God is love--therefore have no fear

I shared at my church about fearlessness today. The video is below. I share near the end.

My school was selected as the cool school of the week in Memphis. The news crew stopped by my classroom. You can see a glimpse of what we are doing here. Thanks for all of the support!

Learning not to Fear

It’s been awhile since I last posted about what is occurring in my life. The past year has been one of the most amazing of my life, hands down. For the last three years, at the New Year, instead of setting a new year’s resolution which I know I won’t keep, I pray long and hard, seeking a word from God around which I will focus my endeavors for the year. For 2014 my word was Fearless.

Being fearless is not something that comes natural to us as humans. Fearlessness in the way God intended it has to be learned; cultivated through self-discipline and a deepening trust in God and his perfect plan. My word fearless was not an indictment to never be afraid, that is impossible; but it was a reminder to move forward even when I was uncertain or afraid of what I could not see. Part of human nature is wanting to know what is going to happen. We weigh our options in every situation, seeking to minimize negative consequences for our actions, all the while not knowing what will really happen or how our plans will turn out even if we make the best decision we can conceive. I believe one of the biggest fears in the world is loss of control- we are terrified of not being able to decide for ourselves what we do and how we do it. During a project about democracy in my classroom this year, my students and I had a discussion on what it means to be human. We concluded that to be human is to have choice, which is why so many are willing to lose their lives fighting for the premise of democracy. This desire to choose is one of the reasons why we so desperately cling to the idea that we have God given free will. Even most Christians cannot accept the idea that we may live in a world where everything we do is pre-ordained and we do not truly have control over any aspect of our lives. We stop cold in our tracks and think, “God would not create such a world. What would be the point? He wouldn’t intentionally choose some to love him and condemn others from birth without truly giving them a chance to know and love him.” We don’t see such a scenario as fair, and to even imagine it rocks us to our core.

This post is not about whether or not we have free will. Based on scripture I see evidence pointing both ways in that debate and I will not weigh in one way or the other. My point in the ramblings about free will is that we as people live lives decorated by fear. I was listening to a sermon on the radio a few days ago by David Jeremiah in which he said, "the indictment 'do not fear' is in the bible more times than we are commanded to love." I’m not one to say things about the bible without studying it further myself, so I want to make it clear that I have not myself explored this, so if you quote me, do so at your own risk. Although I’m not sure of the validity of this statement, I found it a thought worthy concept.

There is an interesting dichotomy between the words love and fear. 1^st John  4:18 says “ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” The opposite of love is not hate, it is fear.  As Christians we must strive to place our fears in God’s hands, as fear is a road block to truly loving God, for as 1^st John 4:8 says, “Whoever does not know love, does not know God, because God is love.” A big part of loving God is trusting him, if you do not trust that God’s promises are true and as it says in Romans 8:28, “We know in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose,” then you may not truly love Him. The only way we as Christians can truly not fear, is to remember the promises God has given us and trust them. The only way we can remember the promises in order to not fear, is to know them, and the only way to know them is to spend time in the word, meditating on it and letting it infiltrate our hearts and minds.

This year brought a lot of new things for me. I went to Sierra Leone in January where my luggage did not arrive until nearly a week after I did, I graduated college, went to Haiti to scope out a partnership for a new non-profit organization, I moved to Memphis, and I started my first real job. Along the way there have been countless struggles some of which left me nearly in tears hyperventilating on the bathroom floor in my apartment telling God only He could get me through. And in those time of stress that I could not believe was real, when the fear and doubt tried to creep in as it inevitably does, I was prepared with the promises of my father to support me. I would throw out Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you, be bold and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” I called out 2^nd Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-control.” And Psalm 56:11 “In God I trust; I will not be afraid, what can man do to me?”

