Giving a blank page to the unheard.
Two years ago, I wrote a blog post entitled “9 of the Worst Quotes about Africa”, in which I compiled nine bigoted, colonial, and generally racist things that have been said by people in power about the continent of Africa. I received a lot of xenophobic comments on that one, including this gem, which started off by quoting a line …
2016 sucked. Sure, I could talk about how it was formative, go on about how it taught us important lessons that I wouldn’t trade for anything, quote that cliché Nietzsche line about whatever doesn’t kill you…but I tend to err towards transparency rather than diplomacy. We’ve been off the radar for a while and you deserve to know why. The …
Why are we doing this, again? This question becomes aggravatingly common after six months of living in a rural West African village, when being outside of your comfort zone has been the norm for too long, when the little annoyances grow into gross inefficiencies that grind against your sanity. The novelty of being an oburoni has long worn off, the lack of …
Note from Kaitlyn: I ask that readers be lenient with this entry. It is not my intention to further divide, inflame, or isolate. My own bewilderment at the political turn of events in the US colors this journal, but ultimately what I want to highlight is the simplicity and necessity of love–that we as humans bear the heavy weights of our …
Asisiriwa Day 28 5 December 2015 I am becoming acquainted with the movements of insects; the delicate struggle of the spider in its web, the erratic fluttering of moths, the probing curiosity of cockroaches, the scuttling timidity of huntsman spiders on the ceilings and walls, the imperious buzzing of flies. The insects here have become the neighbors and tyrants of …
Sometimes the humanitarian and the local community are both wrong. Sometimes compromise means trying something new. I’ve talked before about the stubbornness of Ghanaians when it comes to their local building techniques. Many of them are resistant to innovation when it comes to construction—at least in the rural area where we live. In their minds, they have found something that …
Asisiriwa Day 13 20 November 2015 I live most in the morning, when the air still moves coolly down through the mountain roads, slowing even the taxi drivers into reason. Unfrenzied and bright, these mornings are different from the November mornings of home, which I am thankful for when going outside to bathe in the still-cool mid morning. As the …
Asisiriwa Day 7 14 November 2015 I am ravenous, devouring books like a person who has been starved, walking barefoot through a desert, delirious from thirst and hunger, not realizing they are deprived. I have not realized how I’ve been deprived until I began reading again, and now I am ravenous. I will read all the books we brought with …
Asisiriwa Day 5 11 November 2015 I think when you live near animals, you begin to think more of death. Life seems a little less precious to you, and you start to realize, the way you started to as a child, that death is always forgotten and always just a moment away. Animals don’t think of death, which may be …
Intro: When we were getting ready to head to Ghana, I had every intention of posting updates on our life in the village of Asisiriwa. I wanted our followers and supporters to get a little taste of what it was like for us to live and work in this new culture. Of course, writing about such a thing does not …
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