At last! Radio silence is being broken! Er- internet silence. We've been stranded in the capitol of Niger, Niamey, for an extra day due to a large storm that kept our little plane from being able to safely fly all the way to Galmi. The storm passed and we made the flight today, thank goodness!
We came into the Niamey airport on Friday afternoon. The large plane we flew in on towered over the one-story airport. We descended a large set of stairs to the tarmac and were driven to a small driveway by bus. Everyone unloaded and jostled to form lines for Customs. Officers chained the doors shut behind us. The line was slow since all ten sweating phalanges of each sweating traveler are fingerprinted by Customs officers. All of our luggage made it through to the one baggage belt. A porter helped us with our luggage and loaded it into a massive (and possibly ancient) x-ray machine. The belt was too short and luggage fell out of the x-ray machine onto the floor if no one caught it fast enough. We are very fast.
The guesthouse was wonderful, and I very much enjoyed meeting some of the missionaries who are in Niamey. Everyone was incredibly kind and welcoming. There were no awkward silences due to strangers - my dad and I - joining them to hang out. Everyone told stories and laughed like old friends. We chuckled especially at the Olympic speed walking and rhythmic gymnastics on the television.
I have been reading a book my friend Liz gave me called
A Thousand Sisters. It is a true story, a book about victims of violence in Congo, particularly women. Congo has been called "The worst place on earth. And the most ignored" by Journalist Lisa Lang. In the book author Lisa Shannon travels to Congo to interview women victims of violence and rape. At one point a Congolese woman who has survived incredible trauma, injustice, and violence, says to Shannon, "It is as if we are the same." To me it is incredible that the Congolese woman, who had been so abused and traumatized, could find even the slightest of similarities between her and the author. But the two women connected and called each other sister.
There is something so beautiful, and so important, in connecting with people, in identifying with one another. In recognizing humanity in each other. Without that, we are lost, and our efforts are meaningless. Connecting with people who are different from us can be difficult. But I don't think we are so different.
Before embarking on this trip to Africa I spent a couple of days at a Christian kids camp. Many of the campers this year were sponsored to attend because they didn't have the money themselves since they were from a local homeless shelter. Part of the camp budget this year went to buying shoes for kids who didn't have any. I remember one of our staff telling me that he'd reminded a kid with loose laces to tie his shoes. The child replied, "I don't know how, I've never had shoes."
Children living in poverty around the world are not so different. It is as if they are the same.