I remembered that although I could not see the full picture, I had no reason to fear; God was and is in control. I fought to rest in the peace that is promised in Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” And thus, although at times it seemed like the world around me was falling apart, I had no fear. I understood that God has a plan for Ebola, he has a plan for the protests surrounding Michael Brown and race relations in the United States, he has a plan for the Nigerian school girls who were abducted, he has a plan for ISIS, a plan for the unrest in the Middle East and Russia, and he has a plan for me right where I am each day. Nothing that happens in this world happens outside of Gods plan. If it happens he allowed it and he knows what he is doing; so be at peace and fear not-trust in the father’s love.

Classroom Library

As most of you know, I am currently involved with an Organization called Teach For America which places ready and willing college graduates in low income and low performing schools around the country, with the goal of providing every student with the quality education he/she deserves. This organization charges graduates with the task of spending 2 years in schools that need change the most.  Our mission; persevere in the face of adversity, maintain hope when all seems hopeless, advocate for whats right when everyone else stands silent, remind your students that you believe in them when they don't believe in themselves.

This week is my seventh week in the classroom, and boy, has it been a crazy ride. There have been ups and downs, celebrations and tears. If I had to sum it all up in a single word, I would say it has been HARD.  In the face of that hardship there were moments when I lost sight of my mission, when I didn't know if I could make it or if I was where I really was meant to be. However, every time I would stop, embrace silence, and seek God, he continuously and faithfully confirmed that I am right where he wants me to be, and so I remain in this battle for my kids to have the same quality education I was blessed to receive. Part of this battle is working with students who in the 9th grade, are reading at a 2nd or 3rd grade level, not due to any deficiency of their own mental capacity, but simply because our education system has failed to hold those responsible for ensuring these students grasped basic concepts, accountable to that end. And so, the fight goes on; and yes, it is a fight, every day.

My classroom is a battleground where my students and I partner to fight tooth and nail to get them to where they need to be so that by the time they graduate they will have the skills and knowledge necessary to have choice in shaping the direction of their lives after high school. In my recent unit on Revolutions, my students were charged with the task of writing an essay answering the question "Why do some people feel that democracy is a form of government worth dying for?" (Yes, I am aware I ended that question with a preposition-it made it easier to understand). Although this was a hard topic and my students struggled through it, we ultimately came to the conclusion that to be human is to have choice, without choice we are slaves or animals driven by need or conditioning. Part of furthering the humanity of my students is preparing them to have the autonomy to choose; college or trade school, straight to the workforce or to the military, start my own business or start something much bigger than anyone has ever dreamed?

In working to develop these young minds I have come up against challenges surrounding a severe lack of resources at my school. Although the passion to learn is present in my students and the drive to teach them pulls me back to the classroom each day, without the tools necessary to move forward, our battle is made even more complicated. My school is a second year start up sharing a building with another school. Our current space and financial constraints have left us without a school library, and as we are working toward becoming a technology school, we also do not have textbooks- two very real challenges to being able to facilitate effective classroom instruction. Although my students and I refuse to allow a lack of resources deter us from our goal or knock us off our grind, it is a very prevalent reality that access to these materials can significantly enhance their learning experience.

    Right now, I am working to create a classroom library for my students. If you wild like to partner with me in this endeavor you can donate here http://www.gofundme.com/eq6nu0 or you can contact me and I can pick up any books you would like to donate.

Below is a video on why I think books are an essential part of providing my students with the education they deserve.

Challenging Development Theory

I was asked by the African Student Association at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign to be a guest speaker for their annual forum. I shared about my trip to Sierra Leone and my new thoughts about the challenges of international development. Enjoy the video!

The Beauty of Contextual Humility

So, you would think that when you go out of the country and you come back changed (as I do after every experience) it would be due to major realizations about something relating to the new context in which you were placed. While this sentiment rings true for the majority of my experiences outside of the United States; gained an understanding of the role of followers of Christ in a global context in Honduras, faced a mini identity crisis when faced with a new definition of what it means to be Black in South Africa, and developed a steadfast resolve to challenge current development theory in Sierra Leone; however, my most recent experience in Haiti, taught me a lot about relationships and trusting God; lessons you may not think you need to travel outside of the country to learn.

