more thoughts on africa

i love africa's informality, imperfections, warm & welcoming people, i love its colour, i love that africa is alive with music & song, smiles & sincerity, i love Africa's children. I love the African Sun. Africa intrigues me, and reminds me to live for more than myself.- Taryn Archibald

i still don't have my visa stuff together...awaiting a letter of invitation from the doctor in cameroon.
but i know i'll be going. how can i not? i've waited for so long. i wish international travel was more simple than this, but... the way things are is the way things are, right?

people can't understand why or how i could go to serve..."for no pay?!?!" Is it really that foreign of a concept? I have more than some when it comes to resources/'skill'...it makes sense to me to share..even when it's difficult and not convenient. My parents taught me to do that with people...but even to them these dreams are inconceivable and difficult to understand.
I also enjoy learning about people and seeing different cultures. What better way to do this than to immerse yourself within a new nation?

My father, born and raised in a primarily white and southern region, asked me, "Bout all they got over there is blacks, ain't it?"
"Yes, I think in Cameroon the majority of the people have slightly more melanin in their skin than you and I do."
"huh...you better be careful."

...someone got raped on the campus near where I live last week...in the last year there have been multiple muggings and even kidnaps....

there are only people over there. people. humans. mothers. fathers. daughters. brothers. orphans. innocent people exposed to such hideous crimes and governments...governments that stand by the wayside. passionate people that dance and create and sacrifice for their families and loved ones. intelligent people that have been suppressed by lack of resources, family duties, and various other obstacles. people. made out of the same things i am. i want to meet them, learn from their stories, lives, and culture...and fix a cut if they have one.

i wish the world wasn't so ignorant...one-sided...selfish. i wish we shared more. i wish it was okay to love people and that we were more concerned with how well we loved than how many things we could come to possess in a lifetime.

"love the one in front of you." -heidi baker
"the only nation is humanity." -paul farmer