I thought I was as angered and heartbroken about entitlement as I could get, but that was before I heard Rosa’s side of the story. Rosa is Jenny’s next door neighbor and also one of Joan’s precious preschool teachers. Joan relayed the story like this…
Rosa came into their Thursday afternoon preschool teachers meeting fuming mad. She proceeded to unload, like pulling the stop out of a hole in a dike. She said her neighbor had a fire the other night, but none of the other neighbors came to help. Rosa was the only one. And as fast as she could pull things out of the house the onlookers were stealing them. They justified themselves by saying, “Well the Americans will replace it all for her anyway.” Those were their exact words. It makes me about as mad as Rosa probably was, but it forces me to analyze how much am I part of the problem, because I know they’re right.
The whole African tribal culture is built around the sharing of resources to help each other survive. When we step in with aid we interrupt the delicate balance of that culture that has survived for centuries without us. There were five white people at her place Wednesday morning helping clean up from the fire. But had we not been there others would’ve stepped in and helped out. Rosa would’ve gladly opened up her own home to let the children stay the night, but the white men took them out of their culture to sleep under his roof. We help replace clothes and mattresses, but truthfully, if we were never there, others would have shared and they would’ve gotten by. That’s the beauty in their culture that we’ll never fully understand.
America is not the savior of Africa. Africa doesn’t need to be saved from themselves. They need Jesus. I don’t know how to say in more forthrightly than that.
Am I suggesting we abandon people to their poverty? By no means! I’m suggesting we work within their cultural framework to help in a way that doesn’t ostracize them from their families and communities. I’m suggesting we point people to Christ, leading them toward a dependency on God, not on white aid. Trials help produce perseverance and faith. When we remove them from their trials, there’s no reason to trust in God. We must walk a road with them, not just give them a car and directions on how to bypass the road altogether. But as frustrated as I get (can you tell??) I must remember I have no perfect solution. And in my efforts towards one, I’m sure I leave my own pile of wreckage in the wake. It forces me to the very same place, total reliance on the Source of all wisdom, which in the end may be the whole point in the first place.
Towards a solution
posted on 6/19/2008 08:39:00 PM
Labels: culture, prayer requests, thoughts
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8 comments:
thank you for sharing honestly Mike. You're right. I'm going to share about Jenny and ask someone to pray for her and also pray that we would also stop trusting in our wealth and start relying upon Jesus in everything and praying that He would be the first solution we offer to people who are going through trials.
hey bro, i just wanted to say i really appreciate the questions you're asking about missions and our role in it. i know it's frustrating to not have solutions, but i think these kinds of questions will lead to a much more effective way for us to love those that are not from out culture. keep asking and keep loving, mike!
shakes head this totally breaks my heart...
Love ~G
As honestly as you have shared I have to disagree with MANY points. We lived in Okahandja for 2 years and knew Jenny well and the trials and struggles she has been through... the pictures is MUCH deeper than what you have portrayed. I am sorry to have to say it, but we did our best to not have the SAVIOUR mentality when dealing with Jenny... we encouraged as much as possible to do things on her own. I have to say that those around her glory in her distruction and the African balance is just that... no one is to get ahead... if someone is the others will step in and make sure that they are dragged down to their level. There is sharing, but to the point of 'stealing'! Jenny doesn't fit in her community because of where she is from, she is regularily ostracized for being from the Kavango region and being Angolan. The African nations that live in Location do not get along. The only thing that will change that is the LOVE of Jesus Christ... doesn't matter where it comes from WHITE... BLACK... COLOURED or otherwise. The point is to LOVE... if the WHITE people had not stepped in I can tell you that there would have been others who would have... but it would be OTHER CHRISTIANS (true Christians... not the nominal marginal Christians or those who call themselves Christians and do not live like it at all). It is not about trusting in our wealth... America has a LOT of wealth it could and SHOULD share wisely... the last thing westerners need is to be told that they don't need to bother to share their wealth. Perhaps it is years of experience