is easy to notice the change and hardships in one’s own life. However, when
self-absorbed, your thoughts begin to turn inward. You begin to think about
only yourself and quickly forget the others (the primary difference between
being aware and absorbed). The result is that you forget the ones you have set
out to help and fall into a world that is all about you. This is no good at
all.
The quote at the beginning reminds us to show grace and
generosity to our friends and family just as we do to the ones on the margin. I
want you to know that I am and that I understand where they are coming from.
However, the quote also states that our lives should be an invitation into
choosing a life that is simple and generous. I guess my invitation will just
come with some lessons attached to it (which I feel is best anyway. From these
lessons we are able to learn about and achieve a simple and generous life). J
We must be able to open our eyes, ears, minds, hearts and
hands. In helping raise others up we must first have the power to simply focus
on them and understand their lives and the hardships they have faced. This will
help us not only put things into perspective, but allow us to help them in
receiving what they deserve – our help, love and care.
They deserve more so let us not inhibit our ability to help
them by focusing on ourselves.
 |
| Cooking up a mean dish. |
Yesterday, Tuesday, April 26th marked the day
Tanganyika and Zanzibar became one country. This took place in the 1960’s and
when it happened Tanganyika changed its name to Tanzania. The day is a national
holiday and so it was fun to have the day off from work. The past couple of
days for me have been busy and so it was nice to be able to pump the brakes a
little.
The past week has been a difficult one for the surrounding
schools and monastery. Another student has passed from complications of what
they believed to be either malaria or the flu. Another thought is that typhoid
may be infecting the students through the water. In addition to the 13 year old
boy a sister who I knew prior to Kilimanjaro passed. She was sent to receive
treatment while I was away and this week she passed. She had fallen ill with
malaria. It is very sad and hard to see disease run rampant and destroy so much
in its path. The students out at Nocagugu are scared now because of this and
many have come in to get tested for malaria. I hope the issue is resolved soon.
That is all for today. I am going to post this and then head
into Songea in order to pull out some money for Father Gregory. Valery would
like to search for some type of meat to cook on her last night here. I told her
I would help. Cooking is fun so I look forward to that. Enjoy the end to your
April, friends. See you back here on Saturday J
Thanks for reading!
Very interesting post. Sounds like you have encountered some interesting people from first world. You handle these situations very well! Better than I!! Be Safe!
ReplyDelete