Out of Anything in the World

I have always known that my international social work placement was different and that my roles are much different here than they would be in the US. But I have to say I never saw this one coming. My knew name around the office is "chicken cutter". Why? Because last week at my internship I killed a chicken. Yep. Stepped on it's feet held its neck and sawed through it with a knife (it was a dull one too). The bishop was coming that day and I was helping out in the kitchen, so of course, we were eating chicken and they had to be killed. So we buy them from the market, kill them, take out the feathers, gut them, cut, boil, and eat! Talk about fresh meat! I know you think that's gross but do you have any idea what is in the chicken you eat?

I tend to ask a lot of questions. For those of you who know me, surprise right? One of the question I have been asking people, is “If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would it be?” In my mind, and I have asked this question to many Americans in the past, people start thinking about who their favorite person in history was or who is the most famous person of our time. Answers are typically Jesus, Oprah, or Justin Bieber. So  I asked this question to someone and the response I got was astonishing. So I began asking more people and I was continually astonished, so much that I found it blog worthy.  When I asked the question the first time, his response was his mother. I asked if he had ever met his mother—I thought she has passed away when he was a baby or something! But he laughed and said no, he sees his mother often as she lives in the same town. At this point I was a bit confused as to why he would want to have dinner with his mother. So I asked. And he just smiled again and said that he loves his mother, and would want to have dinner with her over and over again. I just thought, out of all the people in the world, you would want to have dinner with your mother?! It really took me back because I had not expected that. But after I thought about it, it was aligned with this sense of relationships in Uganda. To him, it made no sense to have dinner with someone he hardly knew, and what was he gaining from having dinner with someone who was famous? It made way more sense to him to engage in a relationship that he has already established and poured into, rather than with a stranger. And here I am, an American, always looking outside my situation to do something that is admirable. It would be way cooler to say I’ve had dinner with Oprah than it would be to say with my mother. But not for your average African. Do you think Oprah would remember having dinner with you? Probably not. But would your mother? The person who has given you life, loved you to the point where she would lay down her own life? Absolutely. Africans understand something we don’t. They understand that life is precious. And that each experience and relationship is of value and it matters. Because in the end, we will not be remembered by what we did, but by who we chose to invest in deeply.

Ali