Most Americans will never visit Africa. But even without a passport, you have the opportunity to experience a bit of Africa today by simply opening your eyes in your neighborhood.
Our U.S. suburban home is in a community with few recently arrived Africans. Thanks to the Seattle tech boom, most of our newer neighbors are from China, SE Asian and India. But Africans are here.
Paul is from The Congo. He helped me at Office Depot find some supplies to take back to Uganda. Our conversation started with a simple request for him to point me to the name tags and then my question back, “What is your home country?” He had a puzzled look. “Can you tell I speak French?”
This opened the door to a bit of his life. He arrived in the U.S. 20 years ago after a number of years in South Africa where he learned English. He is married and has three children, ages 8 – 12. He lives in nearby Bellevue. I told him my husband was in Uganda right now. We talked for 20 minutes. He seemed thrilled to have someone ask about his life. I left our time, encouraged and refreshed. Paul gave me a gift that day.
Rosie, from Tanzania, is part of the janitorial staff at a Marshall’s near our home. I met her years ago when the store first opened. She came to the U.S. to follow her daughter. I greet her every time I go to shop (which my family will tell you is too often.) Few notice Rosie as she is short in stature and quietly goes about her work of dusting fixtures and tidying the store. She seems surprised when I greet her by name.
Today, Jane, from Kenya and Uju, from Nigeria, were part of the prayer team at Timberlake Church in Redmond. After service, I met them. They prayed for me. Both of them have followed family to the PNW and are building lives here.
I am encouraged by each of these neighbors. Not just to meet them and hear a bit of their story but also to be challenged to see life from their point of view. Despite the difficulty of transitioning to a new life here, every single one of them told me how grateful they are to be living in the U.S. Paul went a bit further when he said, “I only wish that people here were grateful for what they have.”
I listened to Paul. He spoke about freedoms and opportunities and blessings.
On this July 4th – May we honor Paul, Rosie, Jane and Uju by recognizing how blessed we are in this nation and learn to live with hearts of gratitude.
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