People often ask me "So...how was africa??"
I'm not going to lie. I actually want to hit people that ask me that. I know its not their fault and i know a lot of people feel awkward at trying to relate to such an experience but seriously...can't people come up with a better question than that?
And you KNOW that when you hear that being said to you, the person asking is not wanting a truthful answer, they want to hear "it was awesome...did you see deal or no deal last night?!". I think thats what bothers me most. Maybe i should start answering with " wow! i could talk about this for days, and trust me, if you dont' stop me, i wont shut up. So i lived in this town called jinja and it was awesome, full of life and amazing kind hardworking people. I had a great little tiny house on kisinja road and we could walk to bible study at mama and papa's house and to amani whenever we wanted. Some day were horrible and i wanted to cry all day and lock myself in my room and never see anyone again. And other days it was like the highest high you can imagine and i'd feel like i was truly truly home......"
But i can't. and 99% of the time, i WANT to and NEED to talk about Uganda. i want people to want to hear me talk about it. Its cathartic.
Enough of my rant. These are just 2 of my favorite questions people ask me.
" Are there cars in Africa?"
" So like...do they speak in clicks there?"
Also- one night at work, bethany was talking to a co-worker and she had commented on how she really wanted to go to egypt and the coworker responded with "thats so cool! you'll have gone to Africa AND Egypt".........
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4 comments:
um... Call me. Let's talk about Uganda. Catch me up, bc I sat in church yesterday morning so homesick I could barely breathe, thinking "how is it possible that the US doesn't feel like home even though I've lived here for all but one year of my life???" so call me... We need to talk :)
A big Amen to this.... I haven't had anyone to talk about Uganda with hardly at all in the past few months, and sometimes it feels like I wish it would all just pour out of me...I get so frustrated with America still sometimes, but mostly just miss the Ugandan way of life. You're right, it had it's ups and downs in Jinja... but it's forever in our hearts now.
(amanda)
Its a very ambiguous question. I find also that when people ask - its much like the British using the weather for something to talk about! People don't really want to know - or if they do - they want a short concise reply. Sadly we are all to self-absorbed in our society to really want to know whats going on around us. Still don't be discouraged - I'm sure that your time and experiences will touch many - in Uganda and wherever you are.
Hi Amy, this is your African cousin GInny. I know how you feel! When I moved to Canada from Africa as a teenager, I needed to talk about Africa so badly. Thank God I had your mom who was always willing to listen to my stories.
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