that causes me to get a little uptight with what you had to say. Perhaps it is more of a knowledge of the situation with Jenny. Perhaps it is knowing how much Jenny LOVES the Lord and trusts in HIM and not the Whites, Blacks or whoever else! We loved her as a sister in Christ... yes we helped her financially... she does have 4 extra children she is trying to raise (and her parents are still alive but refuse to take care of them properly)... she is a widow with 2 children of her own to try to take care of... she has a drunkard brother who tries to beat her up and steals her things on a regular basis... and SHE is the HARDEST worker I ever met in Africa the whole time I was there. I don't want to sound angry... I suppose I may have come across that way, but I think it is best to know the whole story before you take such strong opinions about how things should or could be done. There are two sides to every story. I am personally VERY thankful that there were those who rallied around Jenny to LOVE her and share the LOVE of Jesus Christ with her in her time of need. She wrote me a letter and told me how all of her neighbours were laughing at her and saying that the Angels of God were the ones who came down and burned her house down. Jealousy, hatred, and hardened hearts are what cause this kind of behaviour. We need to pray for complete transformation of hearts... and for cultures to be redeemed and the sinful parts of cultures to be thrown right out the window. That goes for the west as well as Africa or any other nation as far as that goes! I think you are great guy Mike, but please be careful about judging things when living short term on the field. No one is going to get it right, but as long as Christ is first and we are doing what we feel God has called us to and are sensitive to people and their needs... that is what matters! Love God and Love People... whether that is with your TIME, your MONEY, your belongings, your LIFE... SHARE for the GLORY of GOD! I will leave you with a little tiny snippit of the letter Jenny sent to me... Please continue to pray for Jenny, her life has been one trial after another... but still she loves GOD... and trusts HIM!
the people in our areas were very happy and start to make fun of me the girl who burn my house her father were happy and started telling other people that angels
From God come and burn my house .none of my relative come to help me .but because of the love of Jesus he send his people who helped me .Miriam got new school uniform and we get new beds and others stuff .all the people who were making fun of me they were all amazed what God has done to me that day people were saying uncle Pete leave now I will be back on my suffering but God had send me other people on your absent I will miss you all a lot... Jenny!
Knightly's, welcome to the conversation. Thanks for your lengthy comment to add some helpful insights from another perspective. But I fear you've misread my comments, because I was impressed by how much we AGREE on. And don't misunderstand, I'm making no judgments, only admittedly one-sided observations, which is all any of us can make. After six months I'm the first to admit I'm no cultural expert (read back a few posts and you'll see in fact I did) because missionaries can live years in a place and still find there's more to learn. Which is precisely why I ask the questions. And why I post them here. I don't claim to have the answers, but I hope that through the conversation and the various perspectives we can all grow a little closer in figuring them out. Jenny's situation is the latest in a history of interactions that continue to raise some of these troubling questions. With that background, allow me to comment on your comment.
I appreciate your thoughts on the people holding each other back, not letting anyone get ahead. It actually reminds me of something similar I read in a book on African money matters. In a more recent post "More questions...still no answers" we approached the topic of how every culture has it's evils to deal with, and that's especially apparent in situations like this. Throw a bunch of sinners together and you'll never get a perfect culture. The one thing there's no question about is that it's Jesus 'metamorphasizing' people's lives that will transform the culture. Rosa is an excellent example of just that, getting so upset that all these neighbors would claim to be 'Christian' but treat Jenny like they did. One of the biggest things this whole situation has brought to the surface is the humbling reminder that it's totally God who does the work. As soon as we think we've got it figured out, He has a way of gently reminding us that we're just clay pots, and I don't think that's a lesson any of us can learn quite enough, at least for me anyway.
We haven't stopped praying for Jenny and continue to love on her any chance we get. Thanks again, even for your emotionally-charged comments adding another voice to the conversation. You are most welcome.
