Land of Contrasts

     We love our new home! We are pretty much settled as long as you don't go in the garage or the basement. I feel a bit Pharisaical having the places you can see clean but those hidden areas still filthy. Ha! Oh well, all in good time. 

     

      One of the things we greatly enjoy about our place is the outdoors. We live in the middle of town but it looks like country all around. This morning I woke up and heard baby birds nesting somewhere in the tree beside our window. We have enjoyed several nights of eating dinner outside. And even as I write, I am sitting on our deck surrounded by trees and lightning bugs. The silence is being broken by locusts, an owl in the distance, and occasional chirping birds that are flying by. Beautiful! Peaceful. Relaxing. 

      

      When I thought of going to Africa the words beautiful, peaceful and relaxing were not what made me sign up. After 27 hours of traveling our hosts simply wanted us to stay awake for a few more hours so we would get adjusted quickly to the 6 hour time difference. They took us to a beach restaurant. It was glorious. The view was breath taking. We were sitting at a table on the sand, shaded by a palm tree, breathing in the slight breeze that cooled things down, sipping on my first passion fruit juice, and relaxing to the sound of water. It was not at all what I had expected to experience in a third world country. For a brief moment I felt like I had stepped into someone else's life and was on an exotic vacation. 

     As we were driving the next day I was smitten by the beauty. The luscious forest with an array of greens, quilted valleys, 


clear blue water, mountain top views.  

There were trees I never knew existed like the fan tree. 

     I had never seen land of this magnitude. I could not help but just soak it all in. I was abruptly jolted out of my basking by the sight of a couple dilapidated structures. I shrugged that off and continued my admiring. A few minutes later came another interruption. Every few miles this would happen. Houses that were half built but abandoned by an owner who did not have the money to finish it. 

     Impromptu markets on the side of the road where people were trying to sell anything they could. Children playing next to the road in the dirt. A boy with a staff in hand tending to his family cows, goats, or sheep. 

Unspeakable beauty then the reality of poverty, unspeakable beauty then the reality of poverty. I looked at Jay and told him how odd it seemed. He simply said, "Ah, Africa. The land of contrasts." He was spot on. 

     

     The poorest of people living on the most lavish of lands. A people with nothing living where others with riches would give bountifully to live. Funny how all we can see is our circumstance. Two sides of the world, yet humans are all the same. Not rich because of what we have but poor because of what we don't.