Africa pt. 6
Last Day
Currently: flying between Kampala, Uganda & London, England: 11:30am (Uganda Time)
The journey is over, the experience complete. The thoughts still brew. I have left a world of lack and have already re-entered 'normal' life. A personal TV screen stares back at me blankly, offering its multitudes of entertainment choices: drama, comedy, thriller, action. I choose not to watch it now, not because of what it represents following a three week third world experience, but because the movie I was watching bored me. And I was too far in to switch stations. So now I sit with the airplane radio caressing my ears with the sounds of The Verve. I have missed music. Already I have made a plan to listen to one of two U2 songs when I return home: 'One' or 'Where the Streets Have No Name". It's one of the first decisions I will make as I return to the driver seat of my car.
It's hard to say what kind of an impact these past three weeks will have made on me. I fear that I will remain unaffected. That I will drive along a pothole-less highway through the clean air of BC. That I will not notice the lack of children on the street, holding out their hands as I drive by. That I will return to a house that does not require a gate, or barbed wire, or bars, or a generator. That I will again drink water from the tap and even open my mouth in a warm shower. That I will play my radio and forget the beautiful, energetic, rhythmic sounds of the African Children's Choir who awed us with their version of 'Lean on Me'. These children, hand-picked out of a life of poverty to enjoy a top-rated education that wouldn't even get recognized in Canada...these children sang. They clapped. They danced. They sang.
"I just might have a problem that you'd understand..."
I try to understand their problems, but have only witnessed them.
I do not know what effect Africa will have as I return home. I return home thankful, though. Thankful for going. For seeing. For doing. I return home with a glimpse of a bigger world...just a slice of a bigger world. I return home wanting to see more.
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1 comment:
Matt,
I can understand your musings over how this experience will change you, and if the change will last. Will the change last? That depends on you, and if you allow it to truly make you a different person. I found that after being in a third world country where you see and realize for yourself, that so much of what we do in Canada is based on distraction - distraction from God, distraction from people, distraction from ourselves. People use distraction to avoid dwelling on unpleasant things, such as the poverty that exists in the world. We need to keep perspective on what our purpose in life is, and how we can make a difference in the lives of those not only in our neighbourhood, but also around the world.
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