How does one prepare to go to Africa? This is my first trip, and the continent exists as a hazy construction of ideas in my mind. My sources have been the stories of missionaries, pictures, newspaper articles, films and world history classes. It has been filtered through layers of editing and intent. Africa has been prepackaged for my Western mind, and everything contains a degree of distance and the unfamiliar.
I've been doing a bit of reeducation in preparation for this trip. I just finished reading a book called King Leopold’s Ghost about the colonization of the Congo by the Belgian monarch. Most people have never heard that an estimated 10 million Congolese died of abuse or outright murder during the first twenty years of Belgian rule. That number was half of then entire population. Forced slave labor, mutilation and rape were standard pieces of the “civilizing” forces. Unfortunately, it is just one of the many stories of colonial atrocities that have been brought to light in the shifting of powers during the last fifty years. Humans have an incredible capacity for the destruction of others.
Racism was the backdrop for the West’s picture of Africa. It was an unspoken prerequisite to nearly every policy that was made concerning the “vast lands yet to be claimed.” It allowed natural resources to be plundered while local birthrates fell and entire populations disappeared. The picture that we, the still-distant West, now see as Africa was painted on that canvas.
I am frustrated to see that my own worldview has been unavoidably affected by these harmful assumptions. I am angry that injustice continues today because of the West’s economic priorities. I hate knowing that I still carry a Western lens into Africa. I struggle to know how to even begin changing.
I know what I don’t want- I do not want to be the Great White Rescuer. That role been attempted by many, and it has caused neglect and pain. My humanity is too raw to pretend that I will “enlighten” any society with my Western ways.
And I know what I do want- I want to learn more about what it means to be human by seeing, feeling, and hearing more of the world. I want to love new people. I want to share my life with children and learn how I can contribute to their well being. My hope is that Africa will sink deeper into my heart through this trip. It will cease to be distant. Instead it will become the faces of new friends, the memories of life shared, and the hope that is found in a new point of view.
I've been doing a bit of reeducation in preparation for this trip. I just finished reading a book called King Leopold’s Ghost about the colonization of the Congo by the Belgian monarch. Most people have never heard that an estimated 10 million Congolese died of abuse or outright murder during the first twenty years of Belgian rule. That number was half of then entire population. Forced slave labor, mutilation and rape were standard pieces of the “civilizing” forces. Unfortunately, it is just one of the many stories of colonial atrocities that have been brought to light in the shifting of powers during the last fifty years. Humans have an incredible capacity for the destruction of others.
Racism was the backdrop for the West’s picture of Africa. It was an unspoken prerequisite to nearly every policy that was made concerning the “vast lands yet to be claimed.” It allowed natural resources to be plundered while local birthrates fell and entire populations disappeared. The picture that we, the still-distant West, now see as Africa was painted on that canvas.
I am frustrated to see that my own worldview has been unavoidably affected by these harmful assumptions. I am angry that injustice continues today because of the West’s economic priorities. I hate knowing that I still carry a Western lens into Africa. I struggle to know how to even begin changing.
I know what I don’t want- I do not want to be the Great White Rescuer. That role been attempted by many, and it has caused neglect and pain. My humanity is too raw to pretend that I will “enlighten” any society with my Western ways.
And I know what I do want- I want to learn more about what it means to be human by seeing, feeling, and hearing more of the world. I want to love new people. I want to share my life with children and learn how I can contribute to their well being. My hope is that Africa will sink deeper into my heart through this trip. It will cease to be distant. Instead it will become the faces of new friends, the memories of life shared, and the hope that is found in a new point of view.
posted by Erin at 12:32 AM
3 Comments:
Amen.
Sister – how grateful I am to be embarking on the journey with you!!How THIS one prepares to go to Africa… I’m getting my oil changed, paying my electric bill, listening to NPR. I’m playing the daily game of rushing to leave the office early just to sit in an hour of rush-hour traffic. I’m meeting friends for coffee, going running. I am trying to squeeze in some writing or some painting in the precious few minutes before I fall asleep at night. On the surface, I am living life ordinary. But underneath the surface is the beautiful extraordinary truth that life is more than the sum of these parts. My heart is beating with the anticipation of stepping out of my daily routine, and into the lives of children and friends I now only know from photos and stories – just to be in relationships. I am trying my best not to overthink, overplan, overanticipate, and just revel in the sweet joy of anticipation. I am praying a lot. I am praying that in small ways, huge ways, that our little team would be God’s hands, His eyes, His ears, and His heart in places of brokenness. Not out an attempt to rescue or enlighten…just to love and serve.
"...life is more than the sum of these parts."
How right you are. Isn't it amazing that simply switching contexts through travel can remind us of what life is really about? Going to coffee with friends, going to Africa- it is all about being in relationships.
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