Quote:
Originally Posted by retiredguy123
My question would be, why would people pay money to go to Africa?
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I learned in Kenya, according to Masai Tribe guides, that all Kenyans were required to mask during Covid. Kenya’s Covid death and illness rate was much lower than our nation’s rate. They had previously experienced pandemics and were cautious understanding that Covid was new and unknown at the time. And that it could mutate. They wondered why our nation didn’t require masks (when one medically could of course) and were amazed at how we decided to go such a dangerous route when we could afford to take care of one another. Basically, ‘why we didn’t care for one another by choosing to mask for the good of all’.
I learned in Africa that migrants are leaving ancestral homelands because weather patterns have changed and they no longer can live the simple lifestyle that farming afforded.
I learned in Africa, that entrepreneurial small farmers, use their animals droppings to create energy with a simple barrel and pipe system and have self-sufficient energy.
I learned in Africa how cultures, religions, beliefs can co-exist. I saw feet-on-the-ground examples of belief where neighbor helped neighbor and kids lived simple happy lives, wearing school uniforms, with gratitude and without media and electronics. Still spinning a wheel down the road with a stick…these kids were lean and athletic.
A close relative, deployed, in eastern Africa learned from a man around a fire, sharing a meal, that sometimes basic humanity and want of peace, a reasonable possibility of education and to be able to make a living are shared desires all around the world.
I learned that westerners can be seen as ‘walking ATMs’ and we are considered to be from the land of abundance. Some of the Africans learned that we have poverty and ignorance in the United States and this country has kids who don’t have enough to eat here too.
Plus of course incredible wildlife and beauty and the opportunity to measure what is happiness, true wealth and observe how many of us here, with so much, fail to understand our privileges.