In my travels around the world, I have seen much poverty and hardship. I think though, that in no place has it struck me so much as it has here in Africa. In many nearby villages, people have no running water, no electricity, no gas. The women spend many hours a day, every day, walking in the punishing sun to collect water and enough wood to make a fire. After an already long and strenuous day, they must still spend hours cooking. Food is incredibly expensive - nearly the same as U.S. prices. Produce is scarce here, and for the most part only things that are able to be grown locally are available. Yesterday at the market I spotted few tiny trays of strawberries, something that must have been specially imported in. I was excited until I saw the price tag - roughly the equivalent of $7.00 U.S! There is not much choice here as far as food - you get what you get. In the U.S. you have a selection of say, 25 or more different types of bread at the grocery store? Whole wheat, honey nut, organic, sourdough, etc. etc. etc. Here you have…one. White. Bland, dry, and crumbly. You even have to slice it yourself in the machine before you leave the store. That’s it. That’s all there is, like it or not.
Botswana has the highest incidences of HIV in all of Africa. It is said that the town that I live in, Kasane, has the highest incidence in all of Botswana. It is estimated that 40-50% of the population in this area has HIV. I read somewhere that the average life expectancy is 34. The orphanages are filled with HIV positive children. Tuberculosis and malaria also run rampant. Medical care is abhorrent. We spent 3 days recently just trying to get basic medical exams for our residency paperwork. There is one doctor for the entire hospital.
‘Combis’ are the main mode of transportation around here - a sort of mini-van shuttle bus. Jason and I take these back and forth to town, packed to the gills with 15 or 20 Africans, people piled on each others laps and all of us sweating and stinking. Along the way we pass several safari lodges that seem to cater to the old, rich, white traveler - a few of the places cost upwards of $500.00 US per night - per PERSON! Private, open-air safari jeeps zip past us, filled with pasty white, chubby gringos. I wonder how Africans feel about these places? I wonder if the lodges with their incredible incomes are using any of that fortune to give something back to the local community? And most of all, I wonder how the tourists who patronize these lodges feel about it, spending that amount of money when there is so much hardship beyond their safe, clean, gourmet meal gates. Do they even think twice about it as they lie beside the swimming pool?
So every time you are feeling down about your life, your finances, and the things you ‘think’ you ‘need’ - take a moment and reflect on how good you really have it. Appreciate what you do have, the loved ones around you, your health, and conveniences. Love your life. You are truly blessed. Trust me.
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