That Is Just Life

I had dinner this weekend with an American couple who recently moved to Ndola. The couple is volunteering for an organization that works in communities similar to the ones in which the Jubilee Centre works. The couple has only been in Zambia for a week; therefore, they were sharing their initial impressions of the communities and what has stood out for them. After being here for over 8 months, it was very interesting to hear them share.

They continually said things such as, “I can’t believe all the naked children. There are so many children everywhere. They just burn their trash in a whole. The poverty is so vast. People just use the bathroom wherever they feel. The smell many times can be very pungent.”

These are all very true statements. The truth of the statements is not what struck me. What struck me is the fact that I don’t really notice these things anymore. Going into the compounds has become so much apart of my life that I am not struck as much by the depravity as I once was. It has just become life to me. It is almost as if I just expect to see a child eating a dirt pie on a daily basis.

One of the joys of being able to live and work in a place like Ndola for an extended period of time is that I am able to understand the situation and the problems to a greater degree than if I just spent two weeks in a place. I am able to become comfortable in this setting, and therefore, am able to experience the place to a greater degree.

At the same time, I don’t know if I want to become comfortable with the state of life in many of these communities. I don’t want to become comfortable with the fact that people live in mud brick houses that could collapse with the next rain storm. I don’t want to become comfortable with the fact that people defecate near their water source or do not have access to a quality education. I don’t want to become comfortable with the lack of medical facilities or the inability of the church some times to grasp its mission.

But how does one truly become comfortable in a place while still desiring and believing that the place can make changes for the better? One of the things that I dislike about many Zambian’s attitude toward poverty is that people say, “This is Zambia. We are a third world country, and we will always have people living in the slums.” I think when someone constantly sees poverty of this nature that attitude that can develop very quickly. My hope and prayer is that my heart and mind stays sensitive enough so that I never accept the “status quo” or “inevitable.”