Dzinye le Africa

Tonight I went on an airport run to pick up a load of new arrivals to the ship. This was my first time doing it here but I remember always loving to do it when I worked at camp. I love seeing and hearing first impressions. It reminds me of my first time landing in Africa. Ghana was my first African country three years ago and I remember the fear and excitement and just knowing my life would never be the same when that plane touched down. When I stepped off the plane onto the tarmac, I remember standing there, feeling the hot, humid air, and a man came up behind me and told me I looked scared. That was probably true. I had traveled overseas before but Africa seemed so big. So...far away and so different. True, it seemed like the differences outnumbered the similarities from where I come from, but it's just another way of living. Not right or wrong, just different.

Tonight, driving home with three people, first timers to Togo and to Africa, I had to laugh. "How many people can you fit on one of those motorcycles?" Ummm...five or six is the most I have seen, depending on the size of the kids in the family. No helmets. If babies don't fall off mama's back when she is walking, why would it fall off on a moto-taxi? Cheaper and faster way to travel anyway. "Not many streetlights, huh?" Nope. The lights from the zimi-johns light up the road, if the bike has one. "How many lanes on this road?" We still haven't figured that one out. However many cars can fit...

I wish I could be the first to take them all to the market to see their impressions of that too. The noises and smells and colors and touches and people yelling "yovo, yovo" over and over and over...

Dzinye le Africa.

My heart is in Africa.