The Journey
03.16.12
Three Cups of Africa…
"you must take time to share three cups of tea. We may be uneducated but we are not stupid. We have lived and survived here for a long time.’ That day, Haji Ali taught me the most important lesson I’ve ever learned in my life. We Americans think you have to accomplish everything quickly…Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects. He taught me that I had more to learn from the people I work with than I could ever hope to teach them.”
I was walking back across the compound, coming home from Rachel’s after enjoying an evening of fun, food and fellowship that we topped off with a nice cup of tea. As I came around the corner and looked up at the sky and saw three bright stars in a row. It dawned on me, I have shared cups of tea in three different parts of Africa since I arrived three months ago, almost to the day. I arrived December 15th, as I write this it is March 17th.
How different life has been that what I expected it to be. We all know I planned on being happily settled in Akobo now. We all know how wrong that turned out to be.
Akobo is a tiny village, a quiet place set along the river, where people go about their daily business. From all appearances, life probably hasn’t changed much here in hundreds of years. Yes, technology is infiltrating. Power boats are taking the place of dug outs and papyrus canoes along the river. Cell phones are everywhere. Satellite dishes are popping up on NGO compounds lit by solar energy. But for the most part, life goes on. Children walk to the river with plastic basins on their heads full of laundry and dishes to be washed. Women still gather at the local well to share the latest news and gossip as they fill their jerri cans with water to meet their family’s needs. Men still gather, and unfortunately, soldiers still walk the streets to keep the peace. And so, I was sent to Malakal to live.
Malakal is as far from Akobo as you can possibly imagine. Malkal is dry, dusty, dirty, and very desert like. Yes the river is there, but not where I could go sit and enjoy the peace of an evening sunset. Malakal is a bustling village that is home to many different NGO’s and their vehicles barreling down the road stirring up the dust even more. Malakal has the look and feel of a busy town and the Western attitudes that are sometimes reflected in the NGO workers are spreading to the locals. There are those that hang on to the village attitudes and life is good. They walk the roads as they always have. They gather for tea at the tea shops that seem to be everywhere, they gather at the market chatting and visiting, just like old times. They take time to make a stranger feel welcomed and loved and invite you to sit and share a cup of tea.
Next it was off to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for my R&R which, it turns out, turned into my R,R & R. Addis the “capital of Africa” is a huge city of several million people and experiencing the building boom that hit the US a few years ago. As our economy has declined, it appears theirs is booming and new multi-story buildings are going up everywhere. Don’t get me wrong, Addis still has all the things I loved about it when I was here before. The mini bus taxies still going barreling down the streets with a “shouter” hanging out the door who hollers “Pazza, pazza,pazza” (Piazza – the center of the city) or what ever the destination is, and slings the door open for people to pile off and pile on on the way to their destination. Addis still has street vendors selling the best tomatoes and bananas from wheel barrows along the streets. There are still the street children selling packages of kleenix and walking down the road singing songs to you. There are still the harder things to see. The blanket I almost stepped on that turns out a foot slipped out and someone was sleeping there, along with the plastic tarps that people call home and the people who think they aren’t worthy enough to enter the church grounds so they hang on the gates worshipping from afar.
With all its clashing of time and cultures, I love Addis. It has its own kind of magic. The church guest house where I am staying has been a revolving door of visitors since I arrived and for every visitor, there are many cups of tea and stories and much laughter shared around the dining room or living room tables.
That is the lessons of Africa – shared from Greg Mortenson’s book, “Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects.” And that is what happens here as well. We slow down, we take time and we listen and we share and rejoice in the joys and comfort the sorrows, native and foreigner alike. Our agendas are never too full to take time for a cup of tea and enjoy the beautiful gifts each one has to offer. That is the magic of being here.
I invite you to take time from your busy schedule, sip a cup of tea with a friend or family member and rejoice in the gifts you both bring to the table.
Peace,
Sharon
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