A life well-lived

As I spent time in the village, I couldn't help imagining what Mr and
Mrs Yanjisha would be like if they had grown up in the US. I think the
thing that continually strikes me about Africa is the limitation of
opportunities for people who live here. Mr. Yanjisha, who works as hard
as anyone I know in the US (certainly it would take me some time to get
strong enough to be able to do what he does day after day) has a goal of
saving $300 over the next five years. And that is dreaming big for the
village -- most of the people live with their thatched huts; one man
whose house burned down 3 years ago has still not rebuilt. Mrs.
Yanjisha, for the women's club to help the AIDS orphans, works an entire
field with the other 7 women, planting and weeding about 2 acres by
hand, in addition to helping to take care of their own fields, take care
of three grandchildren, haul water, cook, do the washing by hand, and
keep house. Not many charitable gestures in the US include 6 months of
daily back-bending manual labor -- volunteers would be few and far
between, I think.
But despite the limitations of opportunity, I think that they have a
life that is full. 5 or 6 people would stop by just to chat or get Mr.
Yanjisha's opinion about matters every day. Laughter marks their
getting up and going to bed. Justin, their 6 year old grandson, spends
most of his time singing and dancing around the yard. Certainly much of
that would be lost if they had been raised in the US. Although I am
sure they would have more material security, I don't know that Mr.
Yanjisha would get the respect that he has earned here in the village.
And as I sat under the mango trees and strove to achieve the
conversational level of the village idiot, Daka, who would come to talk
with me every day, I wondered about what God will value when I get to
heaven and look back on things. I think there will be a lot of people
like Mr. Yanjisha who I have never met but who excelled with the gifts
that they were given. And it becomes less about limitation of
opportunity and more about making the most of your opportunity and
living well. I have more choices that the Yanjishas, but it is
incumbent on me to do well with them.