In my experiences outside of the US, I have found that my heart is much more open and I am much more humble when interacting with people, due to the realization that they know so much more than I do in how life in their sphere operates. When in the U.S., I both consciously and unconsciously consider myself an expert in the majority of things I do. I know what people are likely thinking when they see me walking down the street, I know how the markets I am spending my money in work, and I know what is considered polite and impolite when interacting with others. All of this is up in the air when I am in a new setting, and because I am so vulnerable, and at a place where I can easily admit I need help, and where I desire to learn with an open heart, God uses each and every second I am out of the United States to challenge and mold me into the person he wants me to be.

Haiti is the first country to which I have traveled where I had no previous knowledge of the language. The official language in both South Africa and Sierra Leone is English, while I have a working knowledge of Spanish and was able to communicate pretty well in Honduras, which both lessened my dependence on others for getting around as well as increased my ability to build one on one relationships with people in the country. However, Haiti was a totally different ball game. Although French is listed as one of the official languages of Haiti, if you go to the country and want to interact with the people, French will get you virtually nowhere- Haitian Creole is what you need to know…and exactly what I didn't know. 

I went to Haiti with the expectation that the country would be much like Sierra Leone. Based on everything I read about Haiti prior to going to the country, it seemed to me that I would be encountering poverty of an extreme measure. The first thing countless websites and books state about Haiti is that it is the poorest country in the western hemisphere- what I learned when I went was that although it may be poor, Haiti is still in the western hemisphere. Haiti is one of the most projectized nations in the world (yes, I just made up that word). Everywhere you turn there is a non-profit organization engaging in some project for some reason in the country. While this may seem like a great thing for the nation, there are also some pretty significant negative consequences which arise from this approach to development. I was forced to do some deep introspective thinking while in Haiti as the plane from Miami to Haiti was primarily filled with White people coming to Haiti on behalf of Christian based organizations.

Ok, before I continue I need to make something clear, I have nothing against White people or Christians going to other countries. I only point out that the plane was filled with White Christians because Haiti is a Black Caribbean nation and that contrast holds real denotations and connotations for the current realities of the island. As a matter of fact I think it’s great that both groups are traveling and I think it’s something that needs to be done to help us understand how other people live in order to more fully live out the Great Commission in Matthew 28. However, I do think it is a problem when either group enters into a context that is not their own, with pre-conceived notions, and acts out of those notions rather than coming to the new context with humility, and a desire to learn from those who live in the country.

I went to Haiti with a burning desire to learn and gain a glimpse into the life and realities of my Black brothers and sisters who share a similar history of being brought over from Africa in chains, but have since taken over their own destinies and created the first ever Black Republic. I wanted to understand their thoughts about what they feel when people come to their country wearing t-shirts with slogans such as “Save Haiti” and “Hearts for Haiti.” I wanted to see what the nation really looked like four years after the earthquake when the only images broadcast of the nation were of poverty, death and destruction, and then nothing.

At the beginning of the school year, in August, long before the possibility of actually traveling to Haiti was in existence, I called my mom and my Pastor discussing plans to begin a micro-finance organization in Haiti. I had a vision of utilizing my money from my summer internship and from selling my car to invest in the people of Haiti to give them access to funds to lead change in their nation however they wanted to. At this point in time all I knew about Haiti was from what I had read online and seen in documentaries, I was missing the entire other side of the story.  Then six months later, after some intense prayer for clarity of how and if I should pursue my desire to work in Haiti, God provided and opportunity for me to see the whole picture.

Haiti is a nation of unreal beauty. Depending on where you go, you may forget where you are and feel you are in the Swiss Alps, or a beach in Cancun, Mexico. And although I use these comparisons to express the depth of beauty of the scenery, they in themselves distort the reality that Haiti is beautiful in its own right.