Thanks for not being angry... I realized after that I was very emotionally charged, and it was partly because I have read back on some of your 'culture' posts. In several you have almost glorified the African culture and how harmonized they were before the westerners came. I would recommend a REALLY great book for you to read on the Ovambo people... Nakambale (a very hard book to find) but it is about one of the first Finnish Lutheran missionaries who came to Ovamboland. It has an eye opening book to how it was before the first westerners arrived. Trading their own people into slavery with the Angolans to the north (not primary directly to the Portuguese either)... the slayings between the (mmm... can't spell it) Saan people and the Harero's, the harmony was in short supply because GOD was not in their culture. The witchcraft, which still hangs on to this day, has caused a lot of pain and hardship. When I was reading your culture posts I was wondering if you might be an anthropologist... :o) The only redeeming quality of American and a tiny bit in Canada is that we were once Christian nations that built morality into the law. Which is why we seem a little more civilized, however I do not believe that will last much longer... it is becoming more and more godless as time goes by. Older missionaries have a lot to learn, but many have learned a lot over time and through experience, and sometimes it doesn't make a lot of sense to us younger ones... yes we do need a breath of fresh air from time to time... but I would rather be an Adoniram Judson than one of these psychology grad's who comes to the field thinking I know everything. I grew up on the mission field and just living in a seperate culture and watching how my parents dealt with the pressure of trying to sensitive yet offensive (because the GOSPEL is offensive to those who are perishing)... it's a tough balance. I think the key to all of it is to Love with abandon... just give it all up... God's love and truth is what will win people. We can't change everyone on the field... those whom God has called will be prepared by the Holy Spirit and through loving and sharing the Gospel their eyes will see the LIGHT.
I am so sorry for becoming so emotionally charged last night... it isn't right. I just feel passionate about loving people not only in word but in deed. I believe the more we as westerner model that the more we will see others following the model (if their hearts have been transformed). So I hope you haven't taken offense... and I hope people don't think that I dislike you... because we really do appreciate the work we have seen you do (especially at the Ark... which I can say wholeheartedly I do not like that model for raising OVC's... but it was what was started and sometimes you have to make the best of a not so great situation... and learn from the mistakes).
I think both of you are up to some good.
Your are trying to be sensitive to the help we give.
Yet we need to define better "help"
Anything is better than nothing , that's just a statement
not my point.To peruse how we can help them with out
putting ourselves above them in there eyes.well
that's not always an easy thing to do.Just
that fact that we are American in there land
changes the dynamics of every thing.
So if you are concern how we will impact there
world and the balance of there culture it may
be a little to late for that.But I do understand your concern.
We are trying to be sensitive to there culture yet
we can turn a blind eye to someone who truly
needs a hand out.For all they know you
may be there only hope.The only Jesus
they will ever see.
I do tend to be an optimist at times, emphasizing the positive points in an effort not to paint a well rounded picture, but to see what can I and perhaps American culture learn from African culture. While our western sense of independence has done us much good (standard of living, technological advancements, etc), it can also prove detrimental to relationship. Naturally there's pros and cons to everything, but being American I can easily contrast the cons of my culture to the pros of theirs in hopes to learn more. And I think this is an area we have much to learn from African culture. Interdependence forces relationship to an extent. If you rely on your neighbors or relatives then of course you have relationship with them. But we've created such independent lives that our relational needs are limited to entertainment and procreation (obviously an extreme, no one need get upset). If we don't even know our neighbor then how will we ever share Christ with them? Maybe, like the early church, it's not such a bad thing to depend on each other, even for material things. But also like the early church, a culture with Christ as the center looks a whole lot different than the surrounding culture with self at the center. A little off the previous topic, but still food for thought...maybe even for another post. :)
I agree, loving is key. You can't open your Bible without seeing it drip off every page. The problem with love is it's not very scientific or mathematical. There's never one answer that's universally right or wrong. I'm reminded of this thing we call "tough love". Consider parenting (which probably most all of you would know better than me) but also in youth ministry, how often is it more loving to withold a good thing from a child so they'll gain something better, maturity through first-hand experience for example. I guess that's what makes ministry so messy, because loving people is involved, and it's not a science, but hopefully at least a forward progression.
Dennis, I appreciate your statement of "how to help without putting ourselves above them in their eyes." Hopefully none of us would be so naive or arrogant to think of ourselves as above them, but how can we best communicate that to their experience. Being people who speak multiple languages, can survive in the bush with virtually nothing, and can carry just about anything on their heads, I often think they're way above me. But for some reason, whether it's economic status, skin color, arrogant confidence, intellectual vocabulary, or something else, there is often that sense of intimidation, that we're somehow better. And cultural traditional lies like that are often the hardest to overcome. But if God can incarnate Himself and dwell with His creation offering the greatest free gift of all time, then surely there's hope for us to follow His example doing the same.
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