Yesterday our 21-year-old niece, Rachel, returned from a year in the African nation of Zambia. She went under the auspices of the Mennonite Central Committee and as an extension of her peace and conflict studies at Waterloo University. For a year she travelled from village to village establishing peace clubs in schools, helping children find new ways of dealing with conflict in a nation which has been torn apart by strife and violence. There was nothing easy about this work. Rachel lived with a family which had a steady diet of the same bland mash. She travelled to often distant communities by bus, alone. Rachel is very blonde and pale skinned so she lived with the constant stares of the curious.
At times we were concerned about her safety and loneliness was a factor. Still, she persevered, believing in her work, longing for some fast food. Only a couple of months before her planned departure Rachel's father died suddenly, but she decided to go just the same to honour his encouragement and memory. She has a strong Christian faith which sustained her, and she encountered many "overcomers" while in Zambia. The photo above shows her with her wonderful mentor.
She arrived back in Akron, Ohio for her debriefing and immediately became mildly stomach sick on the North American food. She made the final leg of her remarkable journey yesterday and tearfully declared "I'm home" to her greeting boyfriend and family.
What do you think about Rachel's year in Zambia? We admired her fortitude. There is a fair amount of criticism of the week or two-long mission trips of teens from schools and churches, questioning whether they really benefit those in developing countries. This much lengthier immersion strikes me as a different enterprise. Would you encourage something like this for your child or grandchild? What about the notion of teaching peace?
5 comments:
I admire someone this young taking on such a challenge. I can say with all certainty that I wouldn't be able to do that at twenty-one (and probably still couldn't at thirty-six!)
As a teacher, I would be interested in seeing how your niece went about teaching peace as a concept, or as a life choice in circumstances such as the ones in Zambia.
I think any young person who gives a year of his/her life to go to a foreign country and teach peace, and live on a bland diet, to boot, deserves a LOT of admiration and credit - and I would love to hear her stories!
I am of two minds about your blog today. I have a problem with people forcing their beliefs on people, on the other hand I admire what people try to do for peace and human rights.So I admire the idea but on the other hand wish they stay away.
Thanks to all of you for your comments. While Rachel's faith is important to sustain her, she was no there to evangelize or proselytize. She was there to work with locals in offering alternatives in an impoverished school system and with the blessing of the government. We teach conflict resolution in our own schools, so wnere is the harm?
Chiming in late but admire the strength and generous spirit your niece exhibited. I agree, at times our short mission awareness trips seem to create opportunities for participants to become more worldly and aware, and young participants often say they are life changing for them so we don't necessarily know where all the benefits will pay forward but for the host country-community the benefits versus expenses seem limited.
For your Rachel though, a great sacrifice was made which puts the focus away from her own benefit. Her commitment to working with the communities she visited
seems to be more focused on making a difference in
others' lives.
I think her Dad would be so very proud.
I don't think I could encourage my own kids to do this, for selfish reasons but if they instigated it, I hope I would find the courage to support them.
I do agree that we shouldn't push our beliefs on others but the short mission awareness trips the United Church runs for youth, and things I have encountered with MCC were about people living their own faith not selling it.f
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