The Others

When I sit for dinner, I'm surrounded by many things and many people and many beliefs. One meal here in Malawi can contain a Muslim, a Seventh Day Adventist, a Presbyterian, an atheist, and an agnostic. One meal can contain a Malawian, an American, a German, a Latin American and a Dutchman. One meal here in Malawi can contain someone who is gay, straight, and bi.

One of the most beautiful things my masters degree and Peace Corps have done for me is given me the privilege of dining with so many different people. In Turkey where about 99% of the population are Muslims to Malawi where over half of my community is Muslim and were the Baptists denomination is rare if hardly found. And volunteers here in Malawi come from around the whole world! I've gotten to see life through the eyes of those who didn't grow up like me in America. Who didn't grow up in the "Bible Belt." Chatting with people who are so different from me but getting the chance to hear about who they are not from the media, newspaper, or radio but from themselves. And instead of feeling threatened I feel alive. I still have my beliefs and my identity but I see through more than just one lens now. The "other" is not my enemy or my foe or my competitor but my friends and companions. I've learned I don't have to compromise who I am in order to love those different from me. I am listened to and sometimes understood and I give the same treatment to those around me: listening and understanding. There is beauty in diversity not threats.

So today's challenge: Go out and befriend, embrace the "other." If you are an atheist, make friends with someone religious. If you are straight, have a chat with someone who's gay. If you're a Christian, have lunch with a Muslim. If you're a conservative, take a liberal out for a coffee. If you're rich, humble yourself before someone poor. Do this not in hopes of converting the "other" but to foster peace, love, reconciliation, and the art of listening and being brave enough to withstand an idea not your own. Ask yourself, how many of my friends or how many sit at my table that are NOT like me? In this we respect what it means to be human: diversity, opinions, differences, beauty. 

"I'm after mercy, not religion. I'm here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders."
Public Health Professional and International Development Worker. RPCV & RPCRV Malawi 2013-2016

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Malawi to Zanzibar, A Historical Journey

Image
Z anzibar . An island off the coast of mainland Tanzania only about a 30-minute plane ride or 2-hour ferry ride from Dar es Salaam (which is the largest city in eastern Africa). An island unlike any other place we’ve visited on the African continent before. It has a population of about 1.3 million people with Kiswahili the main language spoken. It's also semi-autonomous from the mainland. 
Read more

A Malawi Holiday

Image
In Malawi, Christmastime, December, normally means not snow nor cold but heat and sometimes humidity as the rainy season begins. But after 5 Christmases spent in Malawi, one starts to get use to it. So what did we do during this hot, humid rainy Christmas?
Read more

How Do You. . .? 10 Q&A

I've lived in Malawi for 19 months now. And today I was just reflecting on how once difficult tasks are now so easy. I was discussing with a fellow PCV about making brownies and it dawned on me how normal it felt to not even consider an oven. So here's a Q&A blog featuring 10 questions on how things get done kuno ku Malawi (here in Malawi).  1. Where do you get water? - A few yards from my house is a borehole. This is basically a long pipe reaching down into the ground that you must manually pump up and down to get water. I collect it in buckets and take it home. Most days my neighbor kids are more than happy to help do this for me. Occasionally the borehole can break down in which I would have to go about 1km to find water. Did I mention I share this 1 water source with hundreds of people in my village? The bucket lines can be long.   I have a water filter provided by Peace Corps that makes the water safe to drink once I pour it through.  2. How do y...
Read more