Interim 417- My Brothers and Sisters in Africa

Mary Schronce

Interim 417- My Brothers and Sisters in Africa

January 31, 2012

Brothers and Sisters

Prior to this trip, I did notanticipate having anything in common with the people that I met in Zimbabwe and Kenya, who were an entire ocean apart from me. I expected trivial similarities, but I realized that despite the many cultural differences, I have a lot in common with the people in Africa. I also realized something that I did not expect to discover, that people, in a sense, are the same no matter where they are from. I discovered that the people in Africa trulyare my brothers and sisters in Africa, and I discovered that I have brothers and sisters all over the world.

I first began to notice how similar everyone really is at the Fairfield Orphanage home. I am not sure what I expected the children to be like, but I think that I was expectingthe orphanage children to be like the children on the commercials that are always asking for donations. I was surprised when the orphanage children were just like the children that were in my Sunday school classI taught at home. They laughed, joked, played, instigated fights, and cried when they fell down. The children wanted to hog the presents, and they didnot like to share our laps either, just like American children. I anticipated a completely different type of children, but I quickly realized that the children at Fairfield Orphanage were just like me when I was little. They are my little brothers and sisters.

During the conclave between the African University students and Wofford students,I saw many commonalities between the students at African University and myself.Jean Luck and Kenneth were students at African University who, like me, were going to school to pursue their careers. We all had the same hopes and aspirations, which is to have a successful life. Each of us wants to please ourselves, but we also want to make our families, and the places that we come from proud. We have things in common on the superficial level as well, we all like Facebook, and agree that having rice and beans everyday gets a little old. On a much deeper level, however, we all share the same concerns. We are concerned about the uncertainty of our futures after we graduate from college, such as the type of job that we will have and whether we will go home, or work somewhere unfamiliar. Although the situation is worse in Zimbabwe, the concern about the availability of jobs is also present in the United States. In addition, the futures of our countries are uncertain. Zimbabwe’s situation is precarious as is the Congo’s, Jean Luck’s home, and the countries that the other students were from, but the majority of Americans desire improvement within our own country as well. Even though we grew up thousands of miles apart, I discovered that Jean Luck, Kenneth, and I have the same hopes, the same goals, and we have the same worries and concerns for our future.

When I visited Robert Soungweme and his family on the African University farm, he and his wife reminded me of my parents. Like my parents, Robert and his wife were most concerned with their children’s success, Robert expressed how well his sonwas doing in Harare, and that his daughter was first in her class. This reminded me of my parents because my sister and I’s successes are what my parents are most proud of, instead of their own accomplishments. Robert’s wife talked about beginning night classes to pursue a better job as a lab technician, and I was reminded of many people in the United States who, now that many factories have been shut down, are going back to school to find new careers. Robert and his wife are in pursuit of a better life, for themselves and for their children, as many people in the United States are, and they hold the same hopes and concerns as many Americans do.

I expected that in my trip to Zimbabwe, I would meet people whose lives were completely different from my own and that we would have nothing in common. I was excited to discover something unexpected and new to me. The way the Africans have been raised and their customs are quite different from my own; there is no bride price in my culture, air conditioning is not a luxury, it is expected, and a middle-class Zimbabwean is much different from a middle-class American. The people in Zimbabwe were very different from me, but they were also the same as me, which was equally exciting. Through this trip, I realized that fundamentally, we as people are all the same. We are all brothers and sisters who have the same concerns, worries, and fears. We also have the same hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Now, this makes perfect sense to me, but before I visited Zimbabwe, I could not have understood that people, who live so far apart and have seemingly nothing in common, could be so similar. Whether brothers and sisters in Africa, Europe, Asia, or the United States, we are all the same. Children laugh and squeal when they are happy, cry when they fall down, and delight in new people who bring them presents. College students love Facebook and the party on Friday night, but primarily their minds are centered on their studies and what their futures hold. Older generations are concerned with the day-to-day functions of life, such as working, paying the bills and caring for their children. They are also concerned with the future of their children and their pride and joy comes through their family. Regardless of where a person is from, this description rings true and I realized that I have more than brothers and sisters in Africa, I have brothers and sisters everywhere, and I hope that someday I will get to meet them.

Me, Kenneth, Emily, Jean Luck (Left to Right)