Reflections on Tanzania - by Delite

After Delite returned home from her recent visit to TZ, I asked her if she'd like to write something for my blog about her time here. Below are her eloquent and insightful thoughts. Thank you Delite.

When I was thinking about and planning a trip to Tanzania I was excited to see a new place, experience a different culture, get a glimpse into the life of my friend Angie and into the life of Tanzanian’s, and of course for the adventure it would inevitably bring. I also spent a lot of time questioning what the purpose of my trip was. Why was I really going? Did I think I would go to Tanzania and spend two weeks trying to give something to “poor people”? Did I want to volunteer while I was there so it wouldn’t just be a vacation for me and I could feel less selfish about the trip? Did I want to go see wild and exotic animals so that I would have interesting stories and exciting pictures? Was I going to hang out with my friend who was living there?

All of these things filled my mind many times and I questioned myself and whether I should really go. It seemed like the money spent on the flight alone could do a lot of good if I just sent it to a charity and stayed home. Even after going, having an amazing experience and returning home again, I still have those thoughts, but with all the lessons I learned and experiences I had that opened my eyes, mind and heart, I have to believe that the trip was not just an expensive vacation. I know that making it more than that depends on me living in a way that reflects those lessons and experiences.

The one thing that keeps coming to my mind is the thought of “we are all more alike than different”. Angie and I talked about this quite a bit while I was in Tanzania, I observed it, I’ve thought about it a lot and have shared that thought with many since returning home. Maybe it’s arguable, or maybe there’s more truth to it than we want there to be.

The first week I was in Tanzania I was in the town of Morogoro. Morogoro has a population of about 300,000 people, Sokoine University is located there and the town sits at the base of the Uluguru Mountains. Compared to most of Tanzania, where National Parks full of animals abound and Mt Kilimanjaro is waiting to be climbed and the Indian Ocean and beaches of Zanzibar offer peace and relaxation, there is really no reason most tourists would make Morogoro a destination on their Tanzanian adventure. And because of that, I had the rare opportunity to see “real” Tanzanian life happening around me.

In that life, I saw people waking each morning and sending their kids to school, going to their jobs, I heard people talk about their families and the weather, people went to the market to get groceries, they did their laundry and fed their animals, they cooked dinner and ate as a family, they talked and laughed with their friends, they biked, walked or drove to run errands, they worked hard, they rested and relaxed, they lived. None of these things were all that different than how I and my friends and my family life our lives. Sure there are differences within each of those activities, but are those differences really more important than the similarities?

As I realized this, I started thinking about who we each are as people. What are the goals and aspirations of Tanzanian’s vs. American’s? What are Tanzanian’s striving for vs. what are American’s striving for? What defines success in life for each group?

I think in the answers to these questions, we can even see a lot more similarities. Humans all have basic needs that we are trying to meet. We all want to be happy. We all want to be cared for. We all want to provide for our families. We all want to be loved. We all want to live a life that has some sort of value or meaning or purpose.

I know that those are general statements and the definitions of each of those things are really where the differences in each of us lie. Being happy means different things to different people. The idea of a life with meaning or purpose is very different for each person based on our own passions and personalities.

I’m certainly not trying to say that we are all the same and that the diversity among isn’t important. In fact, even more than ever I want to celebrate the differences in each of us, because those differences are beautiful. I just want to challenge myself and anyone else, to think first about the similarities between me and others before I think about the differences. Doing so will lead me to being a more sensitive, caring and loving person and give me a better perspective in which to celebrate the differences in us. I hope it will help me make decisions from a gracious and loving perspective. I hope I will approach others with less judgment and more acceptance and understanding. I hope it will lead to less division and more unity.

Tanzania is an amazing place, full of beauty and life. Asante, Tanzania, you have given me so much.