Written on 22 July:
Here we are in the Nairobi Airport, all checked in for our flight to Kigali. Time ahead to just relax...sit...read...write...process. No rushing...time & space to breathe. A lovely cappuchino, a clean bathroom...such small "luxuries" seem huge in this country of startling contrasts...modernity smack up against the primitive...
- Maasai herdsmen driving their cattle down up-scale suburban streets in search of green grass for grazing...
- herds of goats grazing along high-speed highways...
- women clad in traditional khangas bearing babies on their backs or burdens on their heads alongside women in business suits and high heels, talking on their cell phones...
- cars, SUVs, matatus, and buses creating traffic patterns which make Western hairs stand on end, intermingled with pedestrians, people on bicycles and motorbikes, and men pulling heavily-laden carts by hand to deliver products to their slum communities...
- beautiful, modern, fully-stocked shopping centers, surrounded by small outdoor stands where people peddle vegetables, fruits, used shoes and clothing, charcoal, paraffin, and other essentials to eke out their small living...
- luxury restaurants rivaling America's finest, where waiters bring heated towels for diners to wash up before eating and tables are set with starched linens, fine china, and sparkling crystal, while not far away women cook ugali (corn meal pudding) on open fires for the family's one meal of the day, often eaten from the pot with less-than-clean fingers.
I would just hope and pray that we can do a better job as role-models, sharing our best with the developing world rather than exporting our worst...we, who have given the world the electric light and the wonder of flight can certainly contribute more than fast food and genetically-modified seeds and product-advertising T-shirts. And surely we can step out of our paternalistic, overbearing stance of "the U.S. knows best" long enough to learn from and appreciate the Kenyan focus on family and community, their amazing art and music, their resiliency and determination and near-mysterious ability to find joy in the midst of hardship. After all, UBUNTU! I am because you are...we are all in this life enterprise together. This is one world, one planet, and we are ONE!
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