…with a whole new appreciation for life, social justice, and raising awareness.

I’m going to attempt to put the words that have been spinning around my head in the week that I’ve been back into coherent paragraphs and sentences. It’s been a huge switch to come back from Zambia and I’m just now beginning to find my routine again. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing…

The last thing I want to do is come off sounding all “preachy”, but I honestly believe with my whole heart that everyone from our western, North American culture should take a trip to a third world country to learn from the people there. Yes, LEARN from them. Despite having so many more worldly possessions and making more money in a few weeks from my warehouse job than the people there will in an entire year, the people in the villages taught me so much about living a life that is meaningful and impactful on those around me based on their example of how they exemplify the concept of Community.

As much as I had been expecting to see a country and people different from anything I had experienced before, I wasn’t prepared to have it make me feel so humbled by their example. The friendship and brotherhood shared by the people in the villages where we slept was something so far advanced from any community that I had seen before. There is so much love and care for their fellow Zambian. In our Canadian, industrial, “cold” culture, so much of our life is spent focusing on the individual, making sure one’s own needs are met that we often neglect the needs of those around us. Seeing how one village cared for a mentally disabled man – making sure he always had enough food, that his house was always kept clean and stocked with any necessities he needed, offering him a meal or supplies if he was lacking – was such a stark contrast to the coldness we often show the mentally ill people living on the streets of Edmonton. We’re so quick to turn up our iPod as we walk past, to look the other direction so that we don’t have to meet their gaze and their requests for help.

How can we change from our ways? Let me know what you think…

I really don’t know the answer, other than being exposed to how impactful and more fulfilling the idea of Community can actually be. We all need a chance to see it in action. To step out of our comfort zone and just to get a taste.

There will be MANY photos to come. Trust me.