The start of emotional connection with poverty

I am sitting around in a circle of villagers and suddenly there is music. My toe starts tapping, my head starts bobbing and…. I can’t help myself, I have to get up and dance. The women of the village start to sing. I sigh with contentment as my soul moves with the joyful rhythm and powerful voices. I am at a village where a local band from one of Concern Universal’s water and sanitation projects is playing music. These bands are formed as part of CU’s project in order to spread messages about sanitation and hygiene within the local communities.

These women were smiling and laughing, singing about how they now have a washroom and clean water to drink… All of a sudden it dawned on me to try and equate this experience to my own world. I have to say that I came up painfully short. I tried to envision my own mother or my friends singing about washing their hands as if it were a wonderful gift. At home, these are considered part of the norm, things we are entitled too.

It has been 2 months since I first came to Malawi. Time passes so fast and my life here has become so familiar to me. Every once in awhile, while I am walking down the street on my way to or from work…letting my mind wander wherever it likes… I catch myself smiling unintentionally.

This is how I know I am enjoying my new life.

I often think of my time back home in Canada, when I would lie in bed on Sunday nights, dreading the thought of getting up and going to work in the morning. Here, I can barely get myself into bed because I am either planning for work or working already.

This is how I know I love my job.

Still there are times when I start to get a glimpse of what poverty really means and the understanding of what I am here for sinks deep into my being. I become burdened with sadness and question everything I know. Yet often as my eyes fill up with tears, I step back a little and a smile also starts to creep across my face. I realize that this is the start of my real, tangible and emotional connection with poverty. When it comes right down to the core; that is why I am Africa; to learn how to really care.