It took me going to another country, halfway across the world to realize just how big of a deal the United States of America is. Walking through the bush of Maasai land I would constantly hear, “You are from America?? OBAMA??” To which we would typically just nod and say, “Yes, America, Obama, etc”. Then I realized that more often than not, our encounters with people ended with them saying how much they wanted to come to America and visit us (but really, just to come to America). The goal of a good parent here is to get their child to go to college, and even more importantly, college in America. I really have heard more positivity about my own country here in Kenya than I do back at home. The youth choir here at AIC Kijabe is even using “My Country Tis of Thee” (a VERY American song) as their competition piece? (Also, they’re practicing everyday for hours at a time, so I am never going to forget the words to that song as long as I live :P)
Honestly, my first response to these Kenyans (in my mind) when they express their desire to come to the States is, “Why?” People in America are far less joyful or happy as the people in Africa. I constantly think of the negative things that I am so familiar with in America that I can’t even see the appeal. I am so inspired by the simple life here that it breaks my heart to hear that these Africans’ biggest dream is to come to the place I left behind for four months.
But that’s where I’m wrong. The point that I am missing is not that America is not a bad place, but that I am BEYOND blessed to live there. I will be the first to admit that America has wandered horribly far from the ideas and standards that it was built on, however the average American is far better off than the majority of the world. Why on earth wouldn’t they want to come to America? The non-American world has such a glorified view of what America is that they don’t realize that we are still just people living on the same planet. Honestly, I think they would be pretty disappointed considering how much they have built America up in their minds, but who am I to say anything when they live in huts and have to walk miles just for water to drink?
I have been realizing just how much I take for granted. In America, I’m never hungry, I am studying something I have a passion for at a college, I have a car, access to internet wherever I need it, a phone, a comfortable job, air conditioning, showers, a Bible, a church (or more than one), a family, and friends. This just begins the list. It makes me question why God would bless me with so much while people here have so little. I guess the only reason would be so that I could turn around and bless others. That sounds so simple, but it took me long enough to realize.
Anyways, it does surprise me that it took me going to Kenya to realize just how blessed I am back in America. So while it does break my heart that these people put so much stock in the possibility of someday going somewhere other than where they are, it has made me realize just how much of an opportunity I have, which translates into a responsibility. God has put me in America where I can live comfortably (luxuriously, even), but He has opened my eyes to the world that other people live in. I am now responsible to use my blessings to turn around and bless others.
