New Meanings

so there have been some things that have deeper meaning to me now. there is a song, i think i've mentioned it here before, called 'i will lift my eyes' by bebo norman. the chorus is:
I will lift my eyes to the Maker
Of the mountains I can’t climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer
Of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer
Of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You
the part about lifting my eyes to the Maker of the mountain i cannot climb grabs my heart and gives it a twist. there are 2 mountain which i can see from the base which i can't climb - mt. kilimanjaro and mt. meru. both of these mountains rise high from the flat plains where i live. they are truly magnificent to see. one day i was walking with a classmate of mine who is from kenya. he said, 'there are people dying to see that mountain.' he was speaking literally of people who risk their lives to see them. for 2 million shillings ($2,000) americans can fly to see them, and many people take that opportunity. but it's not the mountains alone that draw people. it's the people who have lived at the base of the mountain all their lives, who can tell stories of their lives. and it's about the Maker of the mountains, the Maker of the people, and the Giver of the shillings to experience this amazing place.

my heart overflows with gratefulness for the opportunity to be here in the place with these people who are seeking to know more of life than what their families can offer them. yesterday during class the question was asked, 'what would you do if you had a million shillings ($1,000)?'. my answer was to come to class here at killimanjaro. many looked at me like that was the most insane answer i could give, since a million shillings is an absurd amount of money to go to school.

during class we also spoke of poverty and the effects it has on a society. my answer is so different from theirs. from my standards, many of these students life in poverty; they think i'm rich. their definition of poverty is going without food for more than a week a month, and not having any family to stay with. it definitely gave me a new perspective about american poverty versus african poverty. i am rich.

another new meaning i've come across relates to bread. we eat bread every morning for breakfast, 2 or 3 pieces, along with some tea. the tea is black tea and it is very strong, but we use a great deal of sugar to tame it down. it's a wonder any of out teeth are in decent condition! anyway, the 'our father' says, 'give us our daily bread.' emphasis on daily - everyday we get bread (or i hope we get bread everyday!). sitting in jasper methodist church saying the 'our father' wondering about what's for lunch didn't offer much insight into the meaning of 'our daily bread'. but i've learned that this daily bread is a blessing from above and without it, life would be much different. speaking of food, most of our meals lunch and dinners consist of rice and beans, in various forms. sometimes we have ugali, which is ground maize with flour. it looks like mashed potatoes without much flavor. it's pretty good and very filling. on special occasion we've had 'chips' which are french fries. my favorite meal so far is banana soup, which my training leader made for me. it was soo good. i'm going to try to get the recipe and post it here for you to have.

my reality today: tho life is simple here, nothing is easy.