I was overwhelmed by the clear demonstration of God’s hand in creation as I sat bundled up in layers of clothing (and still shivering, who goes to Haiti and thinks they are going to freeze??)  on the top of a mountain and wondered why God has been so gracious as to give us such beauty. I sat in silence and talked to my creator, the creator of the universe, and reconnected with God in a way I have been desiring for months. I was energized to wake up at 7am and go outside and spend time alone with God in the silence, surrounded by flowers and fog and just reflect and listen. With no computer to attend to (although many of the places we stayed had wifi), no cars bustling through the roads (only on the mountain, traffic in Port Au-Prince rivals Chicago), and no cell phone distracting me, reminding me of other responsibilities, I was able to be fully present with God in a way I desire with all my heart to be in the States but rarely achieve.

During my time in Haiti I found that there is real danger in internalizing a single story of any person or place. We have to go into new situations with an open heart and mind and ask God to show us what He wants us to see and understand, even if it makes us uncomfortable and challenges things we previously thought were true. I am not saying go to a country with an open mind to the point of betraying things you know for a fact are true such as Christ being the one and only Savior and the only way to an eternity of peace and love, but I am saying don’t be so quick to judge others a heathens or think someone needs your help. People in other countries have stories beyond what the media says about them and they are not just sitting starving and waiting for us to come to their aid. They are real people with real lives, real challenges, but also real successes and triumphs, just like us. Yes, the bible says

                “What good is it my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them  ‘go in peace, keep warm, and be well fed,’ but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?” –James 2:14-16,

which means we are charged to act, but it is my opinion that we should so in a way that is culturally respectful and considers the long term implications of our actions. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:

 “19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”

This is how we are to be on mission when going to new places. We have to first understand the people we are trying to reach. We cannot come into a new context and try to force our beliefs on other people. We first must demonstrate love and humility and a respect for people in their space through a genuine desire to learn from them.

So I leave everyone with this challenge, when you enter a new context, whether domestically or internationally, leave your notions of how things should be at the door and reach out and take someone’s hand who is from the place, and become a student. Learn. Ask questions. Engage with your new space in humility and watch how much more you are impacted by the experience. 

A change in perspective

Have you ever had an experience in your life, where you took a risk, didn't know what to expect, but found that absolutely everything about the experience was worthwhile? Welcome to my trip to Sierra Leone. Located on the Western Coast of the African Continent, Sierra Leone is a small country only about half the size of South Carolina in land area, but abundantly wealthy in natural resources such as diamonds and lumber. Many people have seen movies such as Blood Diamond, which is said to portray the struggles of the 10 year civil war the country endured from 1991 until 2002, however the movie falls far short of showing the reality of the nation. During my time in Salone, as the people of the country call it, I was challenged to lay aside the notion of Africa as a continent with great untapped potential, and came to see a nation of real people, with real lives, accomplishing amazing things. 

          

  Although my trip was not a Christian led experience (see earlier post), the work in which I was engaged was still kingdom building. As James 2: 14-17 says, “What good is it my brothers, if a man has faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead.” As a follower of Christ I believe part of fulfilling the Great Commission in Matthew 28, is working to first live out James 2 and meeting people’s immediate needs.

So often Christians travel abroad on what we have termed “Mission Trips” and enter into a culture which we more often than not, understand very little about. We come with a mindset of “helping the least of these” failing to recognize the beauty in the lifestyle and practices of the people living there. We enter into unfamiliar situations with our western mindsets and feel that our way of worshiping God and living for Christ is the only way to do it. Rarely do we stop to consider how a group’s cultural practices might fit in with living a life for Christ, and allow the people to preserve their cultural identity. I have heard stories of Christians entering Muslim societies and telling women they have been freed by the love of Christ and should show it by rejecting the practice of wearing a hijab (Muslim head covering). While it is true that the love of Christ does set us free from religion and saves us by grace over deeds (Ephesians 2:8-9), forcing such a practice into the cultural fabric of a society fails to recognize the cultural relevance of such a practice. Will Christ reject a woman who chooses to wear a hijab and worship him? Are the two beyond reconciliation? Absolutely not (Romans 8:38-39). As Christians, as we live out the Great Commission as given to us in Matthew 28, and follow Christ’s command to “go and make disciples of all nations” we must do so in humility and with the understanding that we too have much to learn from those whose souls we care so deeply about.

