Habari za safari?

A wise woman from Ethiopia at the beginning of our journey told me, “Africa is everything you see on TV and it is not everything you see on TV.” Throughout my weeks here, the meaning of those words has slowly come to fruition. It seemed to me prior to this trip that most descriptions of Africa on TV portray two things – extreme beauty and extreme poverty.

It is true, Africa is full of these images. But the beauty is more vivid than you could ever capture on a camera. The poverty more palpable in person than it could ever be through the picture on a screen.

The beauty transcends color, texture, and shape. It is a beauty felt deep within in your heart. Its splendor is wonder recaptured that was once lost in childhood. The beauty resounds in the snowy peak of the elusive Kilimanjaro, the glint of sun radiating off the rows of majestic sunflowers in the morning sun, and in the twitch of the cheetah’s tail as she patiently cowers in the grass stalking the wary swala. The spirit of the people – the sound of the children’s laughter and song, the smiles of men and women as they dance to the rhythm of the djembes, and the excited cheers of soccer fans uniting for team Ghana to be victorious in the World Cup – inspires my soul.

Poverty has never seemed more real. One cannot click the button on a remote and change the scene of a hungry child on the street when they are sitting in front of you looking into your eyes. When you are standing in a place that at one time seemed a world away, your universe suddenly becomes so much smaller. The interconnectivity of the human race hits me like a thousand bricks. I am simultaneously struck by the beauty and power of the human spirit as well as the pain. When one small soul is hurting, so are we all.

Largely what makes this world that we live in so amazing is its many different people. We can choose to live our lives in the ordinary, or we can choose to be capable of feats of great strength and vision. What could we accomplish if we all reached out of our comfort zone? If we all took a moment to realize how much we all have, and how much more we all have to give? It can be easy to forget how miraculous life can be when we become steeped in our everyday lives. In the eyes of the children I met, I saw those miracles I had forgotten existed.

To think more deeply, critically, and globally, to live my life with more compassion, to not give up the fight for others simply because my life is so easy, to learn more about this world and the lives of people in it beyond my own sphere, to realize what a small but important part I play in this grand universe – these are lessons I humbly take with me from this adventure.

When we hear the word safari we typically think of a person traveling to Africa dressed in their khakis and vest, armed with binoculars ready to snap shots of rhinos and lions. In Swahili, however, “Habari za safari?” literally translates into “How is the journey?”

To answer my own question – I think my journey has just begun….