Africa

It's almost been four years since i left my home in Guinea-Bissau.

Oh Africa!
I never imagined it would be such a delight and such a heartbreak.
I didn't imagine i would live in a house with yellow and pink walls.
I didn't imagine i would learn to love sleeping under a mosquito net.
i didn't know how valuable a headlamp could be.
i didn't know that electricity and running water would become something i had to work for.

Oh Africa!
we had dead creatures in our well sometimes....it was NOT pleasant.
Frogs swarming in our bathrooms after we had been pranked.
A yellow snake that snuck in the front door.
Nute's struggle with scary spiritual nightmares.
The days when i was the neighborhood nurse and almost passed out from seeing a bloody foot.
The loneliness in nights spent alone and alone.
i grew to miss broccoli, celery and taco bell sauce.
i longed for my family's faces and hearts.
i was stunned when Justino passed away suddenly and his children weren't sure how to mourn the loss of their father.

Oh Africa!
I loved your children.
I delighted in mangoes and pineapple.
I was stunned by the generosity of my neighbors.
I basked in the heat and sun of long sweaty days.
I shared my hammock with the children.
Kiti's heart was open and a gift.
there is a part of my heart that felt so alive.

Oh Africa!
Such drastic life and death.
The green in the rain and the famine that comes with the drought.
Laughter, generosity, community.
Malaria, war, cholera.
English lessons and scripture memory.
Rose bushes and piles of trash.
playing in the rain.
Being an American and feeling like an African.
Playing games on my front porch with the kids.
Yelling at someone for making noise.
Prayer and worship.
Vacation adventures.
Airport drama.
cell phones.
the market.
mold.
the tree stump that became a playground.
Hot tamales and skittles.
A friend that told me she had been circumcised as a child.
So many who had lost family in the recent civil war.
an overwhelming feeling of lack of history.

Oh Africa!
part of my heart will always be with you.
part of my heart will always care for your children.