Prior to this trip I deeply believed and told everyone who cared to hear it, and even a few that didn’t, that my life goal after paying off my college debt, is to be a missionary in  a developing nation (not a “third world country”, see my earlier post about Honduras for how I feel about the term “third world”). However, after spending time in Sierra Leone and gaining insight into the Christian culture of viewing a nation of people as a project to be saved, the thought of taking on the label of a missionary soured for me. While I do in my heart of hearts believe that most Christians have good and honest intentions in traveling to show the love of Christ through good deeds in less materially wealthy nations, I saw first-hand the damage that can be done to a country when little is understood or considered about how to promote long term well-being. Salone has been flooded with donations all over the world since ending the war. While the nation initially did need assistance in recovery, the continued view of the poor destitute people (which is extremely misguided) has led to an over-abundance of donations being dumped in the country. For people who understand the economics of supply and demand, you will understand how this overabundance of free clothing, shoes, bags, ect. has led to the inability for any markets to be established by the people living in the nations themselves as anything they make and try to sell, people can go somewhere else to get for free. This means that if a person wants to be an enturpanure and try to make an income, it is nearly impossible as they cannot get people to pay for the goods they are selling, as people can go elsewhere and get the same goods for free from donations sent to the country by well-intentioned people. This is a huge topic, and has deep roots, and as this post is already shaping up to be quite long, I will cut this shot and just say that as we seek to show the love of Christ we should do so with the best interest of the people in mind, not just by doing what is easiest for us or what makes us feel like we helped the most. I will say that after this experience I desire to live in a nation like Sierra Leone more than ever and have every intention of moving to such a nation, (God willing) and living life with the people and simply being a resource to assist them in achieving their goals, whatever they may be.

While Sierra Leone is predominantly an Islamic Society, there is a Christian minority. Although I did not share the Gospel directly with anyone while there, I did have the opportunity to build relationships and show the love of Christ. Religion is a topic openly discussed in the society, and on more than on occasion I was asked if I was a Muslim by inquiring young men, to which I would respond I was a Christian, and receive a response of “Ah, Christian. But there is only one God and he is the same (implying we both served the same God).” Everyone in the nation claims a religion as the existence of God is an undisputed fact, and atheism is the strangest belief of all, a concept many cannot understand, as GOD just IS, in their culture.

I visited a local Methodist church one Sunday and although the service was different than the services I attend in the states, the fact that they were worshiping the same God and Christ that I worship at home was more than enough. There was not a huge choir or air conditioning and although the people are not materialistically wealthy by American standards, offering was given twice. The first offering was simply a thanks offering for God waking everyone up that morning and allowing us all to congregate to praise him, everyone gave whatever they could afford to give at this offering, while the second offering was an optional giving much like the offering collected in American churches. For the people of Salone, life is not something that is taken for granted, it is a precious gift to wake up and serve God anew. During the service I attended there was prayer for two families at the church who had lost loved ones that very week. The families came to the front and the whole church spent about 5 minutes praying for peace and comfort during their time of loss.

 An interesting difference between this church and the churches I am so accustomed to here at home, was that offering was a celebration. The music was turned up and everyone danced down the one isle of the church to the front where two offering chests sat, and dropped their money in. This is not a criticism of the American church by any means, but rather a simple noting of the differences in cultural praise. Although it was hot in the small church and we were all in close quarters sweating, the spirit of praise that encompassed the service was amazing. The majority of the service was singing and a beautiful depiction of Psalm 95:2-3,“Let us come before him with Thanksgiving an extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great king above all Gods.”

