A few days ago the President of the United States was alleged to have claimed that African countries are “sh**holes”. Hmmm… so very much crossed my mind when I saw and heard about this story on the news. Really too much for one little blog post. Putting politics aside, I really wonder about people who may make such statements. I think about the statement itself and all the big and little consequences it may cause. I think about all the multifaceted ideas and notions behind such a statement. And I think about the person who made it. To me, it almost seems as if they are on the outside looking in. Outside what, you may ask? Well, let me explain.
On one of the first nights I spent in Sierra Leone, my housemate took myself and another new arrival on a walk to watch the sunset. We had to sort of hustle a bit as the general rule here is to be back at the house before dark. And being on the equator, when it’s near 7p.m. the sun sure does set very fast. One minute it is light out and practically the next, dark. The few moments of sunset are very beautiful but quite fleeting.
We made haste on this walk as we tried to take in all the new sights and sounds of our new home. Eventually we reached a dirt-trail strewn with litter. We walked for awhile and eventually reached a large house very very close to the water, mere feet away from the ocean’s edge. The house was partly made of cement/stone and seemed old and a bit run-down like it had simply seen some better times. But it did look spacious, comfortable and welcoming. There was a little cook-fire gently burning in the yard. There were a few children running around. And they looked happy in that moment. They waved and said hi to us then ran off giggling. There were some dark black-ish, jagged rocks almost right next to this house. We walked down to them and watched the sun beginning to set. The waves gently crashing on the rocks, lapping at our feet. The sky turning pink and purple-ish. The sun beginning to set. The palm trees waving gently in the breeze. The kids at the house running about merrily on the patio and in the yard. And the little fire crackling behind us.
To me, the above scene was absolutely beautiful. A perfect few moments. It was one of the first things I saw in Sierra Leone and it is painted onto my mind. I thought to myself, the people who live in this house get to witness this view every day. Putting the concept of the ‘Have and the Have-Nots’ aside, this view is theirs. Always.
Now, back to my comment about a person who may seem as if they are outside looking in. Don’t you think someone who allegedly called African countries “sh*tholes” is a person who is standing outside this little house? Someone whose back is wholly turned on the sunset while he shivers from the frothy wave-mist that dampens his clothes. Someone whose view is so fixated on the house as structure instead of shelter, as a hold instead of home, as commodity instead of community. This is a person who can’t possibly take in the broader view of a beautiful sunset as he has rejected it. He is standing outside the home squinting in at it, seeing only the little house yet looking right past it as the sun sets behind him, darkening everything.
Before writing anything more, I will say that I do not ever want to glorify a life of poverty. Or paint myself as an expert in such matters. I especially want to be conscious of my personal involvement in such things (on an individual basis and of my country’s role in contributing to poverty both directly and indirectly, historically and presently). To me, the debate on whether places are beautiful because of or in spite of poverty is something I don’t think should even be on the table for discussion. This is partly why I am very mindful of the pictures, or lack thereof, I post for this very reason (especially those with people in them). Also, working as a nurse in a hospital in Sierra Leone these past few months does not make me an official spokesperson on matters of Africa (Can you imagine? Ha!😂). So whatever I say is only a personal opinion exceptionally limited to my own brief experience here.
However, I will say that to me, there are many ways in which life is difficult for many people in Africa. And, to me, there are many ways that life is difficult for many people in America. Sometimes these difficulties are dare I say similiar and sometimes drastically different. If you’re one of those people that are thinking to yourself how in the world could America and Africa possibly have “similar” problems, that is okay. I’ll just share with you a couple of the thoughts I have on this. Africa has great malnutrition, i.e. many children who are too thin. America has malnutrition issues as well, i.e. many children who are too heavy. Both things seem very different but both are a result of poverty. For instance, many inner city kids live in “food deserts” with no access to healthy foods and only have a few dollars to spend on convenience store foods like pop and chips. Or parents who are working multiple minimum wage jobs to make ends meet may not have time to cook, thus cheap fast food is the most convenient alternative. Also, finding safe drinking water is a problem for some people in Africa. Also a problem in America for some people. The people in Flint, Michigan with all the lead in their tap water? Ya, that’s still currently very much an issue and they are advised to drink only bottled water until 2020. These are just two general examples of many and I don’t have space in one blog post to cover them all. You see? Africa. America. Different, of course, but also similar in some ways. Again, my own personal opinion. And putting country and nation aside, I think we can all agree on the fact that as human beings we all have our individual poverties of the soul as I call them: a great love lost, a life dream unrealized, heartache, sadness, restlessness, loneliness, despair, isolation, grief, depression, etc.
Call me naive or a simpleton but as a world population, I dont think we are so different after all. We as human beings all have our rooms with a view, though that “room” and “view” may be very different. Despite our geographical borders, we all look upon Life and project our hopes, dreams and wishes onto the every day routine. Whether we live in Africa or America, we all have great triumphs and joys to celebrate and great sorrows and griefs to contend with. Certainly we all must mind to our own individual poverties of the soul as well, whatever or wherever the lacking may be. Yet, if we so choose we can also sit by the edge of an ocean and appreciate the full richness of a sunset, no matter the places we find ourselves in.
So in these next months and years I want to remind myself to look outward from “rooms,” whether the rooms may serve as shelters or constraints, or both. I don’t ever want my focal point of “home” to feel like a boundary, just a platform or base. I want to look outwards. I want to appreciate and always try to linger in the richness of a sunset just a bit more. I want to invite people on the outside of the house to come in for a spell and dry their clothes by the little cook-fire. Maybe we can share a Star Beer. Maybe we can turn around, watch the sunset together and just stop being sh**holes to ourselves and each other.
Little Big Life 
Well said
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