Day 19: African mindset-Asenemaso

I've been here for almost 3 weeks, yet it's still difficult to get out of the American mindset. We're always asking questions like "What time are we leaving?" and "What's the agenda for today?" Whenever something unexpected happens or doesn't happen, we always have to remind ourselves where we are by saying "TIA" (this is Africa). We've been comparing everything in Asenemaso to the States. While this is good for personal growth, it could potentially trap us into thinking that we need to help Asenemaso by making it more like the States. This is unproductive. While there are great things about the States, that doesn't mean those things could work here. Ghana and America are so different that sometimes you can't even compare the two. For example, the concept of time in Ghana versus the concept of time in the States, Africa (as a whole) runs more loosely and they're always late (hence our new term, "Africa time"). In the States, we keep a strict agenda for everything and we value punctuality. When talking with Joy, she expressed how frustrating it can be to work with Ghanaians because their work ethic is so vastly different. Many factors contribute to this family is the number one priority (regardless of any other prior engagement), poor infrastructure (bad roads, dangerous drivers, unenforced laws), a relaxed and carefree attitude that often allows procrastination, and poverty that causes people to focus on their individual situation and causes them to be disengaged from the big picture. It's not that they don't care, it's just that it's not really practical. Look at it from their perspective, how can a woman worry about cleaning up her street when she can't even afford to send her daughter to school? Environmental issues are incredibly important, but not as a family' own immediate needs. That makes it very difficult to do work here. Meeting spiritual needs cannot be met without first meeting physical needs. This, of course, isn't always true.

We're slowly slipping into the African mindset. We're content with doing nothing, incredibly flexible, and we're not worried about efficiency. It's so easy to come here and set goals for our community development projects and consider it to succeed or fail. That's the American way. Rather, we're letting go of the hard work mindset and we're just concerned about loving people. With God's grace, we hope that the love we show them will lead a lasting impression on their life that will inspire spreading love to others.