During my time in Sierra Leone I found myself struggling to stay in relationship with God as I do in the states. I was still reading my bible first thing every morning and every evening before going to sleep, but it was not penetrating my soul, showing me areas of my life I needed to reevaluate and re-align with God’s will. I was so confused as to why I felt as if I was drifting further away from God the longer I was in the country, when I wanted to glorify him above all else with what I was doing. I searched my heart and asked God to reveal to me why I was not in constant conversation with him and why he felt so far away. I was still fully aware that my feelings did not dictate truth and I knew God was still near, but I was perplexed as to why in a country with limited electricity, minimal sewage facilities (some bathrooms had flushing toilets, most did not), and public infrastructure which made driving an adventure within its self, was I so outwardly and inwardly happy, but placing God in a box and only talking to him when I was frustrated with people on the trip or when trying to be patient. At some point after I had returned to the states and was in full conversation with God about how I did not want to give into the selfishness of the culture around me, I finally realized that my struggle to conversate with God in Salone stemmed from the fact that the lifestyle in which I was engaged in Sierra Leone was so much of what I struggle to obtain here in the states. Because material things were not readily available or easily affordable to people there, there was not a preoccupation with non-essential aspects of life, one of the things I most often find myself asking God to remove from my desires. Because I was not struggling with things I struggle with in the states, I subconsciously fell into a place of complacency where I acknowledged God, but I failed to set aside time to truly engage with Him and hear from him. The relationship became very one-sided with me thanking him for the beauty of the nation and for the opportunity to learn, but me never stopping to take the time to listen to him as I do when I am in need. This realization has led to some serious self-searching and time on my knees asking God to constantly remind me of my need for him, and it revealed to me my own shortcomings in setting time aside to be still and just listen. Too often, even when doing good deeds for the advancement of the kingdom, we get so caught up in what we are doing and talking to God about that, that we forget Psalm 46:10 and in our busyness, we lose sight of our number one priority; our relationship with the lover of our souls.

             

Reflections from Sierra Leone

So I have been trying to make time to write out my reflections on my time in Sierra Leone, but I have not yet been successful in achieving this goal. I have a lot to share about how the trip impacted me spiritually, but until I can get my thoughts down to that end, I have decided to share my academic reflections which I wrote as a part of a scholarship requirement. More will come. Enjoy!

Traveling to a nontraditional study abroad destination provides the opportunity for a nontraditional study abroad experience. Although I only spent 17 days in Sierra Leone, the experiences I had and the people I met have impacted my life in amazing ways, all for the better. Unlike other study abroad programs in which I have participated, this course was shaped with the intention of completing a professional consulting project and required a business oriented mindset in preparation for travel. The opportunity to gain first-hand experience in a professional atmosphere in regards to development work was undoubtedly the academic highlight of the course. Minoring in International Development Economics, in applying for the course, it was my hope to gain deeper insight and experience in the field which I have long had the desire to pursue as a career. The design of the course, in which students arrange meeting with Ministry leaders and Non-governmental organizations located in Sierra Leone, places the onus on students to take initiative in the project work. The project thrusts students into the professional developmental landscape and provides a small taste of the tasks and challenges of development work, from a plethora of perspectives.

            In conducting a rapid assessment of Agricultural Information Communication Technology, I was able to not only discuss the strengths and weaknesses of current practices with those implementing them, but I also was able to visit the rural farmers for whom programs were being developed and garner their perspective of the effectiveness of current programs and what gaps they wanted to see filled. The greatest lesson from this experience was the importance of development work being a give and take of ideas between those with the resources to implement programs and those for whom the programs will be implemented. Too often in development, people with well-intentioned ideas create programs based on their perception of a need, but fail to consult the people for whom the program is to be implemented to find out if they truly view the perceived problem as an issue and if so, how they would like to receive assistance in its alleviation. My experience in Sierra Leone demonstrated that people in developing nations are extremely innovative and often have their own ideas of how to effectively alleviate issues they are facing, and are only hindered by lack of access to resources to carry out their ideas. In seeing the innovative genius of many of the people who have used the few resources they have to create tools to assist them in their daily living that were not only effective, but also environmentally sustainable, I came to deeply appreciate the farmer inclusive approach with which we moved forward in our research.

