An old friend

I posted pictures and text today. Tomorrow Jason and I leave to drive across the Serengeti in his landcruiser. We will be camping and wildlife viewing. I will return on Thursday night (late wed night in America). Please keep us in your prayers. Until then here is my latest post:

This morning I have been giving lots of thought to experience. (I am reading Mark Millers book on Experiential Storytelling). It has really got me thinking about this whole experience. Yesterday I went to church with Jason and Emily. It was a wonderful experience that I outlined in detail in my journal. Church was such a wonderful experience. During communion Jason asked me,
“So what stands out at you the most?”
Pausing a moment I replied,
“Not to be self centered but how relaxed I am. It has been a long time since I have felt so relaxed. Part of it is that I do not have any responsibilities here, but a big part of it is just my stress level. It’s practically non existent.”

The whole experience of church yesterday was so refreshing. First of all it lasted all day. Literally. We left Jason and Emily’s house at 8:30am and returned at 8pm. Second everyone was so happy to be there. Absent was any since of responsibility attendance. There was no hint of preoccupation or stress. Worry seemed to be a polar opposite of each persons emotions and everyone placed a high value on those around them.

Part of that attitude is the culture here and part is not. Sukumu, as well as the other tribes, place a very high value on greetings. A simple “good morning” greeting here would be offensive if not followed up by several questions about family translated “Is your family with peace” and the most important “Are you with peace?” What stands out is not that each person asks these questions but that each person asks them slowly, intently, and with great interest. When we arrive at a village introductions sometimes take 15 minutes as everyone greets us with the same interest and concern. Each person repeats the same questions, even if they heard how we answered to others. This is done out of respect to show value. Only after introductions are made are we invited to set down and discuss “the news”. The standard American “Good morning how are you” while collectively thinking “Please don’t answer that for real just say good” is unwelcome and does not fit into this culture at all.

Another interesting trait I have noticed about the villagers is the intensity in which they focus. There is no underlying preoccupation or rushed since of communication. Conversations are not measured or hurried but instead easy and relaxed. It would be easy to say, “Of course it’s relaxed, they have less to worry about, no boss, no house payments, no deadlines.” But this is a simplistic, under thought viewpoint. True, they may not have a “boss” to worry about, but all work in the village is back breaking labor. In the fields it is planting, and harvesting large crops by hand in the homes it is cooking over an open fire, and you walk everywhere. Sometime animals are used to plow a field and other times family members take turns pulling the plow. Each home has a small plot used for farming and raising animals and as with all farming communities there is much to worry about. Anyone who has ever farmed knows that each harvest bring either feast or famine. Usually there is no “OK” crop. Either you have much corn for the coming year or something happened like a storm or a drought and there is no corn and the next year will be spent trying to find food for your family. Also it appears that infant mortality is still very high in the villages. I have met several people who will say I have 12 children but 4 did not make it. Throw in communicable disease like AIDS, dysentery, yellow fever, and malaria and you have the potential for some stress. Worry? There is plenty of opportunity for worry out in the villages. But if they are worrying I cannot tell all I see is faces filled with joy and laughter, lots of laughter. If quality of life is measured in happiness then Sukumuland is a much healthier place to live than America.

All of this brings me to my experience. Yesterday was the first time I completely relaxed in church in many years. During church I was suddenly filled with a great sense of enjoyment. Gone were the stress, worry and collective weight of so many issues facing families I work with. Gone were the last minute adjustments to my lesson, the pressing issues waiting on my desk, the emails piling up in my in box. Yesterday church was about worship and enjoyment of the creator and his creation. Beneath the mango trees somewhere in East Africa listening to the rhythm of Sukumu singers sing songs about joy, and peace I experienced something. I experienced something familiar and known but distant and forgotten, something comforting, beautiful, and complexly simple. I remember it from long ago and welcomed it as soon as I felt it. It was known to me, yet foreign, like an old pair of forgotten jeans it felt cold against my skin but fit just right. It was not until I allowed myself to step into it and button it up that I recognized what it was. It was an old well worn and almost forgotten friend. It was…The joy of the Lord…I am sad to say I had misplaced it. I had let it set under piles of less worn, more stylish, newer garments. But now that I have it on, nothing could feel better.

My you experience the joy of the Lord this week. May you live in Molliah (peace) today. May you slow down what you are doing and enjoy life. My you find that which you have misplaced and wear it all the days of you life.