I wanted to hate it …..

I wanted to hate it. It was unfair. A whole country still struggling from events long past. Hard-working, resilient, happy, some of the friendliest people on earth live here. Life is hard. We know it. They know it. I wanted to hate it for them. The hard. I wanted to make the days easier. But you don’t come to Africa to change Africa, you come and become changed. Africa is the raw, simplistic beauty of life. 

The pothole littered roads. The homemade fruit and vegetable stands propped up by a tree on the side of the road. Mud huts with thatched roofs planted the foreground of rising green distant mountains. Porches created by thin trees holding up the corners of rusted tin keeps the blaring sun away. An eight year old with her baby sister wrapped tightly on her back walking to get water for the morning. She passes a boy pushing his bicycle that holds pounds of posho - a thick flour like substance that is used to fill bellies daily.  

So many people. Poverty, middle class, wealth. It’s all here too. They pour their lives into this land. Each family living the life they were given. Each person made by the full knowledge of their Creator. Not one is overlooked. Not one is preferred over the other. 

This living here is a gift. Like milk and honey.  Ever so slowly, I’m finding my place. Our family is finding our place.

Where you live is a gift. You’re surrounded by the poor, the middle class, and the rich. All made by the full knowledge of their Creator. Not one is overlooked. Not one is preferred over the other. Pour your life into your land. Find the milk and honey. Your Creator made the exact time and place(s) you would live and He has purpose for you there. Even if you hate it and even if it doesn’t seem fair. Become changed. You’ll find your place.