            Being the only African American member participating in the research, the most difficult aspect of my time in Sierra Leone was the vastly different experience I had in the country in comparison with my colleagues.  In traveling to villages and speaking with farmers it was often assumed that I was a native of the country and people would speak to me in their native language, to which I could only respond with a smile and a shake of my head to indicate I did not understand. One moment in a small village in the southern region of Pujehun during farmer visits deeply impacted my perspective of the experience. We arrived in a small village where a group of about 10 women emerged from the fields dancing and singing in their native language and walked up to each of us individually to shake our hands and welcome us to their home. After one of the warmest welcome gestures I experienced in the country, we, the researchers, sat down with about 50 members of the village and commenced in introducing ourselves to one another via a translator from the local World Vision office who was the extension agent for the village. After the village leaders introduced themselves, we followed. When I ended our introduction by introducing myself, the villagers asked the translator to find out what tribe I was from. For my colleagues this was nothing major, merely an interesting if not entertaining inquiry based on the misconception that I was from the nation. However, for me this moment spoke of thousands of years of history and of the set of circumstances that left me unaware of my ancestral roots. It put into perspective the idea that had things in history been only slightly different, I could have been sitting on the other side of the mud brick building being interviewed rather than interviewing.

For a nation devastated by a 10 year civil war ending only 11 years ago, Sierra Leone has come a long way. The people I met in the country had all, in some way, been affected by the war, many losing close relatives to the fighting. However, the nation did not stagnate after the war, but moved forward with purpose in beginning again. As I considered my own life circumstances in light of those with whom I spoke in Sierra Leone, I was reminded of my privilege stemming from simply having been born in the United States, and I was reinvigorated with a resolve to acknowledge my responsibility to others in the world in challenging the established inequalities.

Although too often presented as impoverished and in need of outside assistance, my experience with the people of Sierra Leone was not one dimensional, but filled with interactions of a multi-dimensionality. People in the nation have hopes, dreams, and aspirations, but they are also acutely aware of the limits placed on them by lack of opportunity and resources. A phrase I heard quite often was “I would like to do that, but I do not have the opportunity.”  However this statement was never made as an indication of the end of a dream, but a simple acknowledgement of barriers, accompanied by a statement regarding another course of action which was instead followed as a means to another end.

Through the work in which I engaged through this program, I discovered a passion for agricultural development which I had never before had the opportunity to explore. Since beginning in the College of ACES four years ago, I have held that although I am studying agricultural economics, after graduating I have no intention in doing anything remotely agriculturally related. Working with farmers in Sierra Leone has turned my future career plans upside down and provided a different perspective of agriculture. My previous thoughts about agriculture centered on the large commercial farms so common in America and I did not understand how such concepts tied in with my desire to work in international development. My time in Sierra Leone provided a clear picture and understanding of the importance of agricultural development in bettering the quality of life in a nation for both rural and the urban communities. I was able to hear directly from farmers about the challenges of marketing crops and the importance of storage facilities in order to effectively wait for prime market conditions just as farmers in other nations so easily do. I saw my textbook material come to life and the ideas were no longer just theories on a page, but they had names and faces, stories which I now have that transcend the anonymity of economics and numbers and have sweat, flesh, and blood. In Sierra Leone I found my passion, and although I am uncertain in what way I will pursue this passion and turn it into a career in the future, I am confident that this experience has opened my eyes to opportunities and needs, of which I would have otherwise been unaware.

Living like you know what counts

I shared about the importance of fasting at church a few weeks ago. Here is the video. I start sharing 1:23:00 into the video