Closing Thoughts

In our first meeting at our project in Tanzania, James Nathaniel (director of Tanzania Children’s Concern) talked about how many children he was helping over a lunch of ugali and beans.  During the meeting I wanted to ask why he wanted to help these children.  I decided not to ask because if he asked me why I wanted to
help, I would have no response.

Having spent almost two months in Africa, I believe I can guess what James answer would have been.  More importantly, his answer helps me to answer my questions about why I went with GO to Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda.

Nothing is the same as home here. The people look and sound different, the air smells and feels different and going from point A to point B involves many different steps.  And not necessarily in a bad way.  While the hawkers in tourist areas are the most stressful of situations, away from those areas the people have always been very warm and welcoming.

I think that James (as well as Costa and Peter) would say something along the lines of, ‘How can I watch my community in a difficult time and not try to help?  How can I not spread my love to those who need it?’  In Africa I have seen a sense of community that I have not encountered elsewhere.  Each person is tied to one another and they can try to ignore those bonds, but they cannot break them.  If any person in their web succeeds or flounders, they all do it together.

I have said at two community meetings, and heard it at a third, that we will try to bring the love and sense of community back to America where it is needed.  But I don’t think that these bonds have been broken.  We may hide them under SUV’s and white picket fences, but they still exist.  I just have not been looking to uncover and embrace those bonds.

I had met Bart a few times before spending every moment of the last 5 weeks with him.  Early on he talked a lot about everything happening for a reason and looking for signs.  I think that is total crap. Well, I THOUGHT that was total crap.  I went on this trip to see what a community was.  We have visited so many welcoming families, shaken hundreds of hands and seen first hand people helping each other.

It is a kind of love that I have previously been blind to.  I went on this trip to discover that feeling and be able to look for it where ever I am.  I am incredibly lucky to have been invited on this trip. And I hope to contribute to GO in one form or another far into the future.

GO volunteers Kyle Miller, Bartlomiej Skorupa, and Ryan Gilpin receive gifts from the community. The real gift of knowing and learning from these communities can never be captured on film, yet it will always reside in their hearts and minds.

Ryan Gilpin