How I Feel

We've spent a week in the country of Africa so far, and I am finding it hard to pin down a few words to describe the experiences my father and I have had so far. Humbling, eye opening, softening, exhausting, dirty, rewarding, unveiling to name a few... Yesterday I got to experience something that for whatever reason really hit home... Perpetua took me to the goat farm that is owned by Kuwangisana because we got news that a mama goat had just given birth... Upon arrival, Perpetua introduced me to the goat keeper. He is pictured below, and out of all the people I've met so far, he was the most captivating. It was explained to me that he lives full time on the property, in a dirt and stick hut 5 feet away from the goat pen full of 30 some goats. He showed me where he bathes as well as his latrine... both of which floored me. They are pictured below, but essentially each is just a four sided bamboo hut with no roof and just plants/dirt for a floor. His bathroom is pushed right up against the goat pen, and I have seen better looking homeless contraptions... And the most amazing part of all was that he was completely happy. He would frequently show off his semi-toothless grin, and was very proud of what he does for a living.

To me, that gains so much respect. It burdens me to know that back home people are so unsatisfied with what they have (some of the worst stuff back home in America doesn't even compare to the best here). The heart and soul (for lack of a better phrase) of the people here in Mozambique is mind blowing. I can't even imagine a day in their shoes... what it would be like to go hungry day after day, not knowing where your next meal would come from (and when they do eat, often it's the same meal 3 times a day... the monotony...). To lose a mother, a father, or both to AIDS; to relieve yourself into a 6 inch hole in the ground that always reeks; to not own a single pair of shoes; to have to work every single day, dawn to dusk, and still barely make enough to get by; to live in perpetual fear all the time... these are the things people face here on a daily basis. And to think that most of the world lives like this is mind boggling. Believe it or not, we in America are in a serious minority. Very few societies live like we do... and we take so much for granted.