I wish to begin this blog post with a question. Someone tells you that you are “going to Africa”, what is the first thing that pops into your mind? Elephants? District government (EWBers...)? Safari adventure? Water/agric/data systems? Libya? Famine? Soccer (go Holland)? Languages?
Those with the experience of ‘going to Africa’ may have gone for travel, sight seeing, development work (whether it’s one week or a number of years), or perhaps work experience. Maybe you live or have lived in Africa before. But I really want to target those of you who have never stepped onto the continent before. There is a lot to do in Africa, with many experiences to be had. Those of you who have never ‘been to Africa’ before. Specifically, those of you who’s dream it is to go there and save lives. You have been stirred in one way or another to step up and help people less fortunate. Maybe you volunteer so much people look at you in bewilderment, perhaps you see those pictures and biographies of children dying in Africa and can’t stand to sit still any longer. Maybe you’ve had a taste of poverty in your own life, or have witnessed it in others. Whenever someone is looking for poverty to fight, problems to solve, hunger to advocate against, and preventable diseases to prevent, they generally look at Africa as the hotspot. All of you who have never been to Africa before, but it is your dream because in your eyes, it is the place where you can serve the most, this blog is written for you. Because approximately 40 days ago, I was all of the above.
Now back to that question. Imagine someone tells you that you are ‘going to Africa’ for four months of the summer to help decrease the number of children who die every year due to diarrhoeal illnesses. People die of diarrhoea every day because of a number of causes, and you are going to target the act of shitting out in the open. This will decrease the oral-fecal transmission of cholera (among other diseases), so babies will live past the age of 5 and not die of something INCREDIBLY preventable as diarrhoea.
WOOT WOOT! This is your dream come true! You really don’t understand exactly WHAT you’ll be doing, but you know that you are ‘going to Africa to save lives’. I want you to take a moment, close your eyes, and imagine what you will do, who you will meet, what experiences you will have, how many people you will impact, and most importantly, how many lives will you save? Close ‘em and think of the sights, smells, and people. GO.............................................................................................................................
During the past 6 months of knowing I am “going to Africa” I painted a picture of myself in my mind of what I would look like, what I would do, where I would go, what I would accomplish, etc. However, my good friend from home wrote me an “in-Africa” letter to read that I recently had the opportunity to open. I thank God for her writing it, because He worked His purpose through her words, even though she probably did not realize the impact it would have at the time. It said that as a Christian, I must give up this fantasy of my purpose in Africa. I have this idea of what I will accomplish and who I will become through all these experiences. In all honesty, I fell prey to my own pride. I thought that I would make some incredible impact for God, for EWB, for Dorothy, and for myself. But God also has a plan for me here, and it’s a million times better than one that I could ever imagine. So I have decided to just go with the flow, and trust Him.
It has been an incredible experience thus far because I am giving up that fantasy of myself. If you had the chance to read the last post titled “Walls”, this fantasy of myself was one of those barriers that was constricting me from being effective in my work for sanitation.
Thank you God, and thank you K.A. <3
Karina
Disclaimer: this blog is from the perspective and opinion of the writer only, and does not represent any other parties that the writer may represent, such as Engineers Without Borders Canada. Thank you.
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