Day 5 / Unputdownable

Yesterday we walked into a bookstore at a very Westernized mall and there was an advertisement for a book that was "unputdownable". I did not know that was even a word (and according to spell check, it isn't. But here, it is).

This is not Africa how I remembered it. This Africa is much bigger, much more urban, and much different than my "home" in Ghana, West Africa. Nonetheless, many of the problems still remain the same. Hunger, poverty, sickness, crime, civil unrest in some places, etc. What probably makes it different here, however, is that all of these social issues are thrown in among some of the nicest beaches, five-star hotels, and wealthy mansions Africa has ever seen. There is an ongoing conflict between rich and poor, yet they have found a way to live as neighbours. While I watched a crippled man begging for money on one side of the street, all I had to do was turn my head to see the mega-corporation headquarters in Tanzania and the $200+/night hotels that many of the musungu (aka white people) work or stay at.

At times it can be confusing, frustrating, and even convicting to see because I know that I am not totally innocent in the mess of developing countries that the world has helped create. Then I meet people who truly care, and who truly do make a difference, and I have hope that I too can do something here. Maybe not a very big one, maybe not a very wealthy one, but they change someone's life by helping them establish a life of their own. And after seeing this beautiful country full of so many amazing people, it really is "